Latrice Jones

Background

Latrice Jones was 29 when her son died.

On Aug. 11, police found Latrice Jones’ son dead in the kitchen of their apartment, and Jones was arrested.

The offence

Latrice Jones eviscerated her eight-year-old son.

Jones admitted stabbing her 8-year-old son, Quentin Jones, to death.

Jones told authorities that the devil’s spirit came through her home’s fireplace and into her body. She said voices told her to invoke the devil by saying “666.”

While in jail she said she responded to the voices by banging her head against the wall and by trying to strangle herself with her socks tied together.

Investigation

New Hope police responded to a call from concerned relatives.

Police found Quentin Jones, 8, dead from multiple stab wounds.

Jones was arrested and charged with one count of second-degree murder.

Latrice Jones told police, “I killed him. He wasn’t listening to Mohammed,” referring to her ex-boyfriend.

Judge Steven Pihalja ordered Jones to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

Records in her apartment showed that Jones had been treated for an acute psychosis at North Memorial Medical Center the previous week and that she had a history of bipolar disorder.

Trial

On October 11, Judge Lucy Wieland found that the state proved that Jones had committed second-degree intentional murder.

Jones waived her right to a jury trial and agreed that the events alleged in the charges against her were true.

After the brief hearing, prosecutor Mike Furnstahl filed a petition in Probate Court to commit Jones as mentally ill and dangerous to the Minnesota Security Hospital at St. Peter.

Several doctors testified that Jones had paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the stabbing. That testimony was accepted by Hennepin County District Judge Lucy Wieland.

Sentencing

After the brief hearing, Latrice Jones was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Jones was committed indefinitely to the Minnesota Security Hospital at St. Peter.

Outcome

On October 10, 2002, she was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

After the Oct. 11 finding, she remained committed indefinitely to the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter.

Other details

Latrice Jones’ attorney was Hersch Izek.

A Minnesota Security Hospital expert, Jennifer Service, supported the mental illness defense. Service said Jones had a history of paranoid schizophrenia and had its symptoms when she killed her son, including hearing voices and intense religious delusions.

Quentin Jones was in second grade. The principal of his school, Crest View Elementary in Brooklyn Park, said he was known as a cheerful boy who “liked math and doing a good job on his school work.”