Erin Maxwell, 11 years old starved raped and strangled

[LUCKY13]

Alan Jones Evidence Hearing

OSWEGO COUNTY, N.Y. -- Alan Jones was back in court Thursday as his attorney tried to suppress evidence in his case. Jones is accused of killing 11-year-old Erin Maxwell.

The court heard from four investigators who interviewed Alan Jones the night Erin died. Jones' attorney is trying to get statements Jones made to investigators omitted from evidence in any potential trial.

During testimony, investigators said when they told Jones Erin had died he showed no emotion, replying that Pagans don't view death the same way Christians do. Jones' attorney said his client's religion isn't relevant to the case.

"The fact that he's not a Protestant or he's not a Catholic, that has no bearing on this case. The question here is how did Erin die and that's what we're trying to find out," said defense attorney Salvatore Lanza.

More investigators are expected to give testimony Friday. A judge will issue a ruling once the hearing is over.

[LUCKY13]

Alan Jones back in court; bail reduction request denied again

Oswego, New York (WSYR-TV) - The man accused of killing his 11-year-old stepsister this past August was back in court Thursday.

Alan Jones is charged with the murder of Erin Maxwell. In court, a number of issues came up, including another attempt to get bail reduced, which was denied once again.

There was also an attempt by Lanza to suppress statements Jones gave to police, meaning they could not be used as evidence in the trial.

Three state police investigators and a trooper were called to the stand Thursday during the four-hour hearing; troopers told the judge that Jones talked to them voluntarily – and while not in custody -- the night Erin Maxwell was rushed to the hospital.

That night, troopers say Jones gave statements to police at the scene and at the Fulton and North Syracuse barracks, along with a polygraph test.

Lanza also requested that Jones undergo psychiatric testing to make sure he fully understands the charges against him; that request was granted.

The hearing is expected to continue Friday morning, where three more witnesses are scheduled to take the stand.

Jones remains in jail, where he has been since October, on $100,000 cash or $250,000 bond.

[LUCKY13]

More case files released in Erin Maxwell murder case

Fulton, NY -- The defense lawyer in the Erin Maxwell murder case released documents Wednesday suggesting, among other things, that the sexual trauma the 11-year-old girl endured happened around the time she was asphyxiated.

They also revealed that friends told investigators the Palermo girl showed up at school at least four times with bruises on her body.

The statements from state police and others were released by Salvatore Lanza, the lawyer defending Erin Maxwell's stepbrother, Alan Jones, accused of strangling the girl.

Lanza faxed the statements to The Post-Standard as he was announcing he would fight attempts by Oswego County District Attorney Donald Dodd to prohibit him from releasing such information to the news media. Dodd filed his motion with the court Tuesday, and Lanza filed his response Wednesday.

Jones, accused of strangling his stepsister in late August at their home at 1678 Route 264, is charged with second-degree murder. He has been jailed since October on $100,000 cash or $250,000 bail bond.

Earlier this week, Lanza filed a request to have Jones' bail lowered.

As part of the request for lower bail, Lanza released typed statements from state police Investigator Karl Stonebarger. The statements recount, among other things, a Sept. 3 meeting between Stonebarger, Dr. Robert Stoppacher, of the Onondaga County Medical Examiner's Office, and a number of other people, including Mary Rain, an assistant district attorney in Oswego County and state police Capt. Mark Lincoln.

Stonebarger says that at the meeting, Stoppacher told the group Erin's death was ruled a homicide because of the "position and orientation of the ligature marks on her neck, which were not typical of those found in cases of asphyxia by hanging."

He also writes that Stoppacher advised that the sexual trauma to Erin was recent.

"Dr. Stoppacher said it was possible that the injuries were contiguous with the asphyxiation but also could have been inflicted a day or two prior."

Also contained with Lanza's request for a bail reduction were descriptions of interviews that were conducted with friends, neighbors and relatives of Erin Maxwell, both here and in Nevada.

Lindsey and Lynn Maxwell, Erin's father and stepmother, have each been charged with six counts of endangering the welfare of a child in the case.

Among the things contained in those statements:

• Two children who went to school with Erin noticed a bruise on her eye in May or June. The same children also said they noticed bruises on her thighs when she was in second grade.

• When Jones was 15 or 16, he "playfully" choked his grandmother. He did not stop until an aunt yelled at him.

• Erin said her father locked her in her room during a full moon because he told her he was a werewolf and he did not want to eat her.

• Erin was not allowed to wear underwear to bed.

• Erin wanted her cousin Jahmila, 7, to play a game she called "torture," asking Jahmila to put her hands around Erin's neck and squeeze.

• Erin's parents withheld food from her as punishment.

• Just before her visit to Nevada, Erin was left home alone, locked in her room, for more than five hours.

[Shadowfax]

Interesting how the state police found an emu inside the home? According to animal control personel the emu was in the barn with other farm animals. Also the police claim "over 100 agressive biting cats" again animal control personel signed a reciept to the police stating "63 cats were removed from the home and property,none were agressive and all were in good shape." Also condictory in this case is the 2006 complaint was anonomus report, yet J. Sivers claimes she was recontacted by DSS and told by them what they found and how they ruled ! The more one looks closely at this case the more it appears the NYSP and the DA's office yeilded to public pressure in that county and not the facts. And if the ME's report is in error as the defense attorney claims,what is the prosacutions case?