A California man convicted of brutally raping and killing a 13-year-old girl in 1979 has been granted early release from prison, despite desperate pleas from the girl’s family.
Donald Jones, of Hayward, will be released from prison after an Alameda County Superior Court judge granted a motion to release him Tuesday.
The 69-year-old is battling a number of terminal illnesses, including cirrhosis of the liver and kidney failure, and his prognosis helped hasten his release from San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.
The judge in his case, Thomas Stevens, said his decision was not “an expression of leniency” but was based “entirely, 110 percent, on the way the statute is written and the recommendation of medical professionals.” .
jones strangled 13-year-old Kimberly White and set her body on fire in a Hayward home on June 30, 1979, according to court records.
Kimberly White was only 13 years old at the time of her brutal murder in Hayward, California.
Kimberly’s cousin, Cathy Rodriguez, desperately pleaded with the judge to deny Jones’ motion for compassionate release.
But before her release, Kimberly’s family desperately pleaded with the judge to deny the motion for the killer to be released.
Kimberly’s cousin, Cathy Rodriguez, was just 19 years old when Kimberly was raped, strangled and burned while alone in a duplex on Shepard Ave, 45 years ago.
Rodriguez spoke on behalf of his family, citing that Jones showed no compassion when he violently killed his cousin, a crime so devastating that his casket was closed during funeral services.
“My heart will always be sore,” Rodriguez said through tears.
She also shared that Kimberly’s mother recently passed away and will continue to fight against Jones’ release as her aunt “always told her that she doesn’t want Donald Jones to get out of jail.”
In 1980, Jones pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, and in exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors dropped the arson charge, court records revealed.
Jones will be released from San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, formerly San Quentin State Prison (pictured)
Kimberly White was just 13 years old when she was raped, strangled and burned while alone in a duplex on Shepard Ave (pictured), 45 years ago.
Rodriguez saved fragments of news articles detailing his cousin’s 1979 murder case.
His motive for savagely murdering Kimberly remains unknown, as Stevens describes Jones’ case as “one of the most callous” cases that has come before him.
In the years after his conviction, Jones applied for parole and was denied twice, once in 2014 and again just last month, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The CDCR filed a motion for their release earlier this month based on a California state law that allows courts to release prisoners if they are suffering from illnesses such as a terminal illness, unless they pose a danger to the public.
“All of this tells me, Mr. Jones, I don’t want to be too blunt, but the law requires me to evaluate you this way, you’re basically dying or you’re almost dead,” Stevens said.
Neither the district attorney’s office nor the public defender’s office, which represented Jones for purposes of the motion, opposed his release.
“My cousin had to die alone without all of us there, and he needs to die alone in prison, and you know, you reap what you sow,” Rodriguez said.
Once the motion is granted, Jones will be hosted by the Uncuffed Project, a Vallejo organization that offers a range of services including medical care to formerly incarcerated people.