CROW: Ok. In connection with Jessie Misskelley’s house, where?
JONES: Five, maybe six trailers down.
CROW: Do you know which way?
JONES: I think it’s south. Across the street, anyway.
CROW: Ok. Do you remember the day May fifth?
JONES: Yes sir.
CROW: Why do you remember that day?
JONES: We went to wrestling in Dyess that night.
CROW: Why do you remember—did you go wrestling other nights?
JONES: No sir. I went one other time but that night there.
CROW: Ok. Why do you remember this as May fifth as opposed to another date?
JONES: Because we heard about it a couple months later. A couple days later, I mean.
CROW: What did you hear about?
THE COURT: You’re gonna have to speak into the microphone. I can barely hear you here.
JONES: The boys come up missing.
CROW: Ok
THE COURT: Speak up.
CROW: Sorry.
THE COURT: I can’t hear him.
CROW: Scoot up towards the mic. Ok, so you heard about the boys coming up missing?
JONES: Yes sir.
CROW: That’s why you remember this being the day?
JONES: Yes sir.
CROW: Do you remember when the first time you saw Jessie that day?
JONES: About 5:30.
CROW: Where’d you see him?
JONES: He was outside and I was going in my other aunt’s house.
CROW: Ok, not the aunt you’re living at?
JONES: No sir.
CROW: Ok, where’s this aunt—the house you were going into, where was it in relation to Jessie’s house?
JONES: Right in front of his trailer.
CROW: Ok.
JONES: Across the street.
CROW: Do you remember who was with him or anything?
JONES: No sir.
CROW: Ok. Were you paying attention?
JONES: No sir.
CROW: What were you doing?
JONES: I was going in the house.
CROW: Ok. When was the next time you saw Jessie that day?
JONES: At 7:00 when he come down to my aunt’s house.
CROW: Ok, this same aunt—is this the one you’re living at or the aunt—
JONES: The one I’m living at.
CROW: Ok, so that’s the one five or six trailers down?
JONES: Yes sir.
CROW: Ok, and what happened when he got there? You can’t tell what Jessie told you, now. What happened when he got there?
JONES: We sit there for a little bit and talked, then we got up and we went down to Johnny Hamilton’s house.
CROW: Ok. How long did you sit and talk?
JONES: About five minutes.
CROW: Ok. What were you doing at Johnny Hamilton’s house?
JONES: Waiting for a guy by the name of Bill to get there.
CROW: Ok, and then what were you going to do?
JONES: Go to Dyess.
CROW: Ok. Did you go to Dyess?
JONES: Yes sir.
CROW: Who went with you?
JONES: It was me, little Jessie, Freddy Revelle, Keith Johnson, Bill Cox, Dennis Carter, Zella and Johnny Hamilton.
CROW: Ok, did Kevin Johnson go?
JONES: No sir.
CROW: Ok. Do you remember why he didn’t go?
JONES: He had a rescue meeting that night.
CROW: Ok, did Keith Johnson leave leave from y’all—leave with y’all for the same place?
JONES: No sir.
CROW: Where’d you meet up with Keith?
JONES: At the Tyronza Jonesboro exit, at that old Exxon station.
CROW: When y’all left—what cars—once you got to Tyronza, whose car did what?
JONES: Me and Jessie rode with Keith in his car. Little Dennis, Fred Revelle, Bill, Zella and Johnny rode in Johnny’s car.
CROW: What about Bill’s car? What happened to it?
JONES: We left it—
DAVIS Your Honor, I object to the leading. It’s kind of like a script (?) He asks the question about the car—
CROW: Your Honor, I’m asking opening questions “What happened to the car?” He can respond, “It went”, “It didn’t went”, He can respond “It blew up”, whatever happened, he can tell the story.
CROW: Your Honor, when he asks the question it presumes something happened to the car and this witness can certainly testify about events that occurred without being prompted.
THE COURT: Avoid leading.
CROW: Yes, Your Honor. Do you remember what time y’all left?
JONES: It was anywhere from 7:15 to 7:30.
CROW: Ok, and do you know what time you left Dyess coming back?
JONES: 11:15.
CROW: That’s when you left or when you got back?
JONES: When we got back.
CROW: Ok, what did you do at that point?
JONES: Well, me and Jessie was with Bill Cox and Fred in his car—Bill’s car and they let us out and me and Jessie went to my house.
CROW: Ok, this is the one six or seven trailers down?
JONES: Yes sir.
CROW: Ok. What happened next?
JONES: We sit down there—he sit down there and talked to me and my cousin till 12:00 and he went home.
CROW: Is there anything important about twelve that made him want to go home around twelve?
JONES: Because my aunt always come home at 12:00.
CROW: Ok.
JONES: She got home at about five minutes after.
PASS THE WITNESS
CROSS EXAMINATION
FOGLEMAN: Mr. Jones, when was the first time you talked to the police and told them this story?
JONES: I haven’t talked to them.
FOGLEMAN: You have not talked to the police?
JONES: No sir. I talked to a undercover cop about a week ago.
FOGLEMAN: Oh, so he’s not police?
JONES: Yes sir.
FOGLEMAN: Ok, so you have talked to the police?
JONES: Yes sir.
FOGLEMAN: All right. And so about a week ago was the first time you ever told anybody with law enforcement about this?
JONES: Mmm-hmm. (yes)
FOGLEMAN: All right. Now, when you said that the reason that you remembered this was because you went wrestling, right?
JONES: Yes sir.
FOGLEMAN: Ok. And you went wrestling one other time?
JONES: Yes sir. Before that.
FOGLEMAN: Before that? When was that?
JONES: I can’t—I think it was on—I think it was April something but I’m not for sure of the day.
FOGLEMAN: Ok, well, but you remember vividly May the fifth because you went wrestling?
JONES: Yes sir.
FOGLEMAN: But you don’t know the date you went wrestling before?
JONES: No sir.
FOGLEMAN: Who’d you go with the first time?
JONES: With Johnny Hamilton.
FOGLEMAN: Who else?
JONES: Dennis Carter.
FOGLEMAN: Who else was there?
JONES: Uh, Fred Revelle.
FOGLEMAN: Anybody else?
JONES: Uhm, I think little Jessie was there.
FOGLEMAN: Ok. And those were the only two times you went?
JONES: I went one other time after that—
FOGLEMAN: When was that?
JONES: It was a holiday, but I can’t exactly remember what holiday it was.
FOGLEMAN: Ok, the time that you went on a holiday, you remember going but you don’t even remember what the holiday was?
JONES: No sir. I know it was on a Monday, that’s all I remember.
FOGLEMAN: But you remember May the fifth, right?
JONES: Yes sir.
FOGLEMAN: Isn’t it true that you told the police that you remember, you know it was May the fifth because you signed the contract saying you wouldn’t sue anybody that day?
JONES: Yes sir.
FOGLEMAN: Right? I want to show you State’s Exhibit 103 and ask if you recognize that?
JONES: Yes sir.
FOGLEMAN: Is that the contract you signed?
JONES: Yes sir.
FOGLEMAN: All right. Take my pen here and put you a little red star by where your name appears.
WITNESS COMPLIES
FOGLEMAN: All right, and when did you—did you sign it that night?
JONES: Well, I signed it. I signed—you had to sign them every night.
FOGLEMAN: Every night?
JONES: Yea, I signed one twice when I went.
FOGLEMAN: Well, if you signed them more than once, what is it that’s magical about signing a piece of paper that makes you remember it’s May the fifth?
JONES: Because two days—three days before that it was also Fred Revelle’s birthday.
FOGLEMAN: Oh, it was Freddy Revelle’s birthday two days before? But you didn’t say that was why you remember in your statement.
JONES: No, it wasn’t. The reason I remembered is because I heard the next day or the day after that the boys come up missing.
FOGLEMAN: All right, well just a few minutes ago you said that—
JONES: I said that too.
FOGLEMAN: You said what?
JONES: That the boys come up missing.
FOGLEMAN: Yea, you said something about you knew because “We heard” and you said “We heard it was about a month and a couple a days later”
JONES: I said a couple a days later.
FOGLEMAN: Didn’t you say a month and a couple a days?
JONES: No, I said that and then I said “No, it was a couple a days later”.
FOGLEMAN: Ok, so you did say a month. And then you changed it, right?
JONES: Yes, I changed it.
FOGLEMAN: All right.
JONES: It was either the next day or the day after.
FOGLEMAN: But what you told the police, let me show you your statement. You recognize that?
JONES: Yes sir.
FOGLEMAN: And that’s in your handwriting?
JONES: Mmm-hmm.
FOGLEMAN: And what you told the police was that you knew it was May the fifth because you signed this contract, right? But you’re now saying that you signed the contract more than one day that you went wrestling?
JONES: Mmm-hmm.
FOGLEMAN: I don’t have any further questions, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Anything else?
CROW: Yes, Your Honor.
REDIRECT
CROW: Were there any other times you went wrestling when some boys turned up missing the next day?
JONES: No sir.
CROW: Was there any other times you went wrestling where Keith Johnson went?
JONES: No sir, that was the only night I went.
CROW: Thank you.
FOGLEMAN: On the contract, you signed below Kevin Johnson’s name, right?
JONES: Hmm-mmm (no).
FOGLEMAN: You didn’t?
JONES: Uh, Kevin wasn’t there. Yea, Kevin wasn’t there when I signed it.
FOGLEMAN: Ok, but you signed—your signature on that is right below Kevin Johnson’s name, isn’t it?
JONES: Because you all signed on the same piece of paper.
FOGLEMAN: Jessie’s is right above Kevin Johnson’s, isn’t it?
