Execution Report: Quintin Jones

Quintin Phillippe Jones, 41, was executed by lethal injection on 19 May 2021 in Huntsville, Texas for the robbery and murder of his great aunt in her home.

On Saturday, 11 September 1999, Jones, then 20, went to the home of his great aunt, Berthena Bryant, in Tarrant County. He picked up a baseball bat that she kept by the door and hit her with it until she was dead. He then stole her purse, in which there was a wallet containing $30, and her car.

Bryant's neighbors discovered her body the next morning. Her wounds included a broken collarbone and shoulder blade, two fractured ribs, and a fracture at the base of her skull. The bloody, broken baseball bat was recovered from the scene. Her car was found in a parking lot a half a mile from her house, with the purse and empty wallet inside.

Later that day, Jones was arrested for outstanding traffic warrants and possession of a controlled substance. Detective Ann Gates questioned him about his aunt's murder. He denied any involvement in it and gave an alibi. The following day, Gates went with Jones to various locations to corroborate his alibi. She interviewed him again after his alibi did not check out.

In his second interview with Gates, Jones stated that he had another personality named James, who had been living in his head since age ten or eleven. He stated that James went to Bryant's house between 5:00 and 5:30 a.m. to steal some money and that James was the killer. After the murder, he went to a friend's house and bought drugs with the $30 James stole.

At Jones's trial, the victim's sister, Mattie Long, testified that despite her income of less than $500 per month, Bryant occasionally made small loans to various people, including Jones. She kept a ledger recording the loans and their repayments. On 10 September, Bryant told Long that she refused a request for a loan from Jones earlier in the day. Long testified that Bryant "seemed uneasy" about her conversation with Jones.

At Jones's punishment hearing, evidence was prevented implicating him in the death of his childhood friend, Mark Sanders, and acquaintance Clark Peoples. John Williams testified that Jones lived with his mother and him for several years. Williams testified that one day, while his mother was at work and Jones's friend, Ricky "Red" Roosa was there, Jones told him to leave the house because he might "do something bad that he would have to go to jail for." He did leave, and when he returned, Jones and Roosa were gone, but he noticed dark brownish spots on the carpets and walls that appeared to be blood.

Sanders and Peoples' bodies were found in the Trinity River in Wise County in June 1999. Investigators had few leads for several months. After Jones was arrested for Bryant's murder, however, his sister, Keisha Jones, told her probation officer that her brother "knew something" about their killings. Based on this, a judge issued an arrest warrant for Roosa and a search warrant for Jones's residence. Texas Rangers Richard Johnson and Lane Akin executed the search warrant on 22 September. A criminologist for the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Lab testified that human blood was found on the walls, carpet, and couch cushions of the residence.

While Ranger Johnson stayed at the residence, Akin left during the search to go back to the Tarrant County Jail to question Jones. He admitted having known the victims, but initially denied any involvement in their murders. After further questioning, he confessed both orally and in writing to participating in killing them. He placed the primary responsibility for the murders on Roosa, then 40, and minimized his own role, making himself out to be a follower of Roosa's instructions who did no more than supply restraints for tying the victims and help to move their dead bodies.

Keisha Jones also testified that her brother had talked to her "somewhat" about the killings. She said he told her that Roosa initiated the attack and forced him by threats to "finish what he started." Many details of her testimony differed from how she had testified to the grand jury and/or statements she had made to her probation officer and Rangers Akin and Johnson.

Paula Freeman, Jones's girlfriend and John Williams's mother, testified for the defense that all of Jones's wrong-doing was Roosa's fault. She stated that Jones was trying to get out of the gang he and Roosa were in and would not have done anything bad if not for his influence.

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