SMITHFIELD – The North Carolina Post-Release Supervision and Parole Commission has approved the release of a convicted rapist who has been in state prison since 1987.
Frederick Jones, formerly of Blount Street, Smithfield, was convicted on March 6, 1987 in Johnston County Superior Court and sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Johnston County District Attorney Susan Doyle said in July 2021, when the parole commission was reviewing the case, she was opposed to his release. “The Johnston County District Attorney’s Office opposes the parole of Frederick Jones. That defendant committed a violent and heinous crime against an 87-year-old woman. The victim’s family members need to feel secure that this violent offender who has been convicted of rape and burglary won’t be walking the streets putting others at risk for their safety.”
On September 9, 1986 around 4 o’clock in the morning, the elderly victim was asleep inside her Blount Street home in East Smithfield. She was awakened by a man in her bedroom. The man, concealed by the darkness, threatened to kill her. He then proceeded to violently beat and rape her.
There were no witnesses to the home invasion and rape. The frail, elderly victim could not see her attacker. However, Smithfield Police Detective Rusty Stanley located a fingerprint on the inside of her bedroom window. Combined with blood and semen tests, Jones, who was a neighbor, was arrested a month later, in October 1986, for the crime.
The initial trial date, in February 1987, had to be delayed one month because of the victim’s poor health.
During the March 1987 trial at the Johnston County Courthouse in Smithfield, the woman was still experiencing blackouts from the beating.
Then Assistant District Attorney Dale Stubbs said the elderly victim lived alone. She was attacked by Jones who entered through a bedroom window. At first, the victim thought she was dreaming and thought the man was her husband who had been dead for several years. Jones beat the 87 year-old in the face and head, threatened to kill her, and then raped her, according to the testimony.
The fingerprint found on the inside of her bedroom window matched the right little finger of Frederick Jones. Blood and semen tests excluded 92 percent of the male population of possible suspects, Stubbs told The Smithfield Herald at the time. Hair samples and testimony from 14 witnesses, many of them crime lab experts, helped convict Jones.
In the six years leading up to the 1986 home invasion and sexual assault, Jones had convictions for two break-ins, two worthless checks, and single convictions for trespassing, leaving the scene of an accident and assault.
Jones, who was represented by Four Oaks attorney and public defender Phil Shaw, took the stand in his own defense. He claimed he was asleep in his room from 1:30am until 5:30am until he left for work. He lived across the street from the victim in a boarding house.
Fredrick Jones was found guilty by a jury of first-degree burglary and second-degree rape following the five day trial before Judge J.B. Allen Jr.
Jones, who was 26 when he went on trial, was sentenced to life in prison plus an additional 12 years at the expiration of his life sentence.
The state’s current sentencing law, Structured Sentencing, eliminates parole for crimes committed on or after October 1, 1994. However, the Commission has the responsibility of paroling offenders sentenced under the previous guidelines.
Jones turned 61 years of age in January. According to state prison officials, Jones will be paroled on or about December 4, 2023.
Castration before release.
What’s the point of a life sentence if they get released in less than 40 years? The average life span is longer than that!
Life without possibly of parole means there for ever.A life sentence means they can make parole under conditions.
Yes but his sentence was life in prison plus an additional 12 years… he’s not serving anything close to that! Yet one more system that needs fixing in this country!
Maybe the parole commission should take his place.
Are we going to become California or NY?
“Only four states – Hawaii, Iowa, New Jersey, and South Dakota – actually approved more people for parole in 2020 than in 2019.” Source: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2021/02/03/parolegrants/
Reference has nothing to do with North Carolina.
Maybe he will submit his address planned for release to move across the street from one of their mothers or grandmothers and they will reconsider at that time?
Life plus 12 yrs should mean he remain in the prison morgue for 12 years following his death in prison. He should NOT be allowed back into society, PERIOD.
Aren’t most of the judges here in NC from the conservative party? Or if a jury trial, aren’t most people from that same party?
No