INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Although the judge and attorneys in the trial of Henry Lee Jones, Jr. — charged with the murder of Brian Simpson — repeatedly predicted that a jury would be seated by 5 p.m. Wednesday, it did not happen.
Instead, Friday morning, about 90 prospective jurors will return to the courtroom of Judge Robert L. Pegg so the process of questioning jurors can continue.
By the end of the day Wednesday, questioning by prosecutor Tom Bakkedahl and Jones’ defense attorney Dorothy Naumann strongly suggested the direction the case would take.
While Bakkedahl repeatedly asked prospective jurors if they felt they could rely on corroborating circumstantial evidence to establish witness credibility, Naumann asked them if they could put aside a former criminal record and base their decisions solely on the evidence in this case, alone.
She also hammered home the meaning of “beyond reasonable doubt,” reminding prospective jurors that it was a higher bar than “probably guilty.”
Bakkedahl appeared to be setting the stage for jurors to believe the testimony of Darius Robinson, Jones’ young accomplice, who has never been convicted of a crime, and who will be the state’s star witness in the case.
Naumann, however, was setting the stage for jurors to have room for doubt about Robinson’s version of events.
What was clear, as the questioning continued, is that the verdict in this case will depend on whether jurors believe Robinson’s version of events — that Jones shot through the bathroom door, killing Simpson, who arrived home to find his house being robbed — or that they cannot know, beyond reasonable doubt, if Robinson is telling the truth, which would mean Jones’ acquittal.
As attorneys’ questioning continued and the defense strategy became clearer, Simpson’s widow, Kristen Simpson, watched out of sight from a small room with mirrored glass, sobbing uncontrollably by day’s end.