Family and friends of Moorings resident Diana Duve will have to wait a while longer to see her accused killer Michael David Jones stand trial for the June 2014 death of the 26-year-old nurse.
A docket call was set for this week, but the case was continued until Feb. 23. The complex capital murder case, which will piece together physical, electronic and videotape evidence, along with eyewitness accounts, will not be ready for trial until the middle of next year, according to defense attorneys.
Jones, 34, who is serving a five-year sentence on a 2012 aggravated stalking charge, is accused of strangling his girlfriend Duve in his Vero Beach townhouse and then leaving her body in the trunk of her Nissan Altima in a Melbourne Publix parking lot.
Diamond Litty, public defender for the 19th Circuit, said “The case will not be ready to go to trial” when presiding Judge Cynthia Cox next has attorneys at her bench in late February.
Assistant State Attorney Brian Workman said he is still waiting for a list of witnesses the defense intends to call.
“The discovery process has been moving along and many of the witnesses have given depositions,” Workman said Friday. “This is a large case, however, and there are still quite a few witnesses the defense has yet to depose. It’s still too soon to estimate a trial date but progress is being made.”
Lead defense attorney on the case, assistant Public Defender Stanley Glenn, said Saturday, “It takes a long time to properly prepare a death penalty case for trial and the defense team is working to make sure that Mr. Jones receives the fair trial that he deserves.
“I cannot elaborate, at this time, regarding who will be added to the defense witness list,” he said.
It is not known whether Jones, a law school graduate, will take the stand in his own defense. In a Broward County domestic violence case tried in March, Jones did testify and was acquitted by the jury. He was subsequently found guilty by Judge Lisa Porter of violating probation imposed in the aggravated stalking case in Fort Lauderdale in 2012.
After those South Florida cases were concluded, Jones was transferred back to the Indian River County jail where he now awaits his trial for first-degree murder. Before being indicted on murder charges on Aug. 26, 2014, Jones worked as a financial planner at the Ocean Drive branch of PNC wealth management. Duve was a registered nurse at Sebastian River Medical Center.
Duve was last seen leaving What-A-Tavern in Royal Palm Pointe with Jones after 1 a.m. on June 20, 2014. After a weekend-long search for the missing woman by Vero Beach police detectives, her body was discovered and Jones was located in a Fort Pierce hotel room, and arrested on the basis of videotape evidence that showed him outside a Wendy’s restaurant across Babcock Street from where Duve’s body was found.
