Status Hearing Set for Brett Jones

TUPELO, Miss. (AP) — A status hearing March 27 in Lee County Circuit Court could determine when Brett Jones will be re-sentenced for a murder conviction.

Last summer, the Mississippi Supreme Court threw out Jones’ life without parole sentence and returned the case to Lee County for re-sentencing.

A local newspaper reports the decision was based on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that it’s unconstitutional to mandate a sentence of life in prison without parole for a juvenile

Jones was convicted at age 15 in the 2004 fatal stabbing of his 68-year-old grandfather.

Jones testified that his grandfather came at him in the kitchen and cornered him. He claimed he stabbed his grandfather in self-defense.

Prosecutors say Jones got angry when his grandfather disapproved of his girlfriend.