Sick Defendant Forces Mistrial

Becky Jones

BOONEVILLE, Miss. (AP) – A Mississippi judge has declared a mistrial after a defendant in a murder case was unable to be in the courtroom Wednesday.

Circuit Judge Seth Pounds issued the ruling after defense attorneys told him that Rebecca Jones was hospitalized in Alabama, according to the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (http://bit.ly/UdxLhg).

Her attorneys say she was taken by ambulance overnight to a Florence, Ala., hospital. They say she was hospitalized after complaining of stomach pain and being found unresponsive in her bathroom in her Lexington, Ala., home.

Pounds ordered a warrant be issued for Jones’ arrest as soon as she is released from the hospital.

Jones is charged with murder in the 2010 death of her mother. Authorities say 66-year-old Jane Jones died at a Tupelo hospital from gunshot wounds.