BEAUMONT, Texas — The jury in the trial of a man charged in the death of his wife on Valentine's Day 2019 reached a guilty verdict on Tuesday,
Christopher Ray Jones was found guilty of the murder of his wife Olivia Jones, 38, after shooting her in the back of the head.
He was sentenced to 30 years in prison, and waived his rights to appeal.
Jones’ defense attorney, Ryan Gertz, said in opening statements last week that the couple had a heated argument that resulted in Olivia taking a gun and holding it to her head. Gertz says Jones tried taking the gun from Olivia when it went off and struck her in the back of the head.
Jones then immediately called 911 according to Gertz in court last week.
The prosecution said in opening statements that Jones had deleted "crucial video" from security cameras at the couple's north Beaumont home.
The first witness for the defense, a Beaumont Police detective, testified that investigators found out Jones had deleted some surveillance camera videos from his phone before it was handed to police for review. The motion-activated camera at the home sent video straight to an app on Jones’ phone according to the detective’s statements.
He testified that Jones described some events police realized were not shown in the videos. The detective said Jones admitted to deleting some of the videos because they showed him arguing with his wife and thought it might make him look bad.
Olivia’s younger brother Joshua Simmons spoke to 12News at an event held to honor Olivia’s life in 2020 one year after her death. Simmons told 12News the family was still “waiting on justice” after a frustrating year.
Olivia's brother previously described her as "driven" and said she loved to love her daughters.
"She was all about her daughters," Simmons said.
He indicated the marriage was troubled before Olivia's death.
"To be honest, I had let my sister know several times she needed to leave Chris," Simmons said.
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