Terrell Jones found not guilty of killing Andrew Graham in 2009
Jurors returned a not guilty verdict on Tuesday afternoon in the murder trial for Terrell Jones, charged with shooting and killing Andrew Graham in 2009. Jones was found not guilty on both charges he was facing, first-degree murder after deliberation and felony murder.
"What happened to Andrew Graham was a senseless tragedy for which Terrell Jones was never responsible. We are grateful to the jury who embodied the best in our criminal justice system and freed an innocent man," defense attorney Evan Zuckerman said.
Graham was shot and killed Nov. 5, 2009, as he was walking from an RTD light rail station to his home in Centennial.
Three others, Allen Ford, Clarissa Lockhart and Joseph Martin, have all pleaded guilty to lesser charges in connection to the Graham murder and all have been sentenced to prison.
Prosecutors claimed all three were with Jones at the time of the shooting.
The prosecution said the four were attempting to rob Graham near the Park Meadows Mall because robbing citizens along Denver's 16th Street Mall had become problematic with increased police presence.
Prosecutors said several times during the trial that each of them have identified Terrell Jones as the person who shot Graham in the back as he tried to escape.
Jones was 16 at the time of the murder.
During the trial, the defense noted how the witnesses' stories have changed over the years, with the three sometimes implicating Jones in the shooting and at other times exonerating him.
Zuckerman said there were "no straight lines, no meshing" in the stories of what occurred, and she noted there was an "astonishing" lack of physical evidence connecting Jones to the murder.
