Nurse suspected of killing dozens of infants indicted in another baby's death
SAN ANTONIO - A Texas nurse who's been serving a 99-year prison sentence for the fatal overdose of an infant in her care was indicted Thursday in the death of another infant as prosecutors try to keep her behind bars.
A Bexar County grand jury returned the murder indictment against Genene Jones, accusing her of killing 11-month-old Joshua Sawyer at a San Antonio hospital in 1981 with a fatal overdose of the anti-seizure drug Dilantin.
Jones has been serving concurrent sentences in a state prison for women in Gatesville, Texas, for two 1985 convictions: a 99-year prison sentence for murder in the death of 15-month-old Chelsea McClelland, who was given a fatal injection of a muscle relaxant, and a 60-year term for injury to a child for giving 4-week-old Rolando Santos a large injection of the blood-thinner Heparin, which he survived.
Jones has been consistently denied parole by the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole. However, she is due for release next March after serving one-third of her sentence under a mandatory release law in effect at the time of her convictions, and the parents of as many as 60 infants Jones is suspected of killing want to keep her in prison.
"She is pure evil, and justice warrants that she be held accountable for the crimes she committed," said Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood in a statement. He said his office "will reserve further comment at this time regarding future charges against Jones."
LaHood plans for Jones to return to San Antonio for the new trial before her mandatory release from prison. If convicted, she could be sentenced to 5 to 99 years or life in prison.
Jones first came under suspicion in 1985 in San Antonio, where babies at the city's charity hospital began dying of seizures and respiratory arrest. Analysis later revealed that the children had been under Jones' care when they received injections of Heparin.
However, Jones was not investigated until after she left San Antonio to work for a pediatrician in Kerrville, where Chelsea McClelland died. Jones' trial for the McClelland death was moved from Kerr County to Williamson County, near Austin. Rolando Santos was among the infants who overdosed in the San Antonio charity hospital.
