The mother of five children murdered by their father asks the court to give him life

A South Carolina woman whose five young children were brutally murdered by their father asked a jury not to sentence her ex-husband to death. This staggering demand marks the last and unexpected turning point in one of the most horrific murder cases in the history of the state.

Amber Kyzer, who lost all her children to her ex-husband, 37-year-old Timothy Jones Jr., asked the jury to spare the man's life on Tuesday when he testified about his case. murder.

"He absolutely did not show any pity to my children. But my children loved her and if I speak on behalf of my children and not myself, that's what I have to say, "she said. She admitted that there were many points to the trial, which, however, gave her the feeling of wanting to fry it.

She added that Jones had been a good father during their marriage and that she had given up custody of her children to her ex-husband because he was a seasoned computer engineer and was not a good father. he earned a lot more money than she did.

Although Kyzer stated that she did not personally support the death penalty, even in the case of her ex-husband, she would respect the jury's decision. "That's why we have a jury," she said.

Kyzer's statement took the courtroom by surprise and marks a new turning point in the murder trial. Jones, who was convicted of murder by a jury last week, killed his five children at home during the summer of 2014.

The father allegedly forced his 6-year-old son, who he thought was conspiring with his ex-wife, to exercise until the death of the child. Jones then decided to kill his remaining children. He strangled Merah, aged 8, and Elias, then 7, with his hands and used a belt to strangle Gabriel, then 2, and Abigail, 1 year old, because his hands were too big, according to the prosecutors.

Jones put the bodies in garbage bags and threw them on a hill near Camden, Alabama. He was arrested shortly after at a traffic control post in Smith County, Mississippi, after an officer said he felt the terrible smell of decomposing the SUV.

Prosecutors claim the death penalty and describe Jones as a devilish and selfish father who shot his 6 year old son angrily and who then strangled the rest of his children in a fatal way because he did not want his ex-wife has them.

But the defense claimed that Jones was suffering from emotional trauma and an undiagnosed mental illness resulting from a multitude of suffering and abuse that surrounded him in his childhood. They said that he had cracked when his marriage had failed and that his wife had left him for a teenage neighbor, leaving him unmarried. His ex-wife claimed that she could no longer live with Jones who used religion to control her.

The defense called a social worker who described several levels of trauma within Jones' family, including three generations of rape, sexual assault by family members, gunshots, stab wounds, drug dealing, rituals voodoo, prostitution, frequent screams and insults against children, and how Jones's mother plunged him into ice-water baths and gave him laxatives to try to make him behave.

The social worker said that Jones' grandmother was raped by her father-in-law and gave Jones's father 12 years old.

Grandmother Roberta Thornsberry testified for the defense Monday, according to The State newspaper in South Carolina.

"I love her," she said pleading against the death penalty. "Our family has suffered enough. I do not think we can take more. It broke us so badly. "

Jones' father also testified at the hearing, even removing his shirt to show off the jury tattoos of his five grandchildren killed, according to The State.

"I do not want to hurt anymore," Jones Sr. said, asking the jury not to go for the death penalty.

The social worker also revealed that Jones' mother had schizophrenia and had entered a psychiatric facility for decades from the age of 3 years. Her psychiatric history showed that she had told the doctors that her father had assaulted her and locked her in a closet with a dead chicken flowing from her blood. as part of a voodoo ritual, said the social worker.

The social worker's testimony at the sentencing phase of Jones' trial was fiercely disputed. Prosecutors had previously persuaded the judge not to let her testify before a jury that had found Jones guilty.

The same jury will soon decide whether Jones will be sentenced to death or life without the possibility of parole.