Prometheus 6

Mr. Jones’s turn of fortune might not have been possible before the modern era, where the plastic MetroCards, along with E-ZPass and surveillance cameras, have become ubiquitous. 

True. One the other hand, he's have had no trouble at all if not for a lying, unidentified witness.

The Jones brothers were arrested after a witness identified them as being involved in the murder of a man shortly after midnight on May 24, at Ogden Avenue and West 165th Street in the High Bridge section of the Bronx.

The witness, who has not been identified, said Corey Jones was arguing with the man and accused him of being a “snitch.” A short time later, the witness said, Corey handed Jason a gun, and Jason fired shots, killing the man. A call to 911 was made at 12:21 a.m., records show.

I think that witness is the next person to investigate. But they don't want to do that...

The prosecutors said that their witness might have been wrong about Jason, but had correctly identified Corey.

The judge, Victor Marrero of Federal District Court in Manhattan, earlier had refused to grant bail to Corey Jones, even after several witnesses said he had been with them at the time of the shooting. But, in a hearing last month, Judge Marrero suggested the new information could not be ignored.

“It seems somewhat implausible,” he said, that the government’s witness saw the event and was “right about one and mistaken about the other.”

Murder Suspect Has Witness: A MetroCard
By BENJAMIN WEISER

When Jason Jones was arrested in a fatal shooting in the Bronx in May, he told the police that he had been nowhere near the scene. He said he had left work, ridden the bus with some co-workers and cashed his paycheck, and later had taken a subway to see his girlfriend.

Federal prosecutors charged Mr. Jones and his older brother, Corey, in the shooting, saying they had killed the victim because he had been a government witness in drug and gun cases. Both men could face the death penalty if the government decides to seek it.

But in recent weeks, the case has taken an extraordinary turn — because of Jason Jones’s MetroCard.

Months after the arrests, a retired detective working for Mr. Jones’s lawyers drove to a city jail located on a barge moored in the East River in the South Bronx, where Mr. Jones had been held after his arrest, and retrieved his wallet. The MetroCard was still inside.

Mr. Jones’s lawyers then asked New York City Transit to use the card to trace his movements the night of the shooting. The results supported his account, showing that the card had been used on a bus, and later on a subway roughly five miles from the shooting, just as he had described.

With that, and a photograph snapped of Mr. Jones, 26, as he cashed his paycheck, his lawyers argued that it was impossible for him to have committed the crime. Both brothers have been released on bond for now, an unusual step in a federal murder case, while prosecutors say they are continuing to investigate.