Parole Hearing For Convicted Murderer

By: Whitney McHugh | Alabama's13.com
Published: June 10, 2008

Now an update to an NBC13 HD Fact Finder Report.

A parole hearing has been set next month for one of the men convicted in the brutal murder of Birmingham Southern student, Quenette Shehane.

The Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles will hear Jerry Lee Jones’ request for parole on August 4 in Montgomery. Jones is currently serving a life sentence for the murder at Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore, Alabama.

"What happened to Quenette Shehane is a brutal horrible horrible thing," said Alabama Attorney General Troy King.

In December of 1976, Quenette Shehane was abducted from a Birmingham convenience store. She was raped, and shot by Jerry Lee Jones and two other men. The trio then dumped Shehane’s nude body in a wooded area in the Hooper City neighborhood.

The Attorney General told NBC13 HD News he plans to be at the parole hearing to support the Shehane family. “We will be there fighting tooth and nail to keep the man (Jones) in prison. Dangerous criminals out to go to prison and they ought to stay there," said King.

King said he expects dozens, if not hundreds, of people to be at the hearing, in support of Quenette Shehane’s family. There is a public petition online where people are posting comments about Jones' possible parole.

Since her daughter’s murder, Miriam Shehane has been fighting for the rights of victims of crime, and for their families. Shehane co-founded V.O.C.A.L., Victims of Crime and Leniency, in Alabama.

Jerry Lee Jones declined an interview with NBC13 HD News.

We will be at the parole hearing in Montgomery, and will bring you the results.