Closing arguments begin in Russell Jones murder trial

MODESTO -- There's no dispute about how Dena Raley-McCluskey wound up buried in a Tuolumne County shallow grave.

Russell Todd Jones stuffed Raley-McCluskey's dead body in a toolbox in the back of his pickup and drove to Groveland. He buried her there near his parents' property, where she would remain hidden for eight years until investigators found her skeletal remains.

How she died is the focus of a trial against Jones, 51, who is accused of killing his roommate, Raley-McCluskey, in October 1999. The attorneys began their closing arguments to the jury Wednesday morning.

Deputy District Attorney Annette Rees told the jury Raley-McCluskey was a 36-year-old woman with a family, friends and an addiction to alcohol that created turmoil in her life.

"But Dena did not deserve to be dumped in a dirt hole for eight years," Rees said in her closing argument. "Hidden from her family; hidden from police, while the evidence decomposed, disappeared and was cleaned up."

Raley-McCluskey's skeletal remains were unearthed from the burial site in October 2007. There was no body tissue, so forensic experts could not determine her cause of death.

Jones initially told investigators he found Raley-McCluskey dead in the home they shared on Karen Way in central Modesto. He said he panicked, buried her body and didn't tell anyone because he was afraid police would not believe him.

Frank Carson, Jones' defense attorney, has maintained that his client was telling investigators the truth about finding Raley-McCluskey dead.

"If you convict Russell Jones of either murder or manslaughter, you will be convicting an innocent man," Carson said in his closing argument. "If he did kill her, he wouldn't have ever disclosed it. He wouldn't have ever disclosed the location (of the burial site)."

He argued that just because his client never said anything doesn't mean he was responsible for the woman's death.

Jones led investigators to the burial site. After extensive questioning by police, Jones confessed to investigators he punched Raley-McCluskey once during an argument over a bar bill.

Carson has said his client was suffering from psychological stress when he gave investigators a phony story about punching Raley-McCluskey.

Rees said Jones was never in duress when questioned by police. The jury watched and listened in court to audio and video recordings of Jones answering police questions.

"You listened to the tapes, you watched the videos, you decide," Rees told the jury. "Does Mr. Jones look like he's intimidated, frightened?"

Deputy DA: Disrespect

Carson argued the prosecution's case is hollow and relies on circumstantial evidence, such as testimony from two women who used to date Jones.

One woman testified that Jones used his trained Doberman pinscher dog to hold her captive for two weeks, and the other testified that Jones hit her multiple times with a fireplace poker.

"They don't have good evidence, so they fall back on something to create a lot of smoke," Carson told the jury. "They think you're dumb. They think you'll swallow and believe anything."

Rees argued that the women's testimony is an example of Jones' disrespect

toward women, which also was evident in statements he made to police about them and other women he dated. Raley-McCluskey rented a room from Jones, and they had a few sexual encounters while she lived there.

The prosecutor told the jury Jones, during questioning, never sounded remorseful about punching Raley-McCluskey and leaving her injured and unconscious on a bathroom floor for hours before moving her dead body.

Jones told police he wrapped her in a quilt, stuffed her in the toolbox, used shovels and pickaxes to dig the 3-foot grave, covered her with a plastic tarp and doused it with gasoline to keep animals away. He checked on the grave annually to make sure it wasn't disturbed.

After returning home, Jones removed blood stains from the carpet and the walls with a rented carpet cleaner and bleach with hot water.

Rees told the jury Jones was methodical and took extreme risks to hide a "murder, ladies and gentlemen, that's the only reasonable inference."

Carson will finish his closing argument today, and Rees will have an opportunity to provide a rebuttal argument before the jury starts deliberations.

Bee staff writer Rosalio Ahumada can be reached at rahumada@modbee.com or (209) 578-2394.