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Elizabeth Zavala, Staff writer
Sep. 9, 2019 Updated: Sep. 9, 2019 7:06 p.m.
Convicted baby killer Genene Jones is handcuffed as she arrives for a hearing Monday morning in the 399th state District Court. Jones, a former pediatric nurse, was convicted in 1984 of fatally injecting Chelsea McClellan of Kerrville with a powerful medication. After her attorney withdrew his motion for a competency trial MOnday, the judge decided that Jones will stand trial on additional murder charges in February.
Robin Jerstad /ContributorShow MoreShow Less
Rosemary Cantu, the mother of Rosemary Vega who died in 1981, looks around the room Monday morning in the 399th state District Court. Genene Jones, a former pediatric nurse, has been charged with killing Rosemary and four other children. She will stand trial in February.
Convicted baby killer Genene Jones arrives in the 399th state District Court on Monday, Sept. 9.
Genene Jones was in court Monday, Sept. 9, for a trial about her competency, a legal proceeding that was canceled. She will go on trial Feb. 10.
Convicted baby killer Genene Jones, second from left, stands with her attorneys in front of Judge Frank Castro on Monday.
Convicted baby killer Genene Jones, left, talks with attorneys Brigitte Garza, back to camera, and Cornelius Cox, right.
Rosemary Cantu, from left, Kiley McClellen, and Jeremy Holbrook, embrace during a hearing for Genene Jone, shown in the background, during court proceeding Monday, Sept. 9, in the 399th state District Court.
Convicted baby killer Genene Jones leaves a hearing in 399th state District Court on Monday, Sept. 9.
Judge Frank Castro listens to defense attorney Cornelius Cox on Monday morning during a hearing for Genene Jones. Prosecutor Catherine Babbitt also listens.
Convicted baby killer Genene Jones leaves court with her attorney Brigitte Garza on Monday morning.
Cornelius Cox, the attorney for Genene Jones speaks to the media Monday morning. Jones, a former pediatric nurse, was convicted in 1984 of fatally injecting Chelsea McClellan of Kerrville with a powerful medication. After Cox withdrew his motion for a competency trial, the judge decided that Jones will stand trial on additional murder charges early next year.
Family members of alleged victims at the competency trial for convicted baby killer Genene Jones stand outside the courthouse on Monday, Sept. 9. Pictured from left are Juanita Villarreal, Eugene and Hope Pacheco, Melissa Luna, Connie Weeks, Kylie McClellan and Rosemary Cantu. Each holds photographs of Petti McClellan-Wiese, who died in June.
Elizabeth Zavala /Staff photographerShow MoreShow Less
Genene Jones was to be released in March 2018, but was indicted on five new murder charges in 2017.
Click through to catch up on the San Antonio murder case that shocked the nation.
1. Former nurse Genene Jones was sentenced in 1984 to life in prison for killing a 15-month-old child.
Martin D Rodden/San Antonio Light file photoShow MoreShow Less
2. Jones was a nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit of University Hospital, formerly Medical Center Hospital, from 1981 to 1982.
Robert Kolarik/San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
3. The New England Journal of Medicine reported in 1985 that 34 babies died while Jones was on duty, boosting the hospital's infant death rate by 178 percent.
San Antonio Express-News / File photoShow MoreShow Less
4. Jones is suspected in 46 infant deaths, but no formal charges have been brought in those cases.
Bob Thomas/UPI PHOTOShow MoreShow Less
5. Despite the suspicion, Jones was only convicted in the death of a 15-month-old girl named Chelsea McClellan, who was given a fatal dose of muscle relaxers. Following the sentencing, Petti Coats, Chelsea's mother, met with reporters.
6. Jones was convicted in another case, in which the child survived, on a charge of injury to a child.
7. In August 2014, the then-65-year-old was denied parole. In this February 15, 2005 photo, Petti Coats holds a photo of her slain daughter, Chelsea McClellan.
Meenu Bhardwaj/For the ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
8. Former Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed said in 2014 she wanted Jones to spend the rest of her life behind bars, and looked into filing additional charges against her.
9. Jones was scheduled for automatic parole on March 1, 2018 under a 1977 law meant to alleviate overcrowding in prisons.
10. Jones was indicted in 2017 on five murder charges stemming from the deaths of babies in her care in the 1980s while she worked at what was then called Bexar County Hospital. In this May 2019 photo, Jones, right, laughs with defense attorney Brigitte Garza before a hearing in the 399th State District Court.
Darren Abate /San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
Convicted baby killer and former nurse Genene Jones will remain in prison under a plea agreement in the murder of Joshua Sawyer. She never should have been eligible for parole.
Convicted killer Genene Jones, the pediatric nurse known as the "Angel of Death" for fatally injecting a Kerrville child with an overdose of a powerful drug in the 1980s, will be tried on murder charges early next year, a judge decided Monday, after her attorney abruptly withdrew his motion for a competency trial.
Jones, dressed in a blue Bexar County jail jumpsuit, entered the courtroom using a walker. She sat in the jury box and appeared alert as she conferred with her attorneys, Cornelius Cox and Brigitte Garza, before the competency trial was to begin.
When Judge Frank Castro called her case, Jones stood with Cox and Garza at the bench, along with prosecutors Catherine Babbitt, Samantha DiMaio and Gretchen Flader. Cox told Castro that through research and observation, he no longer had any concerns that Jones could not help in her own defense.
"My client is now competent to stand trial," he told Castro before withdrawing his motion for a jury trial on competency.
On ExpressNews.com: Psychiatrist finds killer Jones is competent
Castro set a deadline of Nov. 1 for pretrial motions in the upcoming cases and told the state and defense to be ready to go to trial in January.
Babbitt told Castro the state had a conflict because she would be prosecuting a capital murder case in January. She is overseeing the cases as chief of major crimes for the Bexar County District Attorney's Office.
Defense attorney Garza also asked for more time to prepare.
The judge shut down both requests.
"We have had 30 years to indict her, and now you want more time," Castro asked with an edge to his voice. "I am not going to do that."
He then gave them until February to be ready to go to trial.
On ExpressNews.com: Genene Jones blamed 'voices in her head' for baby deaths, lawyer says
Jones, 69, was convicted of murder in 1984 and sent to prison for 99 years for killing 15-month-old Chelsea McClellan, whom Jones injected with a fatal dose of a muscle relaxer.
Jones also was sentenced to 60 years for injuring San Antonio toddler Rolando Santos, who survived a similar attempt.
Set to be released in March 2018 after serving a third of her sentence because of a law designed to ease prison crowding, Jones was indicted in 2017 on five murder charges stemming from the deaths of babies in her care in the 1980s while she worked at what was then called Bexar County Hospital.
Jones is accused of killing Richard "Ricky" Nelson on July 3, 1981; Rosemary Vega on Sept. 16, 1981; Paul Villarreal on Sept. 24, 1981; Joshua Sawyer on Dec. 12, 1981; and Patrick Zavala on Jan. 17, 1982.
Court records indicate all the children were injected with an overdose of either muscle relaxers or pain killers.
Relatives of those five children sat together in the front row during Monday's proceedings. Jones walked past them without making eye contact.
Kylie McClellan comforted Rosemary Cantu, who began to weep when she saw Jones. McClellan's mother, Petti McClellan-Wiese, had devoted herself since Jones' conviction for killing her daughter Chelsea to making sure that the former nurse would never get out of prison.
After the 2017 indictments, she supported Cantu, Hope Pacheco, Connie Weeks, Juanita Villarreal and Melissa Luna as they awaited their day in court. Kylie McClellan, who was born after Chelsea's death, had driven to San Antonio from the Houston area to fill that supporting role Monday.
On ExpressNews.com: Nearly 40 years later, mothers want justice
During Monday's proceedings, which lasted only 15 minutes, Cox also asked Castro to have the state return a Bible that was taken from her months ago after the state determined some of the writings inside could be evidence in the upcoming cases. The judge is considering the request.
In May, Judge Castro denied a similar request.
"Maybe it is not a big deal to some folks, but her Bible gives her comfort," Cox said after the hearing in the 399th state District Court.
Prosecutors did not comment as they left the courtroom with the children's relatives.
But Luna, whose brother, Paul Villarreal, was 3 months old when he died after being injected with Heparin, an anticoagulant, said after the proceedings that she felt confident the state would be ready to try the case.
"If it goes quickly, it will be better," she said.
Elizabeth Zavala covers county and state courts in San Antonio. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863
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Elizabeth Zavala covers county and state courts on the Express-News Crime Team. Born and reared in San Antonio, she graduated from Fox Tech High School in 1981 and has been a newspaper journalist since she graduated from Texas Woman's University at Denton in 1985. She has worked at five daily newspapers in Texas, including The Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Denton Record-Chronicle.
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