Newspaper granted motion to intervene

DAKOTA CITY – A trial judge ruled in favor of a newspaper’s motion to intervene to have access to exhibits during a murder case involving the deaths of four Laurel residents.

“We wanted a seat at the table to discuss these First Amendment issues and that’s what we got, and now our objections are on the record,” said Rob Dump, Cedar County News publisher.

The Cedar County News filed the motion last week, stemming from a July hearing in which Corey O’Brien of the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office indicated he would be requesting a protective order to bar media from having access to trial exhibits including videos, photographs and other evidence.

At the July hearing, O’Brien said he would be making the request through Jason Jones’ murder trial and possibly even through the prosecution of his wife, Carrie Jones, who is charged in connection with the same crimes.

Jason Jones, 44, is accused of murdering four people - Gene Twiford, Janet Twiford, Dana Twiford and Michele Shankles-Ebeling - and setting their homes on fire on Aug. 4, 2022, in Laurel.

The trial got underway with opening arguments Thursday morning - moved to Dakota County due to extensive media coverage in Cedar County, among other issues.

During the July hearing, O’Brien said if evidence is disseminated through widespread media coverage, he fears it will be difficult to seat a fair and impartial jury in the subsequent trial of Carrie Jones.

She is being charged with the murder of Gene Twiford, tampering with evidence and being an accessory to the crime. A trial date has not been set.

Cedar County News’ lawyer Nathan Clark said Thursday morning that the blanket restriction to exhibits in the case is cause for concern.

“Using the notoriety of the case as the reason for denying the access weakens the First Amendment exactly when it is needed the most,” Clark said.

O’Brien agreed a potential protective order could be narrowed and apply to only certain exhibits but contended that the right to a fair trial is superior than the First Amendment rights of the media.

“It’s not our intent to deny them access forever,” O’Brien said. “Nobody here is trying to deprive their right to tell the story.”

Clark said Thursday morning’s hearing was the first time the lawyers expressed narrowly tailoring the restriction of exhibits.

Todd Lancaster, Jason Jones’ defense lawyer, said Thursday he’s “kind of on the side of the press.”

While the press should have rights to exhibits, his concern mainly lied in those exhibits entered into evidence but ultimately ruled to be inadmissible through objections raised.

About 15-20 minutes after Fettig and Ms partner exited the Twiford home, they told Jeff Going, a state fire marshal investigator, there were three bodies inside.

Going and fellow fire marshal investigator Garrett Weidner entered the house shortly thereafter out of concern the house could collapse and “we would lose everything inside the structure.” The two determined the active fire was in the attic and feared it would spread.

Going photographed a number of items inside the home. He, too, saw shell casings near Gene Twiford’s body. Near a coffee table in the living room were a Ruger .57 semiautomatic pistol and a knife.

Just outside the back door of the home was a pry bar believed to have been used by Jones to force himself inside. Also nearby on the ground was a striker plate previously attached to the door, as well as a plastic bottle with a liquid and rag in it and an ammunition magazine lying in the grass.

Going, Fettig and Lundahl all testified they left each piece of evidence as it was for Nebraska State Patrol investigators to process at the scene.

In a meeting outside the home, fire officials decided dousing the insulation and drywall in the attic with water might weigh down the ceiling above the bodies inside and cause the interior of the home to collapse. Subsequently, it was decided to cut a hole in the roof, remove the attics insulation and then hose down the fire with water.

It took several hours, but firefighters eventually put out the blaze and were able to preserve the crime scene.