Bio

Aaron Lee Jones was born on April 23, 1952, in the United States. By the late 1970s, Jones had settled in Birmingham, Alabama. He became acquainted with Arthur Lee Giles, a younger man who had previously worked for Carl Nelson, a farmer living in the rural Rosa community of Blount County, Alabama. Giles had reportedly developed resentment toward Nelson, believing he had not been adequately compensated for work he had performed hauling watermelons and picking vegetables.

On the evening before the murders, Jones and Giles spent several hours consuming alcohol, including beer and rum. According to Jones's later confession, Giles proposed robbing Carl Nelson, believing money could be found inside the Nelson family home. Jones agreed to participate in the planned robbery.

Court records indicate that both men armed themselves with .32 caliber pistols before traveling to the Nelson residence during the early morning hours of November 10, 1978. Although Jones later claimed that his firearm malfunctioned because it had lost its firing pin, he admitted that he willingly accompanied Giles and participated in the events that followed.

Murder Story

During the early morning hours of November 10, 1978, Aaron Lee Jones and Arthur Lee Giles arrived at the Nelson family home in the Rosa community of Blount County, Alabama, intending to commit robbery. The residence was occupied by Carl Nelson, his wife Willene Nelson, their children Tony, Brenda, and Charlie, and the children's elderly grandmother.

At approximately 3:27 a.m., Tony Nelson, then 21 years old, was awakened when Arthur Lee Giles entered the bedroom he shared with his 10-year-old brother Charlie. Carl Nelson confronted Giles and ordered him to leave the house. Tony followed Giles outside to ensure that he departed. As Tony stepped through the back door, Giles called out and shot him twice—once in the neck and once in the chest.

Despite his injuries, Tony attempted to retrieve a firearm but was unable to do so. Instead, he hid beneath his father's truck while the attack continued inside the house. Inside the residence, Giles resumed his assault. Charlie Nelson later testified that Giles shot their grandmother before entering the master bedroom. Charlie followed and witnessed both Giles and Aaron Jones inside the room.

According to Charlie and Brenda Nelson's testimony, Jones repeatedly stabbed Carl and Willene Nelson while they were still alive and moaning from their injuries. Charlie testified that Jones also attacked Brenda and stabbed Charlie himself after Charlie attempted to shield his sister from further harm. Medical testimony later established the severity of the violence inflicted upon the victims.

Dr. Joseph Embry of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences testified that Willene Nelson suffered twenty-nine knife wounds, including seventeen stab wounds and twelve slash wounds. She also sustained blunt-force injuries to her head and a gunshot wound to the shoulder. The stab wounds penetrated vital organs, including her heart, lungs, and kidneys.

Carl Nelson suffered multiple gunshot wounds and numerous stab wounds. One stab wound severed his spinal cord. Dr. Embry testified that Carl Nelson remained alive when that particular injury was inflicted.

After the attackers fled, Tony Nelson returned inside the home and discovered the devastating aftermath. He found his parents dead and his siblings critically wounded but still alive. Tony rushed Charlie and Brenda to receive emergency medical treatment. The grandmother also survived despite her injuries.

Investigators quickly focused on Jones and Giles. On the morning of November 11, 1978, Blount County Sheriff's investigator Billy Irvin interviewed Aaron Jones at approximately 8:15 a.m. Jones provided a tape-recorded confession that was later transcribed and signed.

In the confession, Jones admitted that he and Giles had gone to the Nelson residence intending to rob Carl Nelson but failed to locate any money. Jones acknowledged participating in the attacks. He stated that Giles handed him a butcher knife taken from the Nelson home and instructed him to "do something." Jones admitted stabbing Carl Nelson, Willene Nelson, and one of the children.

Jones and Giles were prosecuted separately. Jones was first convicted of capital murder in 1979 and sentenced to death by electrocution. However, appellate courts later overturned the conviction and granted him a new trial.

Following retrial proceedings in 1982, Jones was again convicted of capital murder. The jury once more recommended a sentence of death, and the trial court imposed that sentence.

Over the next two decades, Jones pursued numerous appeals through both state and federal courts. His legal challenges addressed issues including ineffective assistance of counsel and, later, the constitutionality of Alabama's lethal injection procedures.

In January 2006, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit rejected Jones's federal habeas corpus claims and upheld the lower court's rulings. As his execution date approached, Jones sought additional stays of execution based on pending challenges to Alabama's lethal injection protocol. These efforts proved unsuccessful.

The Alabama Supreme Court declined to intervene, and the United States Supreme Court denied his final appeals. On May 3, 2007, Aaron Lee Jones was executed by lethal injection at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. He was 55 years old.

He declined to make a final statement. Jones was pronounced dead at 6:29 p.m. Central Time, becoming the 36th person executed by Alabama since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976.

His accomplice, Arthur Lee Giles, remained on Alabama's death row for years afterward before eventually being executed in 2021.