State v. Jones
Mark Kleinschmidt was part of the defense team for Levon “Bo” Jones, who was finally released from custody after 15 years — 13 of which were spent on death row — for a crime he did not commit. Mr. Jones came within weeks of execution in 1997, his life saved only after Kleinschmidt and co-counsel Ken Rose of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation intervened and rescued the case from counsel who missed a critical filing deadline. After the conviction and sentence were vacated, all charges were dropped against Mr. Jones after the Duplin County District Attorney’s Office concluded that there was no evidence to bring his case before a jury. Mr. Jones’ case was the 129th exoneration in the United States since the death penalty resumed in the late 1970s. The story of Levon “Bo” Jones was later featured in The Last Lawyer: The Fight to Save Death Row Inamtes by John Temple.