Stephen Jones (attorney)

Infobox Person
name = Stephen Jones


image_size =
caption = Timothy McVeigh's lead defense lawyer
birth_date = July 1, 1940
birth_place = Lafayette, Louisiana
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Attorney
spouse = Sherril
parents =
children = 4 children

Stephen Jones, (July 1, 1940 -), is an attorney and Republican activist from Enid, Oklahoma. He is best known for serving as Timothy McVeigh's lead defense lawyer during McVeigh's trial on 11 counts regarding his actions in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

On May 5, 1970, the day after National Guardsmen had shot and killed four students at Kent State University, Keith Green was arrested at the University of Oklahoma for carrying a Viet Cong flag in violation of a state law prohibiting the display of a "red flag or emblem of anarchy or rebellion.". After 12 lawyers had refused to defend the student, Jones took the case and was promptly dismissed from the Enid, Oklahoma law firm where he was employed. Jones argued in court that the disloyalty statute was unconstitutional and the judge dismissed the case, overturning the statute. Later Jones would go on to represent Abbie Hoffman, the radical Yippie, when Oklahoma State University refused to let him speak on campus.

Jones is serving as the attorney for Jordan Edmund, a former House page involved in the Mark Foley scandal. [cite news |title=Former Istook page had contact with Foley, retains attorney|url=http://www.kswo.com/Global/story.asp?S=5503008 | publisher= Associated Press| date=2006-10-05 | accessdate= 2006-10-05|] He also served as the defense lawyer for Raye Dawn Smith in the trial concerning the rampant abuse and eventual murder of her daughter Kelsey Smith-Briggs [ cite news |title=Stephen Jones To Represent Raye Dawn Smith|url=http://www.kotv.com./news/local/story/?id=133324] He has run unsuccessfully for public office four times, including a U.S. Senate race against David Boren in 1990. [cite news |title=The man who will defend Timothy McVeigh|url=http://www.cnn.com/US/OKC/faces/Investigators/Jones8-5/index.html |first=Susan|last=Candiotti|publisher= CNN| date= 1995-08-05| accessdate= 2006-10-06|]

Biography

Stephen Jones was born on July 1, 1940 in Lafayette, Louisiana. His father was an oil field supplies sales manager and his mother was the bookkeeper for a wealthy financier. Jones grew up in suburban Houston, received his law degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1966 and settled in Enid, Oklahoma where he would live for the next 25 years. [cite news
author = Karen Abbott
coauthors =
title = Going all out to save McVeigh
url = http://www.constitution.org/okc/jdt04-15.htm
work = Denver Rocky Mt. News Online
publisher = Scripps Newspaper Group
pages =
page =
date = March 9, 1997
accessdate = 2008-04-16
language =
quote = Aggressive attorney goes to mat to defend client charged in worst terrorism act in U.S.] Jones was a member of Phi Alpha Delta and served as Associate Editor of the Oklahoma Bar Journal from 1979 to 1986. He has been married to his wife Sherril for over 25 years and they have raised four children.

Areas of Practice

columns-list|2|
*Civil
*Trial Practice
*Civil Appeals
*Insurance Defense
*White Collar Criminal Defense
*Personal Injury
*Appellate Practice; Criminal Law
*Federal Criminal Law
*Capital Offenses
*Military Courts Martial
*Grand Jury Practice
*Aviation Law

Bar Admissions

*1966, Oklahoma
*1969, U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit and U.S. District Court, Western District of Oklahoma
*1970, U.S. Tax Court and U.S. Supreme Court
*1973, U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
*1975, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit and U.S. Court of Appeals, *District of Columbia
*1979, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Oklahoma
*1980, U.S. Claims Court
*1982, U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit

Publications

*"John W. Davis," Oklahoma Law Review Vol. 27 No. 1, Winter, 1974
*"The Case Against Presidential Impeachment," Oklahoma Bar Association Journal, Oklahoma Criminal Defense Form Book, 1974
*"Oklahoma Politics," Vol. I, 1907-1962
*"Was President Nixon Guilty: The Case For The Defense," Oklahoma Bar Association Journal, Winter 1978
*"Vernon's Oklahoma Forms, 2d: Criminal Law, Practice & Procedure," West Group, 1999
*"U.S. v. McVeigh: Defending the 'Most Hated Man in America,'" Oklahoma Law Review Vol. 51 No. 4, Winter, 1998
*"A Lawyer's Ethical Duty to Represent the Unpopular Client," Chapman Law Review Vol. 1 No. 1. Spring, 1998
*"Representing Timothy McVeigh", Litigation, Spring, 2002, Vol. 28, Number 3.

Professional Positions

*Chester Bedell Memorial Lecturer, "The Independence of American Lawyers," Florida Bar Association, 1999.
*Assistant Professor, University of Oklahoma, 1973-1976
*Adjunct Professor, Phillips University, 1983-1990
*Secretary, Minority Conference, Texas Legislature, 1960-1961
*Assistant to Honorable Richard Nixon, New York, 1964
*Administrative Assistant, Congressman Paul Findley, Washington, D.C., 1966-1969
*Legal Assistant to Governor of Oklahoma, 1967
*Member, U.S. Delegation to NATO (North Atlantic Assembly), 1968
*Special Assistant District Attorney, 1977
*Member, State Supreme Court Committee on Civil Jury Instructions, 1979-1981
*Special United States Attorney, Northern District of Oklahoma, 1979 *Special Counsel to the Governor of Oklahoma, 1995
*Member, Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals Advisory Committee on Court Rules, 1980
*Judge of Temporary Division, Oklahoma Court of Appeals, 1982
*Republican Nominee, United States Senate, 1990

Notes

References

* [http://www.lawyers.com/stephen-jones/jsp2272049.jsp Jones, Otjen, Davis & Nixon] at lawyers.com
*cite news
first =
last =
authorlink =
author = Peter T. Kilborn
coauthors =
title = If Tim McVeigh Is Indeed a Pariah, That Will Suit His Lawyer Just Fine
url = http://www.nytimes.com
format =
work =
publisher = The New York Times
pages =
page =
date = June 16, 1995
accessdate =
language =
quote =
*cite book
last = Jones
first = Stephen
authorlink =
coauthors = Peter Israel
year = 2001
title = Others Unknown: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing
publisher = PublicAffairs
location =
id = ISBN 1586480987