A judge heard arguments Wednesday in the death penalty case of Michael Jones, accused of strangling his one-time girlfriend, Diana Duve, back in 2014.
As the hour-long hearing wrapped up, Duve's mother Lena Andrews addressed Jones from the back of the courtroom.
"Jones, go back to your cage!", Andrews said as she stared down Jones before leaving the courtroom in tears.
Duve was a Vero Beach High grad, and a nurse in Indian River County. Her body was found in the trunk of her own car in Melbourne.
Jones is a former bank wealth management adviser.
Defense attorneys filed 10 different motions regarding the death penalty in this case. One was to prevent the prosecution from presenting victim impact statements to the jury. The state said on that particular motion, the law has been settled.
“It would be an absolute miscarriage of justice to deny them their right to explain the uniqueness of Diana in this case to this jury," said Assistant State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl.
After the hearing, Circuit Judge Cynthia Cox said she would take the motions under advisement. No trial date has been set. The next status hearing is scheduled for September.
