Killer tells judge sentence ‘OK with me’

By Denice Thibodeau

Published: November 13, 2008

Lorenza Deshazor Jones will spend the rest of his life in prison for the April 21 stabbing death of 21-year-old Precious Saunders, who was his girlfriend at the time.

Jones, 20, admitted to killing Saunders in a Sept. 16 hearing in Danville Circuit Court. The sentencing hearing was held Thursday.

Commonwealth’s Attorney William Fuller III brought several members of Saunders’ family before Judge Joseph W. Milam Jr. to describe how the murder had affected their lives.

Saunders’ mother, grandmothers, sister and an aunt talked about how much they missed her, about the many times Jones threatened to kill her and how her 2-year-old son still asks where his mother is.

“I think about her every hour of every day,” said Lalita Martin, Saunders’ mother who has custody of the child.

“I don’t want my grandson to ever have to lay eyes on that man (Jones) again,” she said. “In this lifetime, I never want to lay eyes on him.”

There was a brief outburst from a member of Saunders’ family, who left the courtroom in tears as she asked why Jones was looking at her and smiling.

Jones’ attorney, Shannon Taylor, of the Boone Beale law firm in Richmond, huddled with Jones briefly, telling him not to look at the victim’s family.

Members of Jones’ family told the judge about his difficult upbringing, mental health counseling he received in his teens, the murder-suicide of his parents in 2006, and the time in 2007 when Jones was shot five times.

Michael Jeffrey, a licensed counselor, told the court that Jones suffers from a major depressive disorder with psychotic features and post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of those events. He also said Jones regularly used marijuana and cocaine.

Taylor told the judge Jones’ sentence deserved to be at the low end of the sentencing guidelines due to mitigating circumstances and called the murder a crime of passion.

Fuller said Jones chose to take drugs and chose to murder Saunders. The prosecutor said the killing was premeditated based on witnesses saying Jones had been threatening Saunders for a month.

He pointed out that when Saunders’ sister left the stand, Jones’ was grinning and showing no remorse.

“Your honor, it would be hard to find a case where anyone was more brutally beaten than this,” Fuller said, after he had listed the more than 60 knife and blunt-force injuries Saunders suffered as Jones attacked her at their Audobon Drive apartment. “He deserves absolutely no consideration for mitigation.”

Jones also was given the opportunity to address the court, and smiled at his attorney before rising. He wore the black-and-gray striped uniform he has worn while being held at Martinsville City Jail.

“I loved this girl; I got it tatted on my chest,” Jones said as both his and Saunders’ family sobbed. “I gave her three things not to do and she chose to do all three of them. You see what happened. Whatever you do is OK with me and I can get out of here.”

Milam said there was no evidence the murder was a “snap decision,” while there was evidence the murder was premeditated. He also said Jones showed no sign of remorse and that whatever mental struggles Jones had were outweighed by the premeditation.

• Contact Denice Thibodeau at or (434) 791-7985.