PEORIA, Ill. – The mother of eight-year-old Navin Jones was supposed to testify in the trial of her boyfriend, but she won’t.
Stephanie Jones, 37, – who pleaded guilty to murder last week as part of a plea deal – appeared briefly Thursday morning in Brandon Walker’s murder trial, 42, saying she would be pleading the fifth.
Both are alleged to have starved and tortured Navin prior to his death in March of last year.
25 News reports Stephanie Jones did that, she said, due to possibly facing a loss of liberty.
Five of the six murder charges against Jones were dropped as part of her plea deal, and she was to be required to testify against Walker, in exchange for a 20 to 100 year potential prison sentence, instead of life behind bars.
The defense is currently presenting its case, after the state rested Wednesday.
