Jack SheaFox 8 News Reporter
4:23 AM EDT, May 19, 2010
CLEVELAND - A Cleveland man was sentenced Tuesday to 33 years to life in prison, for the shooting death of his ex-girlfriend, who was the mother of five young children.
August 2009, the body of 31-year-old Crystal Walters of Maple Heights was found in the dumpster behind a Cleveland restaurant on Cedar Avenue.
Walters had been shot in the face.
Her ex-boyfriend and the father of three of her children, 37-year-old Stanley Jones, denied any involvement but was arrested after the children reported seeing him with their mother just before she was killed. Another witness saw Jones hanging around the restaurant where the body was dumped.
Monday, Stanley Jones pleaded guilty to charges that include aggravated murder and kidnapping but later tried to change his plea.
He did not succeed and on Tuesday had to face his own children and the family of his ex-girlfriend at a sentencing hearing.
The victim's mother, Emma Walters, told the court "Stanley took my child, he did what he did to her and the way he did it to her, like she was nothing."
Emma Walters says Jones' crime will resonate for decades, "I have my grandchildren, I love them, and we have to love them even more because their mother is not here to give them the love that they're used to."
Jones apologizes to the family but denies that he is the person who pulled the trigger.
He told the judge "there was another person there that was involved, honestly I didn't shoot Ms. Walters, but at the same time I called somebody that I trusted to take Ms. Walters to the hospital and they didn't."
Prosecutors say Stanley Jones has told dozens of lies to try and cover his tracks and minimize his involvement in the murder of Crystal Walters.
Her sister says all the family has left is memories.
Tonisha Mack says "you took her from our presence but you can never taken her from our hearts, we love Crystal, we love her children and we will never ever have her again to be able to be with us, to be able to see her beautiful smile, to hear her laugh or to just be in her beautiful company."
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