Guilty plea, life sentence stand in nursing student slaying

photo Donnie Jones
photo Erika Megan Sharpton

The man accused in the 2012 rape and slaying of 24-year-old Tullahoma, Tenn., nursing student Megan Sharpton will spend the rest of his life behind bars after a special motion hearing in Sequatchie County.

Circuit Court Judge Curtis Smith heard and granted a new motion filed by Sharpton's now-convicted killer, 39-year-old Donnie Frank Jones Jr., related to the guilty plea he made on Feb. 4, 2013.

Three weeks after the plea, Jones sought to withdraw it, saying his attorney coerced him into the arrangement and that prosecutors had threatened to prosecute his wife, Franklin County Circuit Court records show.

"Now the original judgment goes back into effect," 12th Judicial District Attorney General Mike Taylor said Wednesday.

"The state, of course, had no objections," Taylor said of Jones' most recent motion. "I was quite satisfied with the judge's ruling on it."

Jones now is an inmate at the Turney Center Industrial Complex, the state prison southwest of Nashville in Hickman County, Tennessee Department of Correction records show.

Jones was 37 when he was charged in 2012 with first-degree murder, kidnapping and rape in connection with Sharpton's death.

Jones and Sharpton lived in Coffee County, the 13th Judicial District, but the crime occurred and was prosecuted in Franklin County in the 12th Judicial District.

The investigation was triggered by a motorist who turned around to check on a possible grass fire and found Sharpton's burning body on July 2, 2012, off the side of Awalt Road on the shores overlooking Tims Ford Lake.

Sharpton's 1995 Ford Mustang was found the same day on Three Forks Bridge Road in Bedford County, 15 to 20 miles away. An autopsy showed she died of blunt-force trauma.

Authorities said Jones met Sharpton through his wife, who also attended nursing school. Jones arranged a meeting with Sharpton under the guise of leading her to a job caring for someone at that person's home.

He was arrested in November 2012, four months into the investigation.

In the months that followed Jones' motion to withdraw his guilty plea, Sharpton's mother, 47-year-old Kelly Elizabeth Hale Sharpton, was found dead in Chattanooga of an apparent suicide, according to Chattanooga police.

The grieving mother had championed her daughter's case.

Taylor noted the case has been especially tragic for the family.

Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or twitter.com/BenBenton or www.facebook.com/ben.benton1 or 423-757-6569.

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