Saturday, March 12, 2011

Pastor Jimmy Ates reconvicted

A jury found Pastor Jimmy Ates guilty of the murder of his wife for a second time after his case was overturned. Yay for justice! There is not much of a story here. Ates killed his wife in 1991. He shot her and then burned his house down to cover up his crime. I’m sure they factored his his character when the sentenced him to life in prison.

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deleted8470268's avatar - Go to profile

deleted8470268 143p · 736 weeks ago

should have given him the death sentence ! He was all for it when he was a preacher !
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dw2001 · 736 weeks ago

I followed every day of the trial. All that the prosecution proved was that somebody murdered Norma Jean Ates and that Jimmy Ates did not have a iron clad alibi. There was so much unexplained evidence in this case that I have no idea what the jury was thinking when they reached their verdict. I do not know if Jimmy Ates committed this murder, but the state failed to prove it. Justice was not served in this case at all.
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eloise · 735 weeks ago

I agree. There was dna evidence at crime scene that was not his. The guy that was at the house that day who was a convicted felon and sexual predator was never a suspect and never tested for a dna match and never had to testify at the second trial..wth!..this is total injustice, sounds like there is alot more to this story that has been conviently forgotten, especially when two other states attorneys would not touch this case to prosecute. One of those being honorable curtis golden with his 36 years experience. These are my deep thoughts...
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judge's avatar

judge · 724 weeks ago

dw2001 & eloise are clueless and are likely family members of Jimmy Ates as those are the only people who are able to support him. I was present for this trial from start to finish. This was a compelling and overwhelming case of Jimmy Ates guilt. And now 18 jurors from the community have agreed in two separate trials. His conviction had nothing to do with him not having an iron clad alibi and a lot to do with the fact that he himself said he was in the home at the time the victim dialed 911 (he didn't know she was able to dial). Additionally, 6-7 other folks put both of the Ates vehicles at the house during and after the known time of the victim's murder. An alibi fire was set in the home (no other person needs to set an alibit fire- they would be concerned with setting an evidence destruction fire); and jimmy ates got caught in so many lies on the stand.
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judge · 724 weeks ago

I'm sorry his family members (eloise & dw2001 included) are having a hard time accepting this- I know they have spent over $500,000 trying to buy justice- but the facts are the facts and the truth is the truth whether its 1991, 1998 or 2011. And fyi- Curtis Golden declined the case not based on anythign to do with the evidence but because he was close friends with the Ates family and believed he had a conflict. The next state attorney didn't decline the case either but instead was dragging his feet so the Governor (Childs) removed him and appointed the attorney who tried Jimmy Ates the first time in 1998. Praise God- to Him all the glory for making sure justice had the final word in this case!
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Henry Vinson's avatar - Go to profile

Henry Vinson · 649 weeks ago

I have known Jimmy and Norma Jean Ates for many years. They always seems so happy.

Jimmy Ates has been a personal friend of mine for the past 30 years. I have always found him to be honorable and nice. I am thoroughly conviced that Jimmy would never harm his wife. This is a very sad situation.

Henry Vinson
Washington, DC
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scott's avatar

scott · 618 weeks ago

well the man that the family pointed a finger at the whole time Jackie Long was arrested and will be extrdicted to Alabama for trial in Covington Co.. Robert Money the nephew is probably wondering what will be said. Praise God it will finally be looked at by someone from the outside and not by the people who listened not to evidence but to rumors.
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Guest's avatar

Guest · 332 weeks ago

So someone else's DNA was at the crime scene, and someone else's fingerprints were at the crime scene, but he was convicted anyway. Same as David Westerfield
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Guest · 331 weeks ago

I had seen a TV documentary on this case, and read a couple of articles, but didn’t realize that Ates was a pastor - he was a teacher. So I was surprised by your headline. But then I saw the likely reason you highlighted what was probably a part-time activity: it’s an atheist’s website.

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