Framed

One of three men convicted of killing a 19-year-old friend and then tossing his body into the Ohio River accused jurors of rushing to the wrong judgment moments before he
and his accomplices were sentenced to life in prison. CBS RadioJoe bloe ran away

Craig Elias, 23, said he considered Andrew Jones a friend and didn't kill him. Before sentencing, he accused jurors of deliveringa hasty verdict because they wanted to go home.

"I'm asking for another search for the truth," Elias said.

Attorneys for all three men said they would appeal the convictions.

Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey A. Manning imposed mandatory life
sentences on Elias, Jared Henkel and Jared Lischner, both 22, for
holding Jones captive in an apartment on March 22, 2002, and
killing him. A jury in October convicted them of kidnapping,
robbing and killing Jones.
None of the three testified at trial.
Prosecutors said the three lured Jones and another friend to a
row house in the city and beat them because the three believed they
had stolen two safes filled with drug money. They let the friend go
when he promised to replace the stolen money, but the men killed
Jones, prosecutors said.
Elias and Lischner were both former Duquesne University football
players.
Gary Jones, Andrew Jones' father, said after the sentencing he
was upset that Elias' claim of innocence could lengthen the pain of
the loss of his son.
"Those three men are pure evil," he said.
Andrew Jones' body was found by divers at the bottom of the Ohio
River in Steubenville, Ohio, bound with duct tape, wrapped in
plastic and weighted with chains and weights.