By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire
Lorenzo Jones | Cook County Sheriff’s Dept.
An Iowa man has been found not guilty of fatally shooting his brother, Dennis Jones, at a family party on the West Side on Christmas Day in 2014.
Lorenzo Jones was found not guilty of murder Friday after a two-day jury trial before Judge Diane Gordon Cannon, according to Cook County court records.
The family had gathered for a Christmas party at a relative’s home in the 1900 block of South Trumbull about 6 p.m. Dec. 25, 2014, prosecutors alleged.
Dennis Jones | Facebook
Prosecutors said Lorenzo Jones, 29, and his two brothers had been involved in an ongoing dispute over the care of their recently deceased mother. On Christmas night, Lorenzo Jones was at the party when the 52-year-old Dennis Jones and his 42-year-old brother pulled up.
Prosecutors claimed Lorenzo Jones fired at them, striking the older brother in the chest and leg. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died at 8:22 p.m. The younger brother was shot in the leg and was also treated at Mount Sinai.
Lorenzo Jones, of the 800 block of Benton Court in Iowa City, Iowa, was arrested in Iowa in January 2015 and charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery with discharge of a firearm, authorities said.
He was released immediately from the Cook County Jail, where he had been held since his arrest without bond, according to the sheriff’s office.