What does Justice for Jacque mean to me? It means that the murder of Jacqueline Amber Jones on March 26, 2014 will be prosecuted to the fullest extent. It means that the District Attorney for the 12th Judicial District will take this case to trial, that he will not offer a plea bargain for a lesser charge. It means that the DA’s office will request a special cold case prosecutor to help take this case to trial. It means that Jacque’s friends and family have waited 7 long years to see this case brought in front of a judge. It means that Jacque’s family have spent countless hours working and praying for this case to see the light of day. To me Justice for Jacque means her family and friends can have some sort of closure to this tragic event.

Merriam-Webster defines the word justice as the process or results of using the law to fairly judge and punish crimes and criminals. It is time that our DA’s starts using the law to fairly judge and punish crimes and criminals! We need the DA to show the criminals in the valley that we have no tolerance for their behavior! The DA needs to take a stand!

On the Colorado District Attorney’s council webpage, it states District attorneys are not only dedicated public servants but your neighbors who share the same values as their community. Does our DA’s share our same values? He does not share mine. I do not believe in handing out plea agreements to all criminals and not taking them to trial. To only hand out plea agreements to avoid appeals later is not providing justice to our community nor doing the job he was hired to do, in my opinion.

DAs ensure the safety and constitutional rights of victims, defendants and the community throughout the criminal justice process. Is our DA ensuring that victims’ rights are being considered? Not according to the victims that I have talked to. If you read the local newspaper, you will see many articles about crimes that have been committed and the results of their cases. Are the victims truly being represented by the office of the DA? I do not want this to happen when it comes to the case against Jimmy Garcia for the charge of murdering Jacqueline Jones.

When are we going to hold the DA responsible for what he is doing? When are we going to demand that the DA use his resources like he should to take cases to trial and win? The DA has a cold case to prosecute coming up soon. Is he going to use his resources to call in a cold case prosecutor so the case can be tried properly? This is what needs to be done. Jacque needs to be fairly represented by the office of the DA who we elected to represent us, the people of the San Luis Valley whose tax money pays for this office to be open.

Jennifer Carr