Kim Jones murder case moves to trial

Randolph Sanders, the 36-year-old charged with murder in the case of Kim Jones, waived his preliminary hearing in Common Pleas court this morning. His trial will be held on March 11.

Sanders will be held on all charges including murder, firearms carried without a license, carrying firearms in public and possession of an instrument of crime with intent.

Jones, 56, was waiting for the No. 23 SEPTA bus on the morning of Jan. 13 at the corner of 12th and Jefferson streets when Sanders allegedly shot her in the back of the head, police previously told The Temple News.

“It’s pretty clear that he planned it, and he prepared for it and he perpetrated a violent killing and I think his waiver demonstrates that there is evidence – the defense agrees that there’s evidence to go forward to a trial,” said Prosecutor Mark Levenberg.

Police spokeswoman Tanya Little told The Temple News that Sanders believed Jones was going to report him for misappropriating about $40,000 in funds from the Families and Schools Together Program of Turning Points for Children – an organization devoted to assisting abused and economically disadvantaged children, where they both worked.

“This is a horrible case because an innocent woman is dead,” said Defense Attorney Michael Coard. “Just because I’m the attorney for an accused, that doesn’t lessen the fact that a wonderful, great woman – that nobody had anything bad to say about at any point, so clearly an innocent victim – so I think first and foremost, my condolences and the condolences of all of us should go to them and then secondarily, we deal with the legal issues.”

Patricia Madej can be reached at patricia.madej@temple.edu or on Twitter @PatriciaMadej.