Trial begins in death of Palatka official's son, Jahme Jones

Public Defender Sara Altes addresses jurors at Rondale King's trial Tuesday morning, arguing that King killed Jahme Jones in self-defense.
Rondale King, who is accused in the fatal shooting of Jahme Jones on New Year’s Eve in 2018, listens to opening statements at his manslaughter trial Tuesday morning.

A man accused of killing a Palatka city commissioner’s son four years ago faces a jury this week.

The Putnam County Circuit Criminal Courtroom saw opening statements Tuesday in the trial of Rondale King, who allegedly shot and killed 25-year-old Jahme Jones Dec. 31, 2018. Jurors must decide whether King’s actions constituted manslaughter.

The prosecution and the defense agree that King killed Jones. But they locked horns Tuesday over the shooting’s context.

Assistant State Attorney Jennifer Dunton claimed that King fired while Jones was walking away from a brief “tussle.”

“(King) was the one to introduce that deadly force,” Dunton told jurors.

But Public Defender Sara Altes argued that Jones had been trying to wrestle a handgun out of King’s possession so that he could shoot King.

“What the evidence will show is that Rondale King was in fear for his life,” Altes said.

Jones was the son of Commissioner Tammie McCaskill.

King, who was present Tuesday, originally faced a second-degree murder charge for Jones’ death. Prosecutors later reduced this to a manslaughter charge.

King was released from the Putnam County Jail on $50,000 bond Feb. 27, 2018, per jail logs.

His trial is scheduled to end Thursday, Trinisha Austin, Putnam County’s lead criminal court clerk, said in an email.