Desert Hot Springs Man Accused of Assaulting Wife

INDIO, CA — Jury selection is scheduled to start today in the trial of a Desert Hot Springs man accused of holding the woman who later became his wife against her will and beating her over the course of several days, then assaulting her again after being released on bail.

Marshall Eddie Jones Jr., 49, is charged with multiple felonies, including mayhem, domestic violence, assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment and criminal threats, stemming from two alleged attacks earlier this year.

Jones is accused of inflicting serious injuries on the woman identified in court documents as Jane Doe in a case first brought to law enforcement's attention Jan. 5, when she was found suffering from injuries caused by pistol whipping and blows from a wooden stick and a belt, according to a prosecutor's trial brief. She was hospitalized with fractures to the legs and partial loss of sight from being whipped in the eyes with the belt, prosecutors said.

Police concluded that the alleged attacks occurred at Jones' Desert Hot Springs home, where he was arrested that day. He was later freed on bail and ordered to return to court in February.

The two became married during the interim, according to the trial brief. However, one day before his court hearing, Desert Hot Springs police were called to Desert Regional Medical Center, where Jane Doe was hospitalized again, this time with multiple injuries suffered in the month since his release, authorities said.

According to the trial brief, the victim had been assaulted again with a wooden stick and pistol-whipped.

Prosecutors allege that between the two attacks, Doe recanted several details regarding the January assault to D.A.'s investigators, due to threats from Jones. She also reportedly told prosecutors that a man named “Avril Black” had assaulted her and not Jones, which prosecutors claim she said under threats of violence.

Jones was taken into custody on a felony arrest warrant in March during a traffic stop in Desert Hot Springs. He is being held at the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta in lieu of $1.1 million bail, according to jail records.

— By City News Service; Image via Shutterstock