Stayner´s Aunt Pleads For Mercy

In the first personal plea to spare the life of Yosemite killer Cary Stayner, his aunt broke down in tears and told a jury she wanted him to live. Anna Jones wept as she asked, “What purpose would it do for him to die?” Jones was the first relative to testify for Stayner in the final phase of his triple murder trial yesterday, at which jurors will decide if he is sent to death row. Old classmates, a teacher, and family, who knew Stayner as a child, describe him as a nice, quiet boy who often wanted to be alone. Perhaps the most pivotal event during his upbringing was the abduction of his brother, Steven. Jones says that in the seven years before Steven returned, the family’s other children were sometimes neglected. Relatives testified that Steven Stayner’s death in a motorcycle accident years later and the death of Stayner’s uncle were setbacks for the defendant.