Bible, other items kept from ex-Texas nurse held in deaths

SAN ANTONIO – A Texas judge has sided with prosecutors in withholding a Bible, letters and other personal items from a former nurse suspected of killing dozens of children.

Bexar County prosecutors argued in court Wednesday that 68-year-old Genene Jones’ writings in her Bible and other documents amounted to evidence showing her ability to comprehend.

A court determined in February that Jones is competent to stand trial, but her attorney says she has diminished capacity because of strokes.

Jones has served decades in prison for her 1984 conviction in the death of a 15-month-old and for giving an overdose to another infant.

She was scheduled to be released last year when prosecutors, citing new evidence, filed the first of five separate murder charges for infant deaths in the 1980s. She’s pleaded not guilty.