A man charged with killing a doctor in a road rage incident last month, is headed for trial for a felony, but Jason Jameson will face a less serious charge than prosecutors asked for.
In the case of a road rage incident that left a visiting doctor shot to death, a Justice Court judge had ruled that it should be tried not as the original Second Degree Murder charge but as manslaughter instead.
Pima County Sheriffs Deputies say Jason Scott Jameson shot Doctor Jeffrey Honer in a road rage incident. Deputies say Jameson told them Honer walked to the door of his truck, punched him in the face then turned away. Jamesons calling it self defense.
Prosecutors asked Justice Court Judge Alex Ball to decide if theres enough cause to move the case to Superior Court for prosecution as a felony. Thats an alternate method to the more familiar method where prosecutors ask a Grand Jury for an indictment.
Second Degree murder asks a jury to conclude someone meant to kill someone but did not plan ahead to do it.
Judge Ball ruled because there was testimony that both Jeffrey Honer and Jason Jameson drove and acted aggressively and that it led to a heated argument, that it was more appropriate to send Jameson to trial for a lesser charge of manslaughter.
Judge Ball said, The court notes that it does not say the victim was the one who initiated it or started it, just that during that quarrel or heat of passion that there was adequate provocation. I do find uncontroverted that that did happen.
Doctor Honers family urged Judge Ball to raise Jamesons bond above its current 185 thousand dollars but the Judge declined.
Honers brother Kenneth asked that Jameson pay a higher bond. He intentionally shot and killed my brother and beyond the pain of that, I have not been able to sleep because I am so afraid that justice will not be done.
A manslaughter conviction can lead to between four and ten years in prison. Second Degree Murder carries a range of 10 to 25 years. Now the case transfers to Superior Court for prosecution there.