Former Memphis Police Officer Sentenced in Murder of Mistress

By Alicia Cruz

As he testified during his murder trial, former Memphis police officer, Chancy Jones continued to blame the woman he was accused of murdering.

"I felt threatened by her," Jones said. "She had threatened me and I told the police that. And she was threatening my family at the time of that incident. I just reacted to what she had done," he told Shelby County Assistant Prosecutor Missy Branham.

Jurors didn't buy his self-defense argument and deliberated a mere 70 minutes before finding the 39-year-old married father of three guilty of second degree murder. On Friday, three months after his conviction, Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Mark Ward sentenced Jones to 24 years in prison without parole, myfoxmemphis reported.

Shortly after the murder, Jones told the arresting officers that Phyllis Malone, the woman he'd been having an affair with, told him she was pregnant, though she was not, and that she tried to blackmail him by threatening to tell his wife about their affair if he did not give her money.

He said the two arranged to meet at a Shell gas station at 1709 Whitten Road, near Interstate 40 in Spetember 2008 to talk. At some point, as the two were parting ways, Jones claimed he heard Malone "revving her engine" and feared she was trying to run him over. That, he testified, caused him to shoot her three times.

Prior to announcing sentencing, Judge Ward acknowledged the more than two dozen letters he receievd from Jones' family and friends asking him to show leniency in his decision. However, the judge opted to slap the former tnree-year veteran of the Memphis police force with one year less than the maximum sentence for his crime.

"I've got a Memphis Police officer who's trained in the law. Who basically manufactured a claim of self-defense," said Ward obviously swayed by Branham's argument that Malone was shot three times through the open passenger-side window of her vehicle.

That angle, she argued at trial, indicated Jones was on the side of the car at the time the shots were fired and was in no danger of being run down as he claimed.

After the shooting, he proceeded to cover his tracks by disposing of Malone's cell phone along with the five-shot .38-caliber pistol he used to kill her with by tossing them into the Mississippi River.

Malone's sister, Ophelia Harris, addressed the court saying,"As our family grieves for our loss we have yet to see any sign of remorse or grief from Mr. Jones. His senseless act towards my sister has left us all scarred and changed forever."

"He didn't care whether she was dead or not," Harris added. "He just did what he did to cover up his tracks. He could've handled it a different way. And Chancy Jones should have found a better way to say, "I'm sorry."


BOND SET FOR MEMPHIS OFFICER ACCUSED IN MURDER OF MISTRESS