Elwood Jones, the man who sat on death row for nearly three decades before the murder case against him was dismissed, has taken the first step toward filing a wrongful imprisonment lawsuit, court documents show.Jones was convict ed in 1996 for the murder of Rhoda Nathan, a woman found brutally beaten in her hotel room at the Embassy Suites in Blue Ash. He sat on death row for almost 28 years until Judge Wende Cross granted Jones a new trial in 2022 due to evidence withheld from his defense attorneys.Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich dismissed the case against Jones in December, saying she found multiple issues with previous litigation, including a lack of forensic or physical evidence directly linking Jones to the murder, insufficient follow-ups on witness statements pointing to other possible suspects and failure to provide Jones' attorneys with a large amount of investigatory material before the trial.Court documents show that on Tuesday, Jones filed a complaint for a declaration of a wrongfully imprisoned individual. Jones' attorney, Jay Clark, told WCPO that this is the first step needed to then sue to recover damages he believes Jones is entitled to.Before someone can file a civil suit for monetary damages in the state of Ohio, Clark told us they must first obtain a judicial order from a court of common pleas declaring the person a "wrongfully imprisoned individual." That is the document Jones filed Tuesday in the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas.Clark said once that declaration is made by the judge, Jones will be able to file another document in the court of claims to pursue recovery. ...read more read less