Calhoun —- A Gordon County jury began deliberating Thursday if admitted murderer Jerry Jones was "just plain mean" or if his mental illness and exposure to violence led him to kill his ex-girlfriend's family, including a 10-month-old daughter they had together.

A year after the "horrendous" crime in January 2004 in Ranger, about 60 miles northwest of Atlanta, Jones pleaded guilty to the four murders, even though District Attorney Joe Campbell was seeking the death penalty.

This week, a jury heard testimony to prepare to decide his punishment —- life with or without parole, or death by lethal injection. Jurors deliberated for a short time Thursday afternoon before going home for the night. They will return this morning to resume deliberations.

Jones' lawyers pleaded with the jury to spare his life.

"I am not saying Jerry Jones should not be punished. He should be punished for what he did. He did something evil," said Michelle Drake, one of Jones' attorneys. "He should never get out of prison."

But his lawyers argued Jones' path was cut decades ago, before he was born into a family that did not know how to love its children.

During the trial, the defense talked about his family's history of violence, including gunfights between Jones' great-grandparents, his grandparents and his parents. Experts and family members also testified about Jones' mental illness, which went virtually untreated when he was a teenager and unspooled into paranoia in the days before the killings.

"We appeal to the best in each and every one of you," defense attorney Jack Martin, another Jones attorney, said to the five women and nine men —- the 12 jury members and two alternates.

"We don't kill the mentally ill," Martin said. "People died in a horrible way. You will rightfully be shocked. You will rightfully have your heart broken. We're not asking you to sentence him to life with the possibility of parole. ...We do believe justice tempered by mercy is life without parole."

The murders captured the attention of the national media after the desperate mother called the Gordon County Sheriff's Office on Jan. 7, 2004, from Oregon, where the woman had gone to meet with a prospective truck-driving partner.

Melissa Peeler told the dispatcher Jones had called and taunted her, saying he had killed her parents, her sister and their baby and he also had her three other daughters.

Deputies found Tommy Blaylock, 59, shot dead in the yard behind his trailer home, and Nola Blaylock, 61, fatally shot in the chest in a bedroom inside.

The baby, 10-month-old Jerri, was also dead, propped up on her grandmother's leg with an electrical cord around her neck.

Next door, deputies found Peeler's sister, 34-year-old Georgia Bailey, hogtied and with duct tape covering her face. She was strangled.

The next day, police caught up with Jones just outside Chattanooga. Peeler's 10-year-old daughter, and Peeler's and Jones' daughters, ages 3 and 4, were in the man's car when he put a rifle under his jaw and fired. The blast left his face disfigured and required extensive surgery to repair.

Jones told investigators he killed the four for revenge.

"The appropriate sentence [for Jones] is death," Campbell said, flashing enlarged photographs of the victims' bodies on a screen for jurors. "He wanted them dead."

The prosecutor said Jones killed the baby because she had a soiled diaper and "she was going to be too much trouble in the escape."

"The wanton, vile, inhumane killing of your own flesh and blood deserves death," Campbell said.