Thursday will be one year since Sacramento State dorm resident Scott Hawkins was brutally beaten to death with a baseball bat, allegedly at the hands of roommate Quran Jones.

There’s still no hint of a resolution in the case, although Jones, 20, has a preliminary hearing set for Friday. His court hearings have been delayed seven times since January, according to court records. A reason for the delays was not given.

But a Sac State Police Department case synopsis in Jones’ court file may offer a glimpse of his state of mind before the killing.

The synopsis quotes a note found by investigators in a trash can at the dorm room, which states, “If Quran Muhammed Jones ever dies He Quran Muhammed Jones orders you to put his body in an incinerator so that every atom of his body is burned away. Thank you.”

No one connected to the Jones case would comment on the note, but a local attorney offered his opinion.

“Prosecutors would find that note compelling evidence that Mr. Jones was planning the murder, with the thought he may get killed in the process by the cops, or by the victim,” said attorney Erik Davenport, a former El Dorado County prosecutor who now does criminal defense.

An officer who responded to the crime scene and was also quoted in the synopsis, reportedly saw Jones “stabbing himself” with a kitchen knife in the dorm room, the synopsis states.

Dorm resident Taegay Arefaine told officers that Jones was “bashing (the baseball bat) against his own head,” the synopsis states.

“Suicide by cop” was proposed as a motive for the killing last year by a Sac State Police Department investigator who said Jones lunged at officers with a knife as they entered the dorm.

“It has been my experience … that frequently people with suicidal thoughts will attack officers in order to cause their own death,” Detective Thomas Higgins wrote in the search warrant affidavit.

Officers responded to the incident last year after Jason Molay, Sac State residence hall adviser, called 911 to report Jones was acting crazy and throwing things into the dorm courtyard, according to the case synopsis.

When officers arrived, Jones had barricaded himself inside the dorm room, and would not let anyone inside, the synopsis states.

When Jones allegedly attacked officers with the knife they fired several pepper ball spray shots into Jones’ chest and abdomen, but he continued to come at them, according to the summary.

Officers, fearing for their safety, shot Jones in the arm and buttocks, the summary states, and he was then taken into custody.

Hawkins was found inside the dorm room bleeding from the head and unconscious, the summary states. He was transported to the UC Davis Medical Center, where he died from blunt force trauma to the head.

Jones’ defense attorney could use the note to try to show his client suffered from emotional issues, and then ask for a mental evaluation, Davenport said.

But if the case ever went to trial, it might be difficult to admit the note into evidence, said Penne Usher, a Sac State alumnus who now covers crime for the Folsom Telegraph and Auburn Journal newspapers.

“First, attorneys have to prove it was written by Jones. That may be difficult, and they may have to call in experts,” Usher said. “It’s possible the defense could connect the note to Jones’ state of mind, and that he was suicidal. But it’s pure speculation to connect the note to his motive for murder.”

Jones was described as having “a crazed look in his eye” by officers entering the dorm room last year, Sac State Police Cpl. Jeff Solomon states in the synopsis.

Officer Thelma Mathews said Jones’ “eyes were wide open, and one eye was looking one way, and the other was looking the other way. His tongue was hanging out of his mouth. He looked really strange,” according to the synopsis.

The Sac State Police Department declined to comment for this story, as did Jones’ attorney Assistant Public Defender Jeffrey Barbour.

At Jones’ preliminary hearing Friday, a judge will decide if there is sufficient evidence to move the case into the trial phase.

“An agreement or plea bargain can still be made at any time,” Shelly Orio, spokeswoman for the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, said last week, though she declined to comment further on the case.

Jones is being held without bail in the Sacramento County Jail.

Ken Paglia can be reached at [email protected].