OSWEGO -- Alan Jones, the Palermo man accused of murdering his 11-year-old stepsister Erin Maxwell, failed in his bid for lower bail on Friday. Judge James Metcalf kept his Jones’s bail at $100,000 cash or $250,000 bond.

During the hearing, Jones attorney Salvatore Lanza made documents public that normally would not become public unless they were introduced at trial. The documents include the autopsy report on Erin Maxwell and the report by State Police Investigator Paul Olson, who gave Jones a polygraph test. With Jones sitting quietly off to the side in handcuffs, Lanza tried to convince Judge Metcalf that the prosecution has no case. "There is nothing that ties anything to the defendant, nothing whatsoever." Lanza claimed.

Alan Jones is accused of strangling Erin, and claims that it was an accidental hanging. Lanza says that the District Attorney's case is based on four criteria: Jones must be guilty because he was the only person in the house with Erin; police feel Jones’s statements were inconsistent and illogical; Jones must be guilty because he's a Pagan; and the polygraph examiner feels that Jones exhibited deception.

"He (the investigator) subjectively formed the opinion that... Alan Jones was being deceptive" Lanza told reporters. "He (Jones) spoke in a monotone voice, he was emotionless and he (Investigator Olson) didn't like that. This is their case."

The one page autopsy report makes a brief reference to marks on Erin's neck. Sources close to the investigation tell Action News that the marks are in a straight line as if she was strangled from behind with a rope. Lanza disputes that claim. "They are from the cervical collar that was placed by the emergency medical technicians on her neck."

Lanza also says that autopsy photographs show "the ligature marks were not straight - they were going upwards... as if she were hanging."

Also in court were Lynn and Lindsey Maxwell, Erin's stepmother and father. They face six charges each of endangering the welfare of a child. The parents are accused of forcing Erin to live in a home full of animals, with piles of feces and garbage, often locking her in a caged room with nothing to eat. The autopsy report released Friday claims there was nothing in Erin's stomach or intestines when the autopsy was performed.