Muscogee County grand jury indicts DA-elect Mark Jones on multiple felonies
Columbus’ district attorney-elect Mark Jones has been indicted on felony charges related to a 2019 car crash and to alleged damage last summer to the Columbus Civic Center parking lot, where he filmed a campaign ad.
Jones defeated incumbent District Attorney Julia Slater in the June 9 Democratic Primary, and faced no Republican opposition in Tuesday’s General Election. He’s to take office in January.
During his campaign, Columbus police arrested Jones and four others for causing an estimated $300,000 damage to the Civic Center parking lot. where the candidate had them cut doughnuts for a video posted to Facebook.
Jones in 2019 was charged with DUI and other traffic violations related to a car crash on the Manchester Expressway at River Road, where he’s alleged to have rammed a woman’s car from behind as she sat at a stop light.
His arrest for the parking lot damage spawned rumors Slater was behind the police investigation, but then-Police Chief Ricky Boren said Slater was never told about it.
Mayor Skip Henderson said he asked for the police probe after complaints about the tire marks in the parking lot, where motorists in custom cars were recorded cutting doughnuts around Jones for an overhead video.
Slater has recused herself from handling any case involving Jones, so the Georgia Attorney General has appointed a special prosecutor from outside the judicial circuit, who presented the cases to a local grand jury.
It was not immediately clear Tuesday how Jones’ charges might affect his taking office next year. Slater referred inquiries to Georgia’s Prosecuting Attorneys Council, called PAC. A PAC spokeswoman said that like Slater, the agency also has recused itself from Jones’ prosecution, and referred questions to the Georgia Attorney General’s office.
Columbus attorney Christopher Breault, who is representing Jones, said his research indicates the allegations do not impede Jones’ taking office, because Jones is not accused of any wrongdoing related to his serving as district attorney.
Car crash
In a Nov. 11, 2019. car crash on the Manchester Expressway, Jones initially was charged with driving under the influence and following too closely.
A police accident report showed Jones was going west on the expressway around 8 p.m. when his 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee crashed into the rear of a 2019 Toyota Avalon XL driven by a 51-year-old woman, who complained of injuries to her neck.
She told police that after the crash, Jones “fell out of his vehicle and walked to her car and stated to her that she needs to take a picture of his insurance and driver’s license but she refused and said she was waiting on police.”
She told officers Jones came back three times with the same request. She also told them she had seen Jones’ Jeep approaching, before the impact, and it never slowed before smashing into her Toyota, causing extensive damage.
Jones had a blood-alcohol content of .088, the report said. Georgia law sets the threshold for a DUI charge at .08.
In that case, Jones was indicted on three counts of serious injury by vehicle for allegedly leaving the woman’s left shoulder “useless” when he hit her car with his 2016 Jeep Cherokee; reckless driving for failing to stop; and two counts of driving under the influence.
Alleged damage at Civic Center
For the alleged damage to the Civic Center parking lot, police arrested Jones May 28 on charges of attempting to commit reckless conduct, conspiracy to commit reckless conduct, conspiracy to commit interference with government property, conspiracy to commit criminal damage to property, and two counts of attempting to commit interference with government property.
But not all those charges are listed in the indictment returned Monday, which charged Jones and four others only with interference with government property and first-degree criminal damage to property.
The first suspects arrested in the case were Christopher Mandel Black, 23, and Erik Deangelo Whittington, 24, who were charged May 23. On June 12, police arrested Michael Jamaal Garner, 21. The indictment lists a fifth suspect, Jonathan Justo-Botello, whose age was not available.
The indictment says all are charged in the May 17 video shoot at the Civic Center, where they’re accused of endangering the lives of two people present “by spinning tires and drifting in the parking lot without authority.”
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 10:14 AM.