Muscogee DA declines plea deal in Civic Center parking lot case. Here are next steps
A specially-appointed judge handling the trial against District Attorney Mark Jones for his alleged role in damaging the Columbus Civic Center parking lot while filming a campaign rap ad last year refused to void the indictment or throw out the case for selective and malicious prosecution.
Jones also refused to take a plea deal offered by prosecutors and similar to those accepted by three of his co-defendants Friday morning, setting the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit District Attorney up for a Sept. 13 trial date.
Bibb County Superior Court Judge Jeffery Monroe, of Georgia’s Macon Judicial Circuit, issued his ruling Friday afternoon after hearing hours of testimony from witnesses brought forward by Jones’ attorney, Christopher Breault.
“There’s been no evidence that there’s been any sort of misbehavior,” Moore said regarding the process of Jones’ indictment and the handling of his case.
Among those who testified were former Columbus police chief Ricky Boren, Deputy City Manager Pam Hodge, current Columbus Police chief Freddie Blackmon and two other men who participated in the Civic Center video — Chris Garner and Jonathan Justo-Botello.
Both Garner and Justo-Botello pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges related to the case earlier in the day. Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson and City Manager Isaiah Hugley were prepared to testify but never took the stand. They were dismissed by the court.
Special prosecutor Brian Vance Patterson of Athens, whom state Attorney General Chris Carr appointed to the case April 20, did not call any witnesses during Friday’s hearing.
What was said in court
Breault alleges that Jones’ case is unlike any other in the city’s history.
The “Get Out And Vote” hip hop video ad that led to the criminal proceedings was published in late May 2020 to the “Mark Jones for District Attorney” Facebook page. It features Jones with a rapper identified as JawGaBoi. It’s about one minute long and ends with an overhead drone shot of a car cutting doughnuts around Jones in the Civic Center parking lot off Veterans Parkway.
It wasn’t anything new, Breault said. Rubber had been burnt in the Civic Center parking lot before, he said, but Jones and the other co-defendants were targeted because it looked like Jones would win the district attorney’s race against then-incumbent Julia Slater.
Breault further argued that the damage done to the parking lot was not worth the estimated $300,000 cited by the city and that Jones did not directly ask the men to perform doughnuts in the parking lot.
But Breault’s own witnesses chipped away at his arguments. Brandy Rivera, who served as a legal secretary in Slater’s office, testified that the then-DA had nothing to do with the witnesses brought before a grand jury in Jones’ indictment. That fell to Don Geary, who previously served as a specially-appointed prosecutor in the case.
Blackmon was only briefly questioned, telling the court that he was not involved with the investigation. Boren during his testimony denied that the prosecution of Jones was politically motivated.
The former police chief answered questions from Breault regarding car cruising enthusiasts who used the Civic Center for meetups. In previous years, city leaders worked to get cruisers off the street and prevent them from clogging up roadways by offering up the complex.
Boren said just because the city allowed the drivers to use the complex in the past doesn’t mean they were allowed to “damage the facility.” When events like those described in the case previously occurred, Boren said that officers would ask drivers to disperse and bring charges against them if any damage occurred.
“Any damage to public property is a felony in the state of Georgia,” Boren said.
Garner and Justo-Botello testified that Jones did not direct them to cut doughnuts in the Civic Center parking lot for the campaign video, but added during cross-examination that Jones did not attempt to stop them from burning rubber.
What’s next?
Jones and one co-defendant, Erik Whittington, will stand trial for felony charges associated with the Civic Center video on Sept. 13. The other three co-defendants in the case — Justo, Garner and Christopher Black — all pleaded guilty Friday to misdemeanor charges of criminal trespass and laying drag.
A similar plea deal exists for Jones, but Breault told reporters that the DA will not take a deal. Breault called the charges against Jones a “fake case.”
“He believes it would be a bad example to other folks who are innocent to plead guilty to things like this,” Breault said. “Particularly young men stuck in the justice system, he encourages to fight your case.”
Jones faces charges of criminal damage to property in the first degree and interference with government property.
If Jones is convicted of a felony and his appeals are unsuccessful, he will no longer serve as the chief prosecutor for the six-county Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit that serves Chattahoochee, Harris, Marion, Muscogee, Talbot and Taylor counties.
This story was originally published September 3, 2021 at 5:38 PM.