Suspended Muscogee DA wants trial next month, records show. What else he’s asking for
Facing felony charges alleging misconduct in office, suspended Columbus district attorney Mark Jones filed motions this week asking for a hearing to question the witnesses against him and for a Nov. 8 trial date.
Jones argued his suspension violates the will of the voters who elected him to office last year, so his case should be resolved as soon as possible.
“Every day that the public is deprived of their duly elected district attorney is a crime against democracy and the will of the people,” he wrote.
The Georgia Attorney General’s office is handling his prosecution, and the case has been assigned to Superior Court Judge Katherine Lumsden of the Houston Judicial Circuit. Jones so far is acting as his own defense attorney.
In his court filings, he wrote that Lumsden held an online conference on the case on Sept. 23, when the judge said the week of Nov. 8 was available for a trial. Assistant Attorney General John Fowler said then that he was prepared for trial, and Jones said he was, too, he wrote.
Court officials here said Lumsden would be offered Judge Gil McBride’s 11th floor Government Center courtroom for the trial. Jurors would be picked from a local jury pool summoned to the Columbus Ice Rink, where they can be socially distanced as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19.
Jones’ arraignment, when the court formally reads the charges against him and the attorneys share evidence as part of the discovery process, is set for Oct. 12.
Jones’ Sept. 7 indictment lists these charges:
Included in those allegations are claims that Jones tried to influence witnesses in two Columbus homicide cases. He’s accused of trying to get a police detective to testify a homicide suspect had a motive to shoot a Hamilton, Georgia, woman here in February, though the officer found the shooting to be accidental, and charged the suspect with manslaughter.
He’s also accused of using threats and misleading conduct against Chris Bailey, the nephew of a 62-year-old Columbus man fatally injured in February 2020 during a confrontation with two brothers over kids playing street basketball in a north Columbus neighborhood.
And he’s charged with bribing two prosecutors, Kim Schwartz and Sheneka Terry, by offering each a $1,000 bonus for convictions in murder cases. Terry, who was Jones’ chief assistant district attorney, was sworn in as acting district attorney Wednesday, and still faces the prospect of testifying against her former boss.
Jones wrote in his motions that he wants to question the witnesses against him in a pre-trial hearing, to determine what evidence he may ask to be excluded from his trial.
Jones said he reserves the right to exclude “any illegally seized records for unsubstantiated claims of alleged intimidation, exploitation, undue influence or other claims” until he sees all the evidence against him.
“Defendant requests a hearing at which he can confront all the state’s witnesses, cross-examine all state’s witnesses and, if he or his counsel determines advisable, present fact witnesses, documents or evidence from expert witnesses to support each of his requests for exclusion of the above described evidence,” Jones wrote.
Court records reviewed on Wednesday showed no hearing had been scheduled.
Elected last year, Jones took office Jan. 4, and served 10 months before Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp suspended him Monday on the recommendation of a state commission that reviewed the charges.
Kemp’s executive order suspending Jones said the commission found that Jones’ indictment adversely affects the administration of his office and “the rights and interests of the public.”
If Jones is acquitted at trial, he may return to office. If he is convicted, the governor may name a replacement to serve the rest of Jones’ term, which ends in 2024.
This story was originally published October 6, 2021 at 3:44 PM.