Court filing outlines ‘complicated’ relationship between suspended Columbus DA, attorney
Suspended Columbus District Attorney Mark Jones is no longer representing himself in his impending trial on charges of alleged misconduct.
As he pleaded not guilty to nine felony charges Tuesday before visiting Judge Katherine Lumsden, Jones was represented by Columbus attorney Christopher Breault, the same defense attorney Jones had in a September trial involving damage to the Columbus Civic Center parking lot.
That ended in a mistrial, and most jurors said afterward that they would have voted to acquit Jones, with some ridiculing authorities for pursuing felony charges against Jones.
After Jones’ arraignment in a Government Center courtroom Tuesday morning, Breault said he expects the same outcome in Jones’ misconduct trial set for Nov. 8, when the prosecutor will be Deputy Attorney General John Fowler, using evidence gathered by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Said Breault: “We were here a few weeks ago on another fake case that the AG’s office and the GBI, they took that case up two months after the incident at the civic center, and they pursued it for over a year until a jury laughed them out of court, and I expect the same outcome with this one.”
Breault said he has seen Fowler’s evidence, including recordings in which Jones allegedly tried to influence witnesses in homicide cases, and he does not believe a jury would convict Jones.
Fowler declined to comment after the arraignment, which in criminal procedure is an early step when defendants come before a judge to hear their charges read in court, where they are advised of their rights, and plead guilty or not guilty.
All local judges have recused themselves in Jones’ case, so it was assigned to Lumsden, a Superior Court judge from the Houston Judicial Circuit.
Breault characterized Jones’ continued prosecution as a “witch hunt” perpetuated by Republicans trying to take the district attorney’s office away from a Democrat.
Both Gov. Brian Kemp, who suspended Jones from office on Oct. 4, and state Attorney General Chris Carr, whose deputy is prosecuting Jones, are Republicans. Jones took office after he won the 2020 Democratic Primary and faced no Republican opposition in the November General Election.
Motion names Breault
Breault’s representing Jones could be problematic, because he is named in one of the pretrial motions Fowler filed last week, and could be a witness in the case.
Fowler’s motion cited Jones’ attempt on April 14, 2021, to get a witness in a murder case to testify in court. When the witness, Andrew Loyd, did not respond to Jones’ appeals on Facebook, Jones messaged him, “Ima find you. You f--ked with the wrong DA,” according to messages Fowler cited. Including the messages in his motion, Fowler said Jones “implicitly threatens” Loyd.
A week after Jones tried to reach Loyd, Breault messaged the witness, Fowler said, noting that Breault and Jones have “a complicated professional relationship.”
Their connections include Breault’s representing Jones in the parking lot case, his being appointed a special prosecutor in a case of alleged police brutality that Jones wants to pursue, and his taking over some personal injury cases from Jones’ private practice after Jones became DA, Fowler added.
“With this relationship in mind, Mr. Breault portrayed himself in the capacity of a private lawyer when he reached out to Mr. Loyd. It is clear from the conversation that Mr. Breault has already spoke with defendant Jones, and that Breault is trying to get Loyd to testify for the state,” the prosecutor wrote.
Breault told the Ledger-Enquirer he was communicating with a Facebook account in the name of Don Casper. The account is associated with Loyd, but Casper could have been someone who only knew Loyd, he said.
“I didn’t know who it was,” he said, adding that Casper at one point denied he was Loyd.
Still Breault acknowledged he proceeded as though he were communicating with Loyd: “I thought there was a chance it could be Andrew Loyd.”
Fowler wrote that when Loyd, who had a pending probation violation, told Breault April 20 that he already was represented by an attorney, Breault offered to speak to the attorney, and to further represent Loyd’s interests for a retainer of $250.
According to the Facebook exchange included in Fowler’s motion, Breault messaged that he could get Loyd’s probation violation dismissed, and Loyd would not be arrested
“Think about it because my understanding is they are going to seek prison time for the probation violation but will get rid of all that if you come to court and speak the truth. I can get that in writing,” Breault messaged, offering to put Loyd or Loyd’s attorney in contact with Jones. “The DA is a good dude and he will work with you,” Breault wrote.
According to the messages in Fowler’s motion, the witness told Breault he could remember nothing about the homicide, but he would accept Breault’s help. Loyd did not pay Breault a retainer, and did not testify in the murder case against Drevon Johnson, who’s accused of fatally shooting Richard Collier during a fight at a party on May 14, 2016. That case ended in a mistrial April 28 because of a hung jury, and Jones afterward vowed to retry Johnson in Collier’s death.
Loyd, 27, was arrested Aug. 4 on a warrant for violating probation, and on a material witness warrant issued by Judge Ron Mullins. He remains in the Muscogee County Jail, as does Drevon Johnson.
Fowler has listed Breault’s Facebook exchanges as part of the prosecution’s evidence for Jones’ November trial.
“Why do you think he did this?” Breault asked Tuesday. “He’s trying to make me a witness in the case.”
He said that he was not acting on Jones’ behalf, when he sent the Facebook messages, and that he was trying only to secure Loyd’s testimony.
“No one told him to do anything but come to court and tell the truth,” Breault said, adding any private citizen would want a witness in a murder case to testify. “As a private citizen, I did what I wanted to do.”
He had messaged that he would have to ensure he had no conflict of interest in the murder case, he added, noting his last Facebook message read, “If you want to hire me, I can check and make sure I don’t have a conflict — I don’t think I do — and I can help you.”
Asked Tuesday whether prosecutors would file a motion to disqualify him, Breault said: “I know they really don’t want me to be part of this case.” Of Jones, he added, “They want him to languish and essentially just fade away while they do what they want. That’s not going to happen, period. So there’s no getting out of it. I’m going to be there.”
The next step in Jones’ case is a deadline for attorneys to share evidence and file any remaining motions by 5 p.m. Friday. Lumsden will hold a hearing on the motions at 3 p.m. Oct. 21.
This story was originally published October 12, 2021 at 12:32 PM.