Suspended Columbus DA Mark Jones gets new lawyer as jury is picked for trial
Suspended Columbus district attorney Mark Jones has a new lawyer, after the judge in his alleged misconduct case dismissed his previous counsel, and a jury has been selected for his trial.
A jury of nine women and five men, with two serving as alternates, will decide whether Jones is guilty or innocent on nine felony charges alleging he tried to influence witnesses, to persuade a detective to commit perjury, and to bribe staff prosecutors. Gov. Brian Kemp suspended him from office on Oct. 4.
Katonga Wright of The Wright Legal Group entered the case on Jones’ behalf Monday morning, replacing his previous counsel, Christopher Breault. Wright sat with Jones at the city ice rink as hundreds of Muscogee County residents came there for jury selection.
Wright asked that the trial be postponed so she can prepare, but visiting Judge Katherine Lumsden rejected the request.
Wright and the prosecutor, Deputy Attorney General John Fowler, started questioning jurors around 10 a.m., and had their jury decided shortly after 6:30 p.m. The two alternates will be available to replace any of the 12 trial jurors who can’t finish the case.
Jurors were called to the ice rink because Muscogee County Superior Court remains under a COVID-19 protocol that requires social distancing. The ice rink has room to spread jurors’ seats apart.
After pulling a pool of 60 from the hundreds summoned, attorneys questioned them on biographical details such as their name, occupation, residence, marital status and, if applicable, spouse’s occupation. They also were asked whether they had seen or read news reports about the case.
Only one juror, who said she’s related to Jones by marriage, was dismissed during the initial survey of 60. Lumsden divided the group into panels of 15 each for further questioning.
Half of the potential jurors in the first panel said they saw articles about Jones’ case, and two said they watched footage from police body camera recordings of Jones confronting a homicide investigator downtown, where he is accused of trying to influence the officer’s testimony. But only one potential juror said she had formed a strong opinion on the case.
Lawyers questioned the first panel of 15 for about three hours, and started questioning a second panel around 2:30 p.m. Of the second panel, around 10 said they’d heard about the case, and three said they’d seen the body camera video. Three were dismissed.
After that, 17 more were questioned before the lawyers chose the final 12 and two alternates for the trial.
They were told to report at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday to the Columbus Government Center, where the trial will be held in a ninth floor courtroom, with opening arguments expected at 9 a.m.
Lumsden plans to hold court also on Thursday, Veterans Day, though the city government otherwise will shut down for the holiday, authorities said.
This story was originally published November 8, 2021 at 7:44 PM.