‘Great responsibility’: Testimony begins in suspended DA Mark Jones’ misconduct trial
The prosecutor in the misconduct trial of suspended Columbus District Attorney Mark Jones repeated a theme in his opening statement to jurors Tuesday:
“With great power comes great responsibility,” Deputy Attorney General John Fowler said.
He outlined the crimes Jones is accused of, which include attempting to get a homicide detective to lie under oath to charge a suspect with murder in a fatal shooting, instead of involuntary manslaughter.
“This case involves wrongdoing during murder cases,” Fowler told jurors, detailing allegations that Jones also wanted to charge a witness in a different homicide case with murder, just to get the witness to testify.
Fowler alleges that Jones committed bribery by offering staff prosecutors a $1,000 bonus for murder convictions, and threatened the nephew of a homicide victim for filing a court motion complaining about how the case was being handled.
“I’m going to ask you to hold someone with great power responsible for what he did,” Fowler told the jury.
The jury will decide whether Jones is guilty of nine felony charges alleging he tried to influence witnesses, to persuade a detective to commit perjury, and to bribe staff prosecutors.
Defense attorney Katonga Wright said jurors should hear all the evidence before they pass judgment on Jones, who she said tried diligently to perform his duties after taking office in January, though he’d never worked as a prosecutor before he was elected DA last year.
Jones angered critics who didn’t like what he said or did, but that’s all, she said.
“None of these things is criminal,” Wright said.
Regarding Jones’ July encounter with a homicide detective outside a bar downtown, Wright said Jones was intoxicated as he celebrated a court victory earlier that day. But he never told the officer to lie about the fatal shooting that resulted in an involuntary manslaughter case, nor did he threaten the officer.
“If the facts don’t fit, you must acquit Mr. Jones,” Wright said.
The first witnesses
Attorneys spent much of Tuesday morning debating a set of last-minute subpoenas Jones sent out over the past week, amassing a witness list of around 200 names, some only nicknames.
Judge Katherine Lumsden told Jones he has had weeks to summon witnesses and records for his defense, and his last-minute efforts were in conflict with orders she issued earlier on scheduling and sharing evidence. She quashed some subpoenas and gave Wright until 6 p.m. Tuesday to whittle down the defense witness list to those who can provide testimony that could potentially clear Jones.
Two witnesses, both Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents, testified Tuesday that the investigation into Jones was referred to the agency’s Perry office, as the Columbus office had a conflict of interest because it was involved in cases that Jones prosecuted.
The first witness Tuesday afternoon was Kimberly Schwartz, one of two assistant district attorneys Jones is accused of bribing by offering a $1,000 bonus for convictions in murder cases.
Schwartz testified that she took an oath to accept only her salary as compensation. She said Jones assigned her to Judge Maureen Gottfried’s court in March and asked her to get a case ready for trial in a week. She found no homicide cases that could be ready that soon, and knew Jones had prioritized those, she said.
She said she was leaving Jones’ office after a meeting about which cases could go to trial, when Jones told her he wished she had a murder case ready. She testified that Jones told her: “I’ll pay you $1,000 if you try a murder case next week, $1,000 out of my own pocket.”
In a separate incident in June, Schwartz was meeting with a victim’s family on a murder case when Jones joined the group, she said. As he was leaving, he turned to Schwartz and said, “I’ll pay you $1,000 if you get a conviction in this case,” she testified.
“I was mortified,” she said, adding she explained to the family that she is not paid extra for convictions.
Under Wright’s cross examination, Schwartz acknowledged that Jones never gave her any of the money he allegedly offered her.
Victim’s family complaint
Fowler’s next witness was Chris Bailey, the nephew of a man fatally injured during a fight over children playing basketball in the street in a north Columbus neighborhood. Bailey’s uncle was Danny Jones, who died in the hospital from his injuries.
Bailey later filed a court motion complaining that his family was not notified when a suspect’s bond was reduced before his release from jail. The motion alleged Jones’ office violated the Georgia Crime Victims Bill of Rights by not giving relatives a chance to address the court about the bond. When Jones called him about the motion, Bailey recorded the call, which lasted about 30 minutes.
Fowler played the recording for the jury. In the call, Jones says he believes the primary suspect in the death of Bailey’s uncle can be indicted for murder, even though he already had been indicted for involuntary manslaughter and released from jail.
“I’m comfortable re-indicting it,” Jones says, but he doesn’t “want any conflict” with the victim’s family.
He tells Bailey a special prosecutor can take the case if Bailey isn’t pleased with how his staff has handled it, but suggests that Jones should keep the case himself. “I’m the best friend you’ve got, man,” Jones says.
Bailey says he doesn’t want another prosecutor; he just wants the family treated fairly under the victims rights law. “We just feel like we got kicked in the teeth,” he says.
“You’ve got to think about optics on this,” Jones tells Bailey later, saying Bailey’s motion makes it look like the prosecutors and the victim’s family are in conflict. Jones again suggests re-indicting the case, getting a warrant charging the suspect with murder, and holding him without bond.
“I feel like if you give us a chance, man, we won’t let you down,” Jones says. He asks Bailey to come speak to a grand jury about the case, though Bailey did not witness the fight that led to his uncle’s death.
The evidence in Jones’ trial will be weighed by a jury of nine women and five men, with two serving as alternates. Gov. Brian Kemp suspended Jones from office on Oct. 4.
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 7:48 PM.