Fresh off victory in DA’s race, Columbus lawyer Mark Jones talks next steps for office
“I feel like a boss,” Mark Jones told reporters and supporters Wednesday night after his underdog victory over incumbent District Attorney Julia Slater.
Come January, the Columbus lawyer will be a boss, when he takes office as the chief prosecuting attorney for the six-county Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit based in Columbus.
The office has a total staff of 69, with 29 of them assistant district attorneys. It has a budget of more than $5 million.
Asked whether he had a message for those employees, he said: “They are going to have to re-interview, because there’s obviously some issues with the office, so everyone’s going to have to re-interview for their job…. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but they did choose a political career to be in.”
He said voters have given him a “clear mandate” to reform the office.
Jones defeated Slater by 52% to 48, in the circuit that besides Muscogee includes the counties of Chattahoochee, Harris, Marion, Talbot and Taylor.
The vote count that finally ended Wednesday evening, after being suspended overnight, gave Jones 16,066 votes over Slater’s 14,670.
Jones won the Democratic Primary for district attorney, but that decided the race because no Republican qualified to seek the post in November.
With more than five months to go before he takes office, Jones said he would spend that time taking care of his private practice, and “close it out, you know, get the cases that I have pending closed out, settled or get them off to another lawyer if I can’t close them out.”
Jones was not thought to be favored in the race against Slater who first was elected in 2008, and re-elected twice after that. She has been practicing law for 25 years, 20 as a prosecutor, having started in 1994 as an assistant district attorney.
Recent events propelled Jones into the spotlight. The 38-year-old made headlines because of his arrest stemming from the May 17 filming of a campaign ad at the Columbus Civic Center, where he was alleged to have recruited two custom-car enthusiasts to cut doughnuts in the parking lot.
Authorities claimed the tire marks left there caused more than $300,000 damage. Besides Jones, police also pressed felony charges against the two young men alleged to have damaged the lot.
Asked what impact he thought his arrest had on the election, he said: “I think it proved the case that they are prosecuting non-serious cases, and that their time is better spent elsewhere, prosecuting the 100-so alleged murders in our jail, and serious violent felonies.”
Unlike Slater, Jones is not from Columbus, though he has lived here at least 10 years. He said he got his undergraduate degree in political science from Texas Christian University, and his law degree from the University of Georgia, graduating in 2007.
Speaking Wednesday at the Broadway office of attorney Christopher Breault, who represented him after his arrest, Jones said he felt his election was a reflection of the anger people feel toward racial injustice and police brutality.
“That was my message, was they want change; they want it now. They’re sick of what’s going on in the criminal justice system, and they are demanding reform.”
Slater on Wednesday evening sent this statement to the Ledger-Enquirer:
“I am disappointed in the results of the election. I had more changes I planned to make in the DA’s office and I am sorry I will not have the opportunity to implement them…. I do not know what my next plans are. I have many decisions to make in the next six months. I would like to congratulate Mr. Jones on his victory. I took an oath to serve the citizens. I will do everything I can to smoothly transition the office to his administration so our citizens and our victims will experience continuous service.”
This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 10:27 PM.