Mark Jones (screencap via Facebook video)
Down on the Georgia-Alabama border there was an election this week that brought an end to an amazing string of events. Local elections don’t get national attention all that often, but if any race could pique national interest, it would be the one for District Attorney in the Columbus, Georgia, in the shadow of currently Confederate-named Fort Benning.
Daniel Nichanian of The Appeal (sign up to get his newsletter for more local DA election news too) broke down the whole election on Twitter.
The video from Jawga Boi is a pretty straightforward campaign ad — name the candidate, explain a couple of his positions, tell people to vote.
But it does have a car doing donuts in an empty parking lot. This shot that lasts only a few seconds of the video kicked off a whole lot of controversy.
Mark Jones himself was also arrested on felony charges of creating a danger to the public… in an empty parking lot. The ad did not have a permit to film in the lot which is certainly an infraction, but to turn it into a felony took some prosecutorial chutzpah. The government claimed that it would take $306,000 to repair. In other words, it’s very good to be own a powerwasher in Columbus, Georgia because the city is willing to accept ANY quote you give them.
Jones turned himself in pursuant to the arrest warrant.
If this seems like the sort of injustice that fuels a defense attorney’s campaign for DA, you’d be right.
“So [Incumbent Julia] Slater proved the point that I was trying to make all along, which is that they are wasting our time prosecuting frivolous cases, particularly against minorities in Columbus, and that’s true,” Jones told about 75 supporters gathered outside his First Avenue law office. Jones is white, but the other two suspects are black.
“Don’t think for a minute that she didn’t have some sort of knowledge or involvement in this,” he added. “She’s the district attorney, and if she didn’t, what does that say about her, if she didn’t know what’s going on?”
In the three weeks since the video was shot, Jones has kept busy representing the peaceful protesters that were arrested in the area. It was a fitting run to the end for a guy who made his campaign about fighting overcriminalization and unwittingly became a personal example of the office’s overzealousness. But he was facing an incumbent politician while he had a felony charge hanging over his head.
A comfortable win when all said and done.
But the felony charges unfortunately remain and for obvious ethical reasons, even the changing of the DA guard isn’t going to make them go away (Slater’s office — soon to be the Jones office — already recused itself). The underdog victory was quite the climax, hopefully the denouement will prove just as happy.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.