Georgia Prosecutor pleads responsible, resigns whereas jury deliberates – WSB-TV Channel 2

COLUMBUS, Georgia – While a jury was deliberating on his fate, a Georgia prosecutor pleaded guilty to several charges of improper conduct during his tenure Monday and agreed to resign.

Mark Jones had been suspended as District Attorney for the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit after the Attorney General’s Office received the charges on September 7th. She accused him of attempting to interfere with a police officer’s testimony, offering and attempting to bribe prosecutors in his office, and preventing a crime victim from testifying.

Jones took office in January overseeing the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit, which serves the Muscogee, Harris, Chattahoochee, Marion, Talbot and Taylor districts in western Georgia.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

After brief deliberations on Thursday and then all of Friday on Friday, the jury indicated on Friday afternoon that they were unanimous on three of the nine charges and the judge ordered them to work on the others, local news outlets said. After about an hour of deliberation on Monday, the jury said they had reached consensus guilty on five counts, but Jones decided to agree to a plea deal, the Columbus Ledger enquirer reported.

He pleaded guilty on four counts on the indictment, in exchange for a five-year sentence – one year in prison and the remainder – and a $ 1,000 fine, Attorney General Chris Carr said in a press release. Jones also agreed to step down by submitting a resignation letter to Governor Brian Kemp.

“In abusing his power and relinquishing his district attorney responsibilities, Mark Jones has done a disservice to those he has chosen to protect and compromise our judicial system,” Carr said in the press release. “This result is a victory for law enforcement integrity and the rule of law.”

Superior Court Judge Katherine Lumsden immediately detained Jones and declined his motion to stand on Friday.

The district governor can now appoint a district attorney to serve until one can be elected. Until then, acting District Attorney Sheneka Terry, who took office when Jones was suspended, will continue to hold the role.

TREND STORIES:

The judge found that the corruption case against Jones was different from some others.

“You didn’t fill your pockets yourself. They haven’t done some of the things that are normally associated with public corruption, ”she said. “But I think you were so busy being the prosecutor that you forgot about the people you represented.”

Jones pleaded guilty to influencing witnesses for telling a police officer to testify in a certain way. He also pleaded guilty to two cases of attempted violation of the oath by an officer for offering two prosecutors in his office $ 1,000 each in exchange for following the instructions he gave them. And he pleaded guilty to a single point of violation of the oath by an officer for failing to help a crime victim’s nephew understand the judicial system and his rights.

Juror Iesha James told reporters after the plea that the jury was found guilty on five counts, the Ledger Enquirer reported. These included two of those who were involved in the settlement agreement.

The jury heard evidence from the prosecution for three days last week. Jones’ defense attorney Katonga Wright did not call any witnesses. Jones did not testify.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Prior to sentencing Jones, the judge mentioned a late night encounter Jones had with a homicide detective outside a bar in downtown Columbus. Jones was caught on a body camera video saying the officer should have charged a shooting suspect of murder instead of negligent homicide.

“When I watched this bodycam video, all I could think of was, ‘That doesn’t make people trust the system,'” Lumsden told Jones. Justice does not mean winning at any price: “If it comes to that, we will have much bigger problems than the criminal justice system already has, and we cannot afford that.”

Two prosecutors also testified that Jones offered them $ 1,000 despite thinking they had taken an oath just to accept the compensation due. He offered to pay one to get a murder conviction and the other to say that a case was ready for trial when it wasn’t. In addition to the two counts attempting to get her to break her oath of office, which Jones pleaded guilty to, he was also charged with bribery on those charges.

IN OTHER NEWS:

© 2021 Cox Media Group