COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) – A Georgia district attorney remains headed to trial later this month on felony charges related to a campaign video even as three codefendants pleaded guilty Friday to misdemeanors.
Mark Jones, the district attorney for Muscogee and five surrounding counties, is charged with first-degree criminal damage, interfering with government property and conspiracy in connection with a May 2020 video for his election campaign. The video included stunt driving moves such as cars driving in doughnuts with smoking tires in the parking lot of the Columbus Civic Center.
The Ledger-Enquirer of Columbus reported that Christopher Black, Chris Garner and Jonathan Justo-Botello pleaded guilty to criminal trespass and laying drag, a Georgia crime that covers a range of illegal stunt driving offenses.
A judge Friday refused to throw out the indictment against Jones and ruled against claims that Jones is a victim of selective or malicious prosecution. The trial is set to begin Sept. 13. Jones refused a plea offer similar to the co-defendants, and would be removed from office if convicted of a felony.
“There’s been no evidence that there’s been any sort of misbehavior,” Bibb County Superior Court Judge Jeffery Monroe ruled in response to Jones’ claims that he had been indicted for political reasons after defeating the incumbent district attorney.