COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) — Two men who shot a campaign video without a permit for a district attorney candidate in Georgia were accused of damaging government property.
Christopher Mandel Black, 23, and Erik Deangelo Whittington, 24, were booked into jail Friday, several days after the “Get Out And Vote” rap video was released, news outlets reported. The video posted on Facebook Monday featured Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit district attorney candidate Mark Jones, Rapper JawGaBoi, and an overhead shot of a car burning rubber while cutting doughnuts in the parking lot of the Columbus Civic Center.
“Nobody had been notified with the city,” Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson told the Columbus Ledger Inquirer. “What they did was destroy government property.”
Columbus Police said the Jones campaign did not get a permit to shoot the ad, adding that the video was what led to the arrest of Black and Whittington.
On a Facebook live video posted on his campaign’s Facebook page Saturday, Jones accused his challenger in the race, the incumbent district attorney Julia Slater, of using the arrests to try “to suppress the vote to stay in power” and “steal an election.”
Both Slater and police have denied that she was a part of the investigation against the two men.
“The only decision I have made in this case is that my office has a conflict and will not be prosecuting the case.” Slater said in the statement. “I was not consulted about the arrests or the bonds in this matter.”
Ana Cecilia Grimmett, Black’s girlfriend, told the Columbus Ledger Enquirer the arrests was “all Mark Jones’ fault.” She alleges Jones told her boyfriend he’s going to be OK when Black asked him about the legality of cutting doughnuts in the parking lot. According to Grimmett, her boyfriend participated but was not the driver of the car featured in the final campaign video.
Both Black and Whittington face several charges including felony interference with government property and first-degree criminal damage to property, records show. Their bonds were reduced to about $31,000 on Saturday and both were expected to be released later that day, according to the Columbus Ledger Enquirer.
Black’s lawyer, Attorney Stacey Jackson, said her client does not have a criminal history and has a full preliminary hearing on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear when Whittington’s hearing will be held.
The Democratic primary for the district attorney seat will be held on June 9.