Judge Arnold Jones to appear in court Sept. 26
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on September 16, 2016 10:09 AM
Judge Arnold Jones
An arraignment for Wayne County Superior Court Judge Arnold O. Jones II on bribery charges has been set for Sept. 26 at 10 a.m in federal court in Wilmington.
The date on which Jones' trial will start remains undetermined.
"The exact trial date is not set, but should occur shortly thereafter unless the court continues it," said Don Connelly, public information officer for the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
According to Connelly, two more motions to dismiss a superseding indictment against Jones filed in August were filed after an initial motion to dismiss one count of the three count indictment against Jones was denied by a federal judge in August and withdrawn.
Geoff Hulse, one of Jones' lawyers, said the two motions were filed in an effort to dismiss a superseding indictment filed in the case that replaced the original indictment.
Hulse said some time after Jones' arraignment, a jury for Jones' case, as well as other high profile cases, will be selected, and the court will then try the cases in order, so he is unsure of when the case will go to trial.
According to both Hulse and court documents filed on Sept. 12, the motions to dismiss the superseding indictment against Jones have been denied.
A federal indictment against Jones for allegedly trying to bribe an officer working for the FBI to obtain copies of text messages between his wife and another man was handed down on Nov. 3, 2015.
The three-count indictment alleges that Jones promised a payment of a bribe to a public official, promised a payment of a gratuity to a public official and attempted to corruptly influence an official proceeding.
Lawyers representing Jones made a motion in mid-August to dismiss the count of the indictment against Jones that alleges Jones attempted to corruptly influence an official proceeding, saying there was a failure to state an offense in the third count of the indictment.
In the same motion, Jones' lawyers also requested to require the federal government to choose between prosecuting the other two counts of the indictment prior to the trial pursuant to Rule 12(b)(3) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
But Senior United States District Judge James C. Fox struck down that motion and denied the motion to dismiss the count of the indictment that alleges Jones attempted to corruptly influence an official proceeding, and also denied the motion to require the federal government choose between the other two counts of the indictment.
The officer Jones allegedly attempted to bribe is an employee of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office to which the Attorney General of the United States made a specia appointment, designating him as a special deputy U.S. marshal.
The special deputation appointment authorized the officer to support FBI investigations into allegations of violations of Title 18 of the United States Criminal Code, and expressly authorized the officer to seek and execute search warrants, which Jones allegedly asked the officer to do in order to obtain copies of the text messages between his wife and another man, the documents read.
According to the documents, neither Jones nor the officer had any evidence to cause them to believe either phone number -- Jones' wife's or the other man's -- were involved in any criminal activity.
But, regardless of this, Jones allegedly still asked the officer to secure a search warrant to obtain the text messages between the two numbers and allegedly offered to pay the officer $100 in exchange for a disk containing copies of the messages.
Jones then allegedly arranged to meet the FBI officer on Nov. 3, 2015, and pay him $100 in exchange for a disk containing the text messages.
During the process of requesting the text messages, Jones allegedly told the officer that the officer's involvement in getting the messages for Jones would "never come out," the documents read.
According to the documents, Jones told the officer "I will be so cool about it...I will handle it in such a way...this will never come out. I promise."
On Nov. 3, 2015, Jones met the officer at the Wayne County Courthouse to complete the exchange.
"Jones stepped out of court wearing his black judicial robe and met with the FBI officer in a hallway," the documents filed Sept. 12 read. "Jones delivered to the FBI officer $100 in cash. In return, the FBI officer delivered to Jones an FBI disk that was represented to contain the text messages requested by Jones."
According to the documents, the encounter was captured on "devices capable of recording audio and video."
The documents go on to say that Jones attempted to access text messages purportedly on the disk throughout the day of Nov. 3, 2015, seeking technical assistance from an unnamed individual.
Jones was unable to access or receive any unlawfully-obtained text messages, the documents say.
"On the morning of November 4, 2015, at the time of his arrest, an FBI agent asked Jones the whereabouts of the disk, stating, 'Where is my CD judge?' Jones responded, 'CD?' The FBI agent then confronted Jones with a still image taken at the time Jones exchanged the cash for the disk and stated, "This is yesterday where you paid us $100 for the CD.' Jones responded, "That's not what I did, but OK,'" the documents read.
Hulse said Jones maintains his innocence in the case.