Justin Jones in June 2020
Late Wednesday morning, Justin Jones tweeted that he was headed to jail again.
“Over a year after our racial justice protests last summer, D.A. Glenn Funk has gone to the Grand Jury in a secret process to indict me on two additional charges. All my charges remain and I will now face a total of 14 charges. This is why the court date kept getting pushed.”
Jones, one of Nashville’s most prominent Black activists, has led demonstrations at the state legislature and around the city focused on racial justice, and was part of a two-month occupation outside of the Captiol last year. The protesters dubbed the location Ida B. Wells Plaza. That action kicked off last summer following widespread protests in Nashville and around the country prompted by the murder of George Floyd by a white police officer named Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis. Jones and Jeneisha Harris, another highly visible local activist, were at the center of a short-lived controversy last June, when Metro Police announced they’d obtained warrants charging Jones and Harris with felony aggravated rioting. Social media erupted with many observers, including Metro Councilmembers, calling out the charges as retaliatory. But the warrants were soon recalled by Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk, who said that neither Jones nor Harris had committed a crime.
But Wednesday it was Funk who added two more charges to the dozen Jones is already facing stemming from last year’s demonstrations outside the Capitol. In a series of tweets, Jones cast the new charges as the latest in a long line of retaliatory acts by lawmakers and law enforcement. He referenced a new law passed during a special legislative session last year that increases penalties for vandalism and camping on state property. He indicated his intent to fight all the charges against him.
“Justice requires transparency,” he said in a tweet. “I’m leaning on my faith and the strength of community as I seek justice together with others. The District Attorney's Office has sought to isolate me, but I know I am not alone.”
The DA’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but later Wednesday afternoon the office released a statement accompanied by a video related to what the released called a “traffic cone incident.”
“This office does not intend to prosecute peaceful protestors,” read the statement from spokesperson Steve Hayslip. “Attached is a video that serves as the basis for today’s charges against Justin Jones. The DA’s office notified his attorney and shared this video with him two weeks ago. Mr. Jones was allowed to wait until today to turn himself in.”
The video shows footage from June 18, 2020, of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the stretch of Charlotte Avenue that runs in front of the state Capitol. Several individuals can be seen standing in the crosswalk. One of them appears to be Jones, based on the large hat he is wearing, one that Jones often wore during the protests. A group of state troopers is off to the side on the sidewalk. Soon cars approach from both directions. The person who appears to be Jones can be seen picking up a traffic cone and placing it in front of one of the cars, a white pickup truck. When the truck starts to move forward, activists stand in front of it, and the person who appears to be Jones approaches the driver’s open window. In the other lane, a different car slowly moves forward and bumps into one of the protesters, who falls to the ground. Meanwhile, the driver of the white pickup truck begins to drive forward. One protester pushes against the front of the car while the person who appears to be Jones picks up the traffic cone and starts trying to place it inside the truck. As the truck pulls away, he throws it through the driver’s window and it comes bouncing back out.
Jones’ attorney, Nick Leonardo, sent a statement to the Scene around the time Jones was released from jail late Wednesday afternoon.
“Justin was indicted with two misdemeanors for alleged ‘criminal acts’ that occurred during the Ida B. Wells protest exactly a year ago,” Leonardo wrote. “We plan on mounting a vigorous defense to these new misdemeanor charges as well as the other 12 misdemeanor charges that remain unresolved as a result of the court closure during the pandemic. I look forward to placing the entire ‘system’ on trial and having 12 citizens of Davidson county deciding if Mr. Jones has committed a crime. There’s a difference [between] being not guilty and innocent and Justin Jones is innocent.”
