Jury selection March 19th in Jones case

St Augustine City Commissioner Errol Jones says that he is eager to clear his name in two charges that he believes have been brought against him by local police officers who were simply “inexperienced” and “overreacted” to his presence at the scene of a family disturbance on October 22, 2011.

At a pre-trial hearing Tuesday morning, Judge Alexander Christine set the case to go to trial in his courtroom on March 26th at 9:00 a.m. — jury selection will be March 19th.

Assistant State Attorney Ben Rich is the prosecutor in this case; Jones is represented by Patrick Canan.

On the night of the incident, Jones was arrested and charged with obstructing an officer without violence. He was released the following day after posting a $500 appearance bond.

The following month, Rich filed an additional charge that Jones engaged in tampering with a witness. Rich says Jones tried to use his position as a city commissioner to influence the testimony of Michael Linsky — threatening to have the police officer fired when he took Jones into custody.

Both the obstructing and tampering charges are misdemeanors; which means, if convicted, Commissioner Jones faces a maximum sentence of 1-year on each charge.

Photo credits: © 2012 Historic City News staff photographer