A special prosecutor has been asked to investigate a 2022 reckless driving case involving state attorney general candidate Jay Jones, according to a statement released late Wednesday by Jones’ opponent and current Attorney General Jason Miyares.
Jones, a former state delegate and the Democratic nominee for attorney general, was found guilty of the misdemeanor charge after being clocked at 116 mph in a 70 mph zone shortly before 1 a.m. on Jan. 21, 2022 in New Kent County. Jones was ordered to pay $1,500 and serve 1,000 hours of community service.
In January 2024, the New Kent County General District Court received documents stating that Jones served 500 of the hours for his own political action committee, Meet Our Moment, and the remaining 500 hours for the Virginia chapter of the NAACP, according to the statement issued by Miyares.
New Kent County Commonwealth’s Attorney T. Scott Renick recently began investigating Jones’ community service claims following news reports about them, the statement said. Certificates signed by representatives of the NAACP and the PAC stated that he completed the hours for both organizations during 2023. That would have required Jones to dedicate 10 hours a week to each, while also working full-time for a law firm and campaigning for fellow Democratic candidates, the statement claimed.
On Tuesday, New Kent County Judge B. Elliott Bondurant signed an order submitted by Renick in which he asked the judge to recuse him from the investigation and instead appoint a special prosecutor to oversee it. Williamsburg-James City County Commonwealth’s Attorney Nate Green, a Republican, has agreed to handle it.
Jones had been leading in the polls before recent news stories about his reckless driving case, and text messages he’d sent in 2022 in which he suggested that then Republican speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates should be shot and that his children should also die. According to the newest polling data from Virginia Commonwealth University, Miyares is now ahead by a 3% margin. Jones later apologized for the texts, and said he was ashamed and embarrassed by them.
A spokesperson for Jones didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent late Wednesday.
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
