Reckless Jay Jones Found Guilty of Endangering Life, Limb, Property—and Ethics?
The Virginia Attorney General candidate’s penalty for reckless driving was to train activist Democrat minority candidates to run for office through his own political action group.
In 2022, Jay Jones got pulled over for driving 116 mph on the highway—46 mph over the speed limit at 1:00 in the morning. Other Virginians have gone to jail for less. Yet the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports Jones was allowed to complete 1000 hours of community service—split between his own political action group and the NAACP.
The legal definition of reckless driving in Virginia reads: “Any person who drives a vehicle on any highway recklessly or at a speed or in a manner so as to endanger the life, limb, or property of any person shall be guilty of reckless driving.” The penalty for violating this law is a class 1 misdemeanor—the highest non-felony criminal charge—punishable by up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.
(READ MORE: VIRGINIA: Jay Jones Will Be a Woke Champion for Criminals and a Headache for Law Enforcement)
In 2014, one man described getting pulled over for going 38 mph over the speed limit. He got 3 days in jail, noting that it counts as a criminal offense—not merely a traffic citation. As he recounts:
The best plea deal I got was a fine of about $400 with court costs, a 10-day suspension of my license in Virginia, and three days in jail. The judge has an option of giving one day in jail for every mile an hour over 90 mph, and he would exercise it here.
I would have much rather done community service, volunteered at a library or a food bank, or paid a larger fine to avoid jail, but that wasn't in the cards with this judge. I sped in the wrong county in the wrong state.
By contrast, the politically connected Jones has his court hearing deferred for 2 years and gets off easy. This wasn’t Jones’ first-time speeding so he couldn’t use the excuse of being a first-time offender.
Restoration News spoke to a Virginia attorney who said he has never seen a community service deal that didn’t have a stipulation against politically related service.
Jones Serves Activists, Not His Community
Rather than doing time serving the community at the Salvation Army, Goodwill, or SPCA, it appears Jones served himself as a Democrat activist for his own political organization.
Jones final court case was closed in Jan. 2024. He reportedly served 500 hours of his community service time with his own political action committee (PAC) Meet Our Moment. His PAC “trains minority Democratic candidates to run for and win state and local offices across the Commonwealth.” The PACs Facebook page shows Jones leading training for minority activist Democrats to run for office during the period for which he would have been completing his community service hours.
Prominent Democrats Pam and Ralph Northam even sent muffins for his “community service.”
According to the Richmond Times,
Under Virginia law, a reckless driving conviction can result in up to one year in jail. Jones’ attorney sought to defer the case four times before the General District Court system reports the case changed to “deferred disposition,” meaning there was an agreement to avoid potential jail time in exchange for doing community service.
Jones paid a $1,500 fine.
Documents from Jones’ attorney show that Jones completed 1,000 hours of community service in 2023 — 500 of which were for Jones’ own political action committee, called Meet Our Moment. The PAC is registered with the Virginia Board of Elections and is not a nonprofit charitable organization. [emphasis added]
Jones’ PAC has taken in over $100,000 including a $10,000 donation from far left megadonor and hedge fund manager Michael Bills.
During the time in which Jones would have completed his 500 community service hours with the NAACP, he was simultaneously representing them in a lawsuit against Gov. Youngkin. Jones continues to use his lawsuit against Youngkin as a campaign talking point in his race for Attorney General.
Restoration News reached out to the New Kent prosecutor to find out if they knew Jones’ “community service” time was spent as an activist but have not yet received a response.
Virginia voters have to be asking some hard questions right now about the possible future Attorney General's tenuous grasp on ethics, and the two-tiered justice system he took advantage of.
(READ MORE: Virginia’s Elections Come Down to Who Can Make the State Safer and More Affordable)
