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WTO Activist Granted New Trial
By Zachary D. Lyons
Jeremiah Jones hugs his father, Dave, after the judge granted him a new trial. His mother Gerry looks on. Zachary D. Lyons photo. |
Captain Mochizuki was hit in the eye with a projectile thrown from the crowd gathered in the intersection of 4th Avenue and Pine Street after 8 p.m. on November 30, 2000. At the time, Jones was singled out by Seattle Police Detective Williams as the one and only person to have thrown anything, and he was arrested. Ultimately, this incident precipitated the mass arrest of 142 people that night, though fewer than ten of the arrests ever resulted in convictions. (Most of those convictions have been, or are being, appealed.)
Jones has maintained his innocence since his arrest, and he has always asserted that someone else threw the object. His conviction has remained in limbo since September while his new attorney, Lenell Nussbaum, worked on a motion for a new trial. The motion alleged that Jones' original counsel, Public Defender Ann Mahoney, was inadequate and that new evidence had been acquired which created reasonable doubt as to his guilt.
That new evidence came in the form of an amended police report from Seattle Police Sergeant Jim Dyment, filed on April 17 of this year. That police report, which Sergeant Dyment had originally filed on November 30, 2000, indicated that he had in fact arrested a different person, Christopher Joshua Alex, for throwing objects from the crowd at officers. A statement filed with the court by Nussbaum's investigator, Daniel Petty, stated that Dyment "informed me that he would only be interviewed if the prosecutor were present." That interview took place on April 3, after numerous failed attempts.
"Ms. Nussbaum first reviewed with Sgt. Dyment his arrest report, and confirmed it was of Christopher Joshua Alex," Petty wrote. "Then Ms. Nussbaum played the video from Channel 13, and asked Sergeant Dyment to watch it. He spontaneously cried out, 'Yeah, that's him.' He identified the person in the black balaclava as the person he had arrested that night." Petty added, "At no time did he or anyone mention by name or refer to Jeremiah Jones on the video."
The Channel 13 video, shot on November 30, 2000, clearly shows a man throwing an object. The same video also clearly shows Jeremiah Jones being jostled about in the crowd, but it does not show him throwing anything. Another video, shot by a private individual of the scene from a different angle, was also offered as new evidence to establish the time at which Jones was arrested, just before it, and what he was wearing at the time, in order to challenge the testimony of Jones' arresting officer, Detective Williams.
Deputy Prosecutor Scott Fogg argued that none of this evidence was truly "new", as it was available to Jones' original attorney during trial. He further argued that Mahoney's defense was not deficient, but simply her strategy. However, Judge North rejected the State's argument and granted Jones a new trial. Judge North said that while any one of these pieces of evidence might not meet the burden of demonstrating that they could have caused the jury to have reached a different verdict, when linked together, the jury very well could have ruled differently.
A new date for Jones' trial has been set on June 10, though it is expected that the date will be pushed back.
Reader Comments
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| Sarah | Aug 04, 2003 | Whidbey Island | photojournalist |
| I used to take photos of Jeremiah during his original trial, but have since moved and was unable to continue to follow the case. I was wondering if you had an email for him, or you could pass along my email to him to get back in touch. Thank you so much Sarah Nauman | |||
| jeremiah jones | Feb 03, 2006 | ||
| hey sarah, my e-address is... p e t e r _ p a n @ R i s e u p . n e t without spaces of course anyone else i have lost contact with should write me too! I was found innocent, of course. | |||
