Sunday, June 16, 2024

Charges dropped against former DPS counterterrorism chief



John Jones Jr. was beforehand charged with sexual assault and possession of kid pornography.

TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas — Charges together with sexual assault and possession of kid pornography have been dropped for John Jones Jr., the former counterterrorism chief for the Texas DPS.

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Prosecutors filed the pornography cost in March 2021 after already deciding to drop the 2019 sexual assault case against him.

Jones was fired in 2019 after he was arrested on the sexual assault cost, stemming from allegations that he raped a girl throughout a celebration at his Travis County dwelling. Jones has contended that the intercourse was consensual.

The Travis County District Attorney’s Office filed a movement Monday by which it acknowledged that the proof within the baby pornography cost was “insufficient.”

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“The DA’s office takes allegations of possession of child pornography extremely seriously,” the workplace mentioned in a press release earlier this week. “Ultimately, the investigation failed to reveal evidence that the possession of child pornography was intentional, and the DA’s office dismissed the case.”

In 2019, KVUE reported that the alleged rape occurred at a celebration on Apple Springs Hollow in Leander on July 20. An arrest warrant acknowledged that Jones and the girl went for a trip on an ATV when he allegedly compelled it off the street to then rape her. 

RELATED: Ex-DPS official accused in brutal rape bonds out of jail

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A couple of months after Jones was arrested on the sexual assault cost, the girl was denied a request for a lifetime protecting order against Jones. Visiting state District Judge Jon Wisser mentioned he didn’t discover the proof to be clear and convincing.

Later, in February 2021, prosecutors declined to pursue the sexual assault cost. Jones’ lawyer acknowledged that it was throughout that investigation that officers went via Jones’ work cellphone and located one picture that led to the kid pornography cost. 

His lawyer, Adam Muery, mentioned it was not baby porn however a cached picture from an grownup web site. A health care provider informed prosecutors the picture was possible a woman between 10 and 15 years of age, however Muery insists the individual pictured was an grownup.

According to Muery, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office informed him in 2019 that investigators found the picture however wouldn’t proceed with a cost as a result of a single picture was not adequate proof to ethically proceed with the prosecution. But completely different prosecutors determined to maneuver ahead in 2021.

“It was only when the judge finally set it for trial that [prosecutors] dismissed it,” Muery informed KVUE’s media companions at the Austin American-Statesman. “They never had any intention to try this case.”

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