(Source: MIRS.news, Published 06/30/2022) (HOWELL) – State Rep. Jewell Jones (D-Inkster) pleaded guilty Thursday morning to violating probation by drinking alcohol and he was immediately sentenced to 30 days in jail.
However, Jones will not spend that time incarcerated. Livingston County Circuit Judge Michael P. Hatty allowed Jones to earn day-to-day credit as the lawmaker continues his in-patient addiction treatment at SHAR, a Detroit facility.
“I’m responsible, your honor; guilty,” Jones told the judge. “I apologize. I did make a really poor decision. I do appreciate SHAR house. When I got there, we definitely uncovered a few things. Like (defense attorney) Mr. (Byron) Nolen said, it was just an explanation, but not much of an excuse. … I’ve learned a lot about myself.”
Jones admitted drinking alcohol due to his grandmother's death on May 31. The next day he took an alcohol-consumption screening and when the positive results came in June 7, he checked himself into the rehabilitation facility.
His 30-day in-patient program should end July 7 and after that date he will continue as an out-patient.
Hatty also reminded Jones that he needs to send letters to the two Michigan State Police troopers whom he fought with when they responded to a suspected drunken driver along Interstate 96 near Fowlerville in April.
“This isn’t for what you did on the side of the road,” the judge said. “This is, ‘Officers I’m sorry for being an idiot, for making your jobs harder than they needed to be,’ do you understand?”
Jones was initially arrested in April 2021 following a suspected drunken-driving incident on I-96 in which motorists reported seeing Jones' Chevy Tahoe drifting in and out of lanes before it stopped on the shoulder.
Jones, whose blood-alcohol level during that incident was 0.19, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08, resisted when a MSP trooper grabbed his arm, which led to a tussle and the use of a Taser as officers tried to handcuff Jones.
Since that incident, Jones admitted violating bond three times, which lead to a stint in the county jail where he added a new charge after deputies found a handcuff key taped to his foot.
In March, Hatty sentenced Jones to two years’ probation under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act (HYTA), which would leave him no public felony conviction if he successfully completed probation.
Assistant Prosecutor Rolland Sizemore III argued the HYTA status should be revoked because it is the defendant’s fourth violation, when counting the bond violations.
“This is an alcohol-infused offense. Mr. Jones created a very dangerous situation on the side of the highway where he was challenging the very people he should be supporting,” Sizemore said. “These were law enforcement officers. He is a lawmaker in this state.
“He is asking the court to continue to invoke the benefit of HYTA even though he is not living up to his end of the bargain,” the assistant prosecutor added. “… His very job is to create those rules and he's here basically thumbing his nose at those orders.”
Hatty kept the HYTA status in place, saying he wanted to give Jones “incentive” to stay on the rule-following path to get him to sobriety.
