Original and special prosecutor remove selves in Jay Jones’ reckless driving investigation

NEW KENT COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- After the original prosecutor in Democratic candidate for attorney general Jay Jones' reckless driving community service investigation recused himself from the case, the special prosecutor appointed has also removed himself from the case.

Jones was sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service after a reckless driving conviction in 2022 in New Kent County.

New Kent Commonwealth's Attorney Scott Renick stepped away from the investigation due to it being "improper for him to act" as a result of "a potential conflict," according to court documents obtained from the New Kent Circuit Court dated Tuesday, Oct. 21.

The court appointed Nathan R. Green, Commonwealth's Attorney for Williamsburg/James City County, as the special prosecutor in this matter, per court documents.

Green then also removed himself from the case, as of reporting, leaving the case with no prosecutor.

Questions have arisen about whether Jones served some of the community service hours for his own political action committee. Attorney General Jason Miyares addressed Jones's reported criminal investigation in a social post on Wednesday, Oct. 22.

“The Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer of Virginia," Miyares said. "Virginians deserve an Attorney General whose integrity is beyond question. Jay Jones had already disqualified himself with his violent text messages against political opponents and their children.”

This comes amid Jones being under fire for controversial text messages he sent in which he described a former GOP House Speaker hypothetically being shot. In these texts, among other comments, Jones writes about a hypothetical scenario in which then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) would be shot.

After calling Jones's controversial text messages "disqualifying" at a press conference on Saturday, Oct. 4, Miyares said that the new revelation of the criminal investigation had proven Jones ill-fit for the position of Virginia’s top law enforcement officer, though he doesn't state what happened explicitly.

This occurred one day after Jones sat down with 8News in an exclusive one-on-one interview on Friday, Oct. 3, publicly apologizing to Gilbert, his family and the people of Virginia.

"For the sake of public trust and common decency, Jay Jones should suspend his campaign and withdraw from the race for Attorney General," Miyares said. "Virginians deserve honesty, humility, and sound judgment in their top law enforcement officer. Jay Jones has shown time and time again that he possesses none of these qualities."