GILES COUNTY, Tenn. (WTVF) — A disturbing case involving two Lawrence County sheriff's deputies and a former assistant district attorney has not gone to trial nearly five years after it happened.
The two deputies are charged with excessive use of force after they pulled over then 62 year-old Mike Jones in 2020.
The former assistant district attorney is charged with official misconduct after the deputies allegedly sent her cell phone pictures of Jones, who was badly beaten, and she told them to delete the photos.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates first reported the case in 2021.
Now, for the first time, Jones is discussing what he says happened and his frustration that the cases have not gone to trial.
Pictures show Mike Jones in the hospital days after he was arrested back in October of 2020.
"Both eye sockets was crushed. My sinus cavity was crushed and my nose," Jones said.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked, "What do you think when you look at those pictures now?"
Jones responded, "It's pretty bad. Everybody that's seen the real bad ones just says they were trying to beat you to death."
It happened on a rural road near the Giles and Lawrence County line.
Jones was pulled over by two Lawrence County deputies, Eric Caperton and Zach Ferguson, who were working for the 22nd Judicial Drug task force.
In their incident report the deputies claim Jones led them on a chase, throwing drugs from his car.
When he stopped, they claimed the 62 year-old, who was on disability, resisted arrest.
"They got me out then slammed down on the ground and one of them was in the middle of my back and the other was beating me," Jones said.
But Jones was really surprised by what he says happened next, the deputies stood him up and took a cell phone picture of him.
A picture in the court documents shows Jones' swollen face while he is standing outside.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked, "That looks like the picture they took of you at the scene, right?"
Jones responded, "Yeah. Yeah. I can see my eyes are already starting to swell."
Jones continued, "I don't know why he took the picture. He just wiped my face real hard with a rag cause it was covered in blood and snapped my picture with his cell phone."
A court filing claimed Deputy Ferguson texted pictures of Jones' injuries and a picture of blood in the road to then Assistant District Attorney Emily Crafton, who was in District Attorney Brent Cooper's office.
The court filing claimed she saw the pictures and advised deputy Ferguson "to delete the photos."
Attorney Andrew Nutt represented Jones, and told us back in 2021 that deleting the photos was an attempt to cover-up the brutal beating.
"They covered the case up. They covered up the crimes against Mr. Jones up," Nutt said in 2021.
Jones' brother agreed.
"That was their way of covering their own butt. They were just hiding information destroying information, evidence," Jim Jones said.
District Attorney Brent Cooper later fired Crafton, and she now faces official misconduct charges.
Crafton's attorney, Ray Fraley, did not want to comment on his client's case, but said he thought the officers were "overaggressive."
He said the delays with the case are not Crafton's fault and "she would like her day in court soon and maintains her innocence."
The two deputies face federal charges involving excessive use of force and obstruction.
They remain on administrative leave, without pay from the Lawrence County Sheriff's office.
Lawrence County Sheriff John Meyers has stood by the deputies and said in the past they used the amount of force necessary to make the arrest.
Their federal trial has been set five different times, but so far it has not happened.
"It just keeps getting put off and put off. I thought maybe they were waiting for me to die or something. That's what I thought," Mike Jones said.
A judge dismissed the resisting arrest charge against Mike Jones and all other charges stemming from that traffic stop.
His brother, Jim, is ready to testify in court if needed.
"I'd like to get it over with. It's something we are still dealing with five years later, simply because of them," Jim said.
