According to Virginia Del. Carrie Coyner (R-Chesterfield), the still-unfolding scandal involving Democrat attorney general nominee Jay Jones goes deeper than just a few text messages.
Coyner, who was the recipient of several 2022 text messages from Jones advocating for the assassination of then-state House Speaker Todd Gilbert, said that Jones had made similar comments to her back in 2020 when they were discussing the idea of qualified immunity for police officers.
“We had a pretty heated conversation about public policy and pain involving qualified immunity,” Coyner told Brandon Jarvis of Virginia Scope.
“I served on the Courts Committee for a short period of time. A bill to remove qualified immunity for police officers, which protects police officers from personal liability in their line of duty and their line of work, and he believed that they should not have qualified immunity, and he was trying to convince me to agree with that,” Coyner explained.
“I said, ‘No, police officers have to make a split second decision about whether or not to shoot a gun to protect themselves or protect others. And if they’re having to think about, will this strip my whole family of everything … are they going to be able to make that split-second decision?’” Coyner recalled, adding, “And I said, ‘I believe that people will get killed. Police officers will get killed.’ And he said, ‘Well, maybe if a few of them died, that they would move on, not shooting people, not killing people.’ And I said, ‘that’s insane.’”
“But he firmly believed that if you removed qualified immunity, that police officers would act differently, and I firmly believe that it would not result in good public policy, and it would put police officers and the public’s lives at risk if they have to second-guess themselves on a decision they’re making in a moment where someone is doing something violent,” she said.
Jones — who did put his name behind legislation ending qualified immunity for police officers — did not speak directly with Virginia Scope, but provided a statement claiming that he had never said any such thing.
“I did not say this. I have never believed and do not believe that any harm should come to law enforcement, period. Every single day, police officers put their lives on the line to protect our communities, and I am deeply grateful for their service and sacrifice. As Attorney General, I will work hand-in-hand with law enforcement to support their work,” the statement read.