Wayne Jones, Excessive Force, West Virginia 2018

West Virginia Cops Cleared in Wayne Jones Shooting

MARTINSBURG, WV – In a decision that has left the family of a local man with unanswered questions, federal officials have closed their review into the 2013 shooting death of Wayne Jones without pursuing charges against the Martinsburg Police Department officers involved.

According to a federal investigation, Jones was shot during a struggle with officers on March 13, 2013. Federal authorities reviewed the evidence collected during the state investigation, including video recordings, witness interviews, physical evidence, officer statements and expert testimony.

In a meeting with the Jones family and their representatives, officials explained that while the evidence was extensive, it was insufficient to refute the officers’ claims that they believed they had to fire their weapons while acting in self-defense or in defense of others.

Federal officials emphasized that this decision is limited strictly to an application of the high legal standard required to prosecute a case under the federal civil rights statute, and does not reflect an assessment of any other aspect of the incident that led to Jones’s death.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of West Virginia, the Civil Rights Division and the FBI have committed to investigating allegations of civil rights violations by law enforcement officers and will continue to devote the resources required to ensure that all allegations of serious civil rights violations are fully and completely investigated.

The case is a stark reminder that while federal authorities will aggressively prosecute criminal civil rights violations whenever there is sufficient evidence to do so, the high legal standard required to prove a case can be a significant hurdle in achieving justice for families like Wayne Jones’s.

The Jones family has yet to comment on the decision, but sources close to the family have expressed frustration and disappointment with the outcome.

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