The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) has filed a formal complaint seeking the disbarment of Virginia attorney general candidate Jerrauld "Jay" Jones, accusing him of "depraved and possibly illegal conduct" over a string of violent text messages and questions surrounding his court-ordered community service.
In a complaint filed with the Virginia State Bar, NLPC Chairman Peter Flaherty said Jones, 36, violated professional ethics and "demonstrated disdain for the legal system" through threatening statements about Republican leaders and alleged dishonesty surrounding his reckless driving sentence.
According to the complaint, Jones sent a series of graphic and threatening text messages in August 2022 to former Republican Delegate Carrie Coyner, following the death of Democrat lawmaker Joe Johnson.
The complaint includes a screengrab of Jones' text messages, which read:
"If those guys die before me, I will go to their funerals to piss on their graves … Send them out awash in something."
The messages continue, "Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, Hitler, and pol pot … Gilbert gets two bullets every time."
Coyner pleaded with Jones to stop, writing back, "Please stop."
Jones laughed it off and replied, "Lol. Ok, ok."
Coyner responded, "It really bothers me when you talk about hurting people or wishing death on them."
Coyner told the National Review that after she objected to his violent tone, Jones called her and allegedly doubled down.
He said the "only way public policy changes is when policymakers feel pain themselves," Coyner alleged.
He later suggested he wished House Speaker Todd Gilbert's wife "could watch her own child die in her arms," so Gilbert might "reconsider his political views," she said.
After Coyner hung up in disgust, Jones continued texting, saying he was "just asking questions" and sneering, "Yes, I've told you this before. Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy."
Jones also mocked Gilbert's family, texting, "I mean do I think Todd and Jennifer are evil? And that they're being fascists? Yes."
NLPC argues those remarks alone warrant revocation of Jones' law license, calling them "unbecoming of any public official."
The group cited Virginia Rule 8.4, which prohibits conduct involving "dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation" or acts reflecting poorly on a lawyer's "fitness to practice law."
Paul Kamenar, NLPC counsel, told Newsmax Tuesday that whether the Virginia State Bar disbars Jones "is an open question," adding "of course they should because of the outrageous and gruesome" text messages.
He added that the use of graphic and violent language in the texts "shows where his professional ethics are."
"The National Legal Policy Center is concerned primarily with whether this guy should even be a lawyer with this kind of conduct."
Kamenar added, "And if he's elected and this complaint is still pending — and usually these kind of complaints take several months for the bureaucracy at the Bar to look at it, investigate it, etc. — he'll be under a cloud of disbarment during his term at the attorney general."
"But at the National Legal Policy Center, our main concern is how this kind of violent rhetoric by public officials is basically a serious sickness."
Kamenar pointed out that the Virginia State Bar is co-hosting a debate between Jones and opponent Jason Miyares at the University of Richmond on Thursday.
Jones acknowledged the text messages last week, describing their content as a "grave mistake."
"Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach. I am embarrassed, ashamed, and sorry."
Jones did not say he was going to exit the race — in fact, he stood his ground, saying he plans to win.
"This was a grave mistake, and I will work every day to prove to the people of Virginia that I will fight for them as attorney general."
The complaint also accuses Jones of possible fraud in fulfilling 1,000 hours of community service stemming from a 2022 reckless driving charge.
Jones was caught driving 116 mph in a 70-mph zone and pleaded guilty in January 2024 after multiple delays.
While most offenders in similar cases served jail time, Jones avoided incarceration and a license suspension by performing community service instead.
"There's a serious question whether he rigged that," Kamenar told Newsmax.
He claimed to have completed 500 hours with "Meet Our Moment," a political action group with close ties to him, and another 500 with the Virginia NAACP, where he previously served as counsel.
NLPC said those affiliations violate the spirit of Virginia law, which bars community service through organizations personally or politically connected to the offender. The matter is under investigation by New Kent County prosecutors.
"Mr. Jones's violent statements, coupled with potential deception over his community service, reflect dishonesty and unfitness for legal practice," Flaherty wrote.
"The Bar must revoke his license or at least suspend it."
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