Attorney, Veteran, Problem Solver

There is no substitute for quality

Jay Jones was born and raised on the Peninsula, graduated from Menchville High School, worked at Busch Gardens as a teenager, and later on Duke of Gloucester Street in Williamsburg. In 1995 he graduated from Old Dominion University with a B.A. and later an M.A. in history.

He graduated law school from Oklahoma City University School of Law cum laude in 2001 and from Temple University School of Law in 2013 with Masters of Law in Trial Advocacy. Commissioned in the Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps in 2000 as a second year law student, he served on active duty from January 2002 until his retirement in December 2022.

Jay was a criminal litigator in the Navy from 2003 until he retired, with an unparalleled 20 straights years in criminal litigation. Starting off as a line defense attorney who raise through the ranks, he worked as an appellate law clerk to the chief judge of a federal criminal appeals court, tried cases in Iraq on deployment, led multiple defense teams and later prosecution teams while trying some of the Navy’s toughest and most complex cases.

In 2016 he was selected as a military judge and conducted over a dozen jury trials and multiple bench trials. In 2018 he was selected to be the Navy’s Director, Trial Counsel Assistance Program. There he assisted and guided military prosecutors worldwide while leading a small team of experienced litigators tackling everything from espionage to sex offenses. In 2021 he was selected to be the Navy’s first ever Complex Case Counsel and was lead chair in two of the Navy’s highest visibility cases of all time.

Jay led the prosecution of the the murder of dependent in Europe near NATO Headquarters which caused international headlines and was later made into a Dateline NBC documentary. Later he was tapped to lead the prosecution of the USS Bonhomme Richard arson case, the first loss of a US capital warship since World War Two.

With over fifty jury trials as a prosecutor and defense attorney and hundreds of hearings Jay has tried and litigated everything from murder to minor drug possession. He taught criminal law for years at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the Defense Computer Forensics Laboratory, and the Naval Justice School.

No case is to small or to complex, and there is no substitute for quality.

EDUCATION

  • Master of Law in Trial Advocacy, LL.M, Temple University School of Law; 2013

  • J.D., Oklahoma City University School of Law; 2001

  • M.A., Old Dominion University; 1996

  • B.A., Old Dominion University; 1995

Jay’s Litigation Experience

  • Defense Attorney, Naval Legal Service Office Southwest, San Diego, California

  • Defense Attorney, Naval Legal Service Office Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida

  • Defense Attorney, Defense Service Office West, Bremerton, Washington

  • Prosecutor, Legal Service Support Team Iraq, Al-Taqqadum, Iraq

  • Prosecutor, Region Legal Service Office, Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida

  • Prosecutor, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, United States Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  • Prosecutor, Director Trial Counsel Assistance Program, U.S. Navy, Washington, D.C.

  • Judiciary, Appellate Law Clerk, Navy-Marine Corps Trial Judiciary, Washington, D.C.

  • Judiciary, Trial Judge, Navy-Marine Corps Trial Judiciary, Mayport, Florida

The following is an incomplete list of serious felony crimes that Jay has defended or prosecuted since 2001:

  • Aggravated assault and maiming

  • Arson of a ship

  • Assault/battery and domestic violence

  • Attempted murder

  • Bigamy

  • Bribery and graft by government official

  • Child abandonment

  • Child sexual abuse

  • Child pornography offenses

  • Child solicitation offenses

  • Computer crime – theft of money and services

  • Discharging a weapon in public

  • Disorderly conduct and drunk in public

  • Drug manufacturing

  • Drug cultivation for organized crime

  • Drug distribution

  • Drug possession

  • Drug trafficking

  • Escape from confinement/detention

  • False police report and false official statement

  • Harassment and stalking

  • Hate crimes

  • Indecent exposure

  • Identity theft

  • Insurance fraud by arson

  • Larceny and wrongful appropriation

  • Manslaughter: Involuntary

  • Manslaughter vehicular homicide

  • Misuse of classified material

  • Murder: First-degree

  • Murder: attempted murder

  • Obstruction of justice

  • Parole violation and revocation

  • Perjury in state court

  • Possession of a firearm by a felony

  • Possession and receiving stolen property

  • Prostitution; solicitation

  • Public intoxication

  • Sexual assault; sexual battery; carnal knowledge

  • Rape and sodomy

  • Threatening another person

  • Unlawful sale of a firearm

  • Unlawful possession of ammunition

  • Vandalism and destruction of property