District Attorney Keith Higgins announces that on Monday, February 26, 2024, Kelvin Jeffrey Jones, 58, of Brunswick, GA, was found guilty by a Glynn County jury of one count of Aggravated Assault by Strangulation. The jury deliberated for only 10 minutes before reaching its verdict.
The evidence presented at trial showed that on July 8, 2020, Jones, and the victim, who was his girlfriend, had been involved in an argument that turned physical while they were staying at the Oleander Motel in Brunswick. During the altercation, the defendant dragged the victim into their room, choked her out, and hit her in the face. Jones also threw her cell phone onto the ground when she tried to call 911. The victim was able to get away to use a motel neighbor’s phone to call 911 instead. The responding Brunswick Police officers observed swelling and a cut to around her left eye, and marks around her neck consistent with strangulation. Jones had left the area prior to the officers’ arrival.
After the assault, the defendant was stopped a couple of hours later for a traffic violation. During the stop, the same officers who had investigated the prior assault asked Jones about what happened earlier that day. He stated, “all I did was choke her.” When asked to repeat what he said, he stated he grabbed her by the neck.
The victim, who remains in a relationship with Jones, did not want to prosecute the case, and denied Jones had assaulted her. When questioned by the prosecutor as to her original statements to police, she claimed she couldn’t remember.
Evidence was also presented about a subsequent assault that occurred on July 24, 2023, in which the defendant again assaulted the victim while they were living together. The victim suffered a laceration to her head and had to be taken to the hospital due to the amount of blood she had lost. The responding officer in that assault testified that the victim had told him that she had lied numerous times to cover up for the defendant.
According to Assistant District Attorney Leland McElveen Jr, who prosecuted the case for the State, “The jurors were able to see the cycle of repeated abuse the defendant committed against the victim and understood that sometimes you have to step in to help someone that can’t help themselves. In this case, the jurors returned a verdict that spoke the truth, and they held Kelvin Jones accountable for his actions as a domestic abuser.”
Sentencing is currently scheduled for Thursday, March 7th. Because the defendant, Kelvin Jones, has three or more prior felony convictions, he will be sentenced as a recidivist. The maximum sentence he could receive is 20 years without the possibility of parole.
Members of the media with further questions may contact the Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office at 912-554-7200.
