Richard Anthony Jones (born 1950) is an American attorney and jurist serving as a senior

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. He previously served as a deputy prosecuting attorney for

King County, Washington King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the ...

, attorney for the Port of Seattle, and assistant United States attorney in the region, in addition to private practice.

Early life and education

Born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

in 1950, Jones is the son of Quincy Delight Jones Sr., who worked as a semi-professional baseball player and carpenter, and his second wife. He is 17 years younger than his half-brother

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

, the noted musician and producer. After attending Seattle public schools, Richard Jones received a Bachelor of Public Administration degree from Seattle University in 1972 and a Juris Doctor from the

University of Washington School of Law The University of Washington School of Law is the law school of the University of Washington, located on the northwest corner of the main campus in Seattle, Washington. The 2023 '' U.S. News & World Report'' law school rankings place Wash ...

in 1975. He was admitted to the

Washington State Bar Association The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) operates under the delegated authority of the Washington Supreme Court to license the state's nearly 41,000 active and inactive lawyers and other legal professionals. In furtherance of its obligation to ...

in 1977.

Career

Jones was a community liaison officer, Office of King County Prosecuting Attorney, Washington from 1975 to 1977. He was a deputy prosecuting attorney of the Office of King County Prosecuting Attorney from 1977 to 1978. He was a staff attorney of the Port of Seattle from 1978 to 1983. After being in private practice with the major law firm of Bogle & Gates in Seattle from 1983 to 1988, he became an Assistant United States Attorney of the United States Attorney's Office, Western District of Washington. He served there from 1988 to 1994.

Judicial service

Jones served as a judge on the King County Superior Court, Washington from 1994 to 2007. During this period, he presided over several high-profile cases, including the prosecution of

Gary Ridgway Gary Leon Ridgway (born February 18, 1949), also known as the Green River Killer, is an American serial killer and sex offender. He was initially convicted of 48 separate murders. As part of his plea bargain, another conviction was added, brin ...

, the notorious "Green River Killer" who was known to have killed 48 women. Jones was recommended by a bipartisan panel in Washington and nominated by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

on March 19, 2007, to a seat vacated by John C. Coughenour. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on October 4, 2007, and received his commission on October 29, 2007. He assumed senior status on September 5, 2022.

Privacy/surveillance

Some of Jones' decisions expanding state surveillance powers have been controversial, including one in 2017 to allow unfettered warrantless camera surveillance by the City of Seattle by barring the public release, in response to a public records request, of information regarding cameras installed by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

. In a 2016 case also narrowing the scope of a citizen's

reasonable expectation of privacy Expectation of privacy is a legal test which is crucial in defining the scope of the applicability of the privacy protections of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. It is related to, but is not the same as, a ''right to privac ...

, he ruled that users of the

Tor Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain * Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city * Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano * Tor Bay, Devon, England * Tor River, Western New Guinea, Indonesia Sc ...

anonymity network, the purpose of which is to provide privacy, do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy, and was criticized for not understanding the technology.

Personal

He is married to Leslie Jones, diversity program manager for

Sound Transit Sound Transit (ST), officially the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, is a public transit agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It operates the Link light rail system in Seattle and Tacoma, ...

. Jones has been active on the board of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

. He also acts as a mentor to minority youth in Seattle.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Richard A. 1950 births Living people 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges African-American judges 20th-century African-American lawyers Assistant United States Attorneys Family of Quincy Jones Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington Lawyers from Seattle Seattle University alumni Superior court judges in the United States United States district court judges appointed by George W. Bush University of Washington School of Law alumni Washington (state) lawyers