The arson trial for Mindy Jo Jones stemming from a February 13, 2022, fire that destroyed her Tin, Rust and Harmony business located at 9 Allamakee Street in Waukon has been rescheduled for a second time since her arrest in the case in March of last year. At a pre-trial conference held Monday, February 5 in Allamakee County District Court in Waukon, First Judicial District Judge Alan Heavens ordered a review hearing in the case following the filing of a Waiver of Speedy Trial (One Year) by Jones Friday, February 2, according to court documents, resulting in the delaying of the February 21 jury trial that had been most recently scheduled in the case.
Aaron Hawbaker, the fourth public defender appointed to represent Jones since her arrest in the case, assisted her in filing that waiver, which indicates that she gives up her right to be brought to trial within one year of the date of her arraignment in the case, which took place in April of last year. With that waiver Jones agrees that the State of Iowa may delay bringing her to trial beyond that one-year deadline required under Iowa Rule of Criminal Procedure 2.33(2)(c), according to available court documents.
At Monday’s pre-trial conference, Judge Heavens scheduled the review hearing in the case for Monday, April 1 at 10 a.m., and that hearing will be conducted by telephone, according to court documents. The order for the review hearing listed among those documents and recorded Monday indicates that part of that hearing will involve the defense and prosecution working together to select a new trial date for Jones in the case.
The jury trial in the arson case brought against Jones had originally been scheduled in Allamakee County District Court for October 4 of last year but was moved to February 21 of this year following a ruling made at the original pre-trial conference held in the case September 11 of last year when First Judicial District Court Judge John Sullivan granted a continuance in the case. That continuance was approved after it was revealed at that pre-trial conference that Jones “had no contact with counsel for several months and defendant made an oral request for new counsel,” according to court documents filed in the case September 11.
Hawbaker was appointed as Jones’ fourth public defender shortly after that September 11 continuance was granted. Her first two public defenders were found to have conflicts of interest in previous or other cases or matters involving either Jones or others who have a legal interest in the arson case Jones is slated to stand trial for. The third appointed counsel was removed from the case following the revelation of not being in contact with Jones for several months prior to that originally scheduled pre-trial conference from last September.
Jones is facing charges of First Degree Arson and Animal Abuse in connection with the February 13, 2022, fire that destroyed her Tin, Rust and Harmony business located at 9 Allamakee Street in Waukon and killed a dog that had been living in an apartment above the business, along with destroying an adjacent business building and damaging several other buildings on that same initial block of Allamakee Street. Jones was arrested in Waterloo March 13 of last year following more than a year’s worth of investigation by local, state and federal authorities into the fire and what had been determined to be its suspicious nature.
Sarah says
This woman is a piece of work.
In the latest FCJ article it states she submitted a document electronically signed by a ARNP in Waterloo that turned out forged.
She just doesn’t learn anything.