Jack Jones' lawyer insists he "doesn't want to be a distraction," just wants to play football

BOSTON -- Patriots cornerback Jack Jones appeared in East Boston District Court on Tuesday, where he faced some very serious charges that could lead to jail time.

Tuesday's court appearance was brief, with the court ruling that all parties will return on Aug. 18 for a probable cause hearing. Upon exiting the courthouse, though, defense attorney Rosemary Scapicchio went on the offensive.

Meeting with reporters on the sidewalk, Scapicchio lambasted the media and social media users for labeling her client a thug "with no evidence whatsoever."

"This is not a situation where Mr. Jones ever wanted to be a thug or thought of as a thug, but because he's a young Black man, all of a sudden he's a thug. That's what's happened here," Scapicchio said. "There's no evidence of that whatsoever. And it's disrespectful to Mr. Jones and everyone else -- every other Black man in America who's young and Black -- to be called a thug because he happens to be Black in this situation. This is the institutional racism that we deal with every day in the court system. There's no indication whatsoever that he was in any way disrespectful, there's no information at all that he was in any way or did anything to say he wanted to be a gang member or a thug. He's a young Black man charged with a crime. Therefore, he must want to be a gang member, he must want to be a thug. That label that was attached to him through social media almost got him fired, and it was completely unfounded."

Jones, though, is not facing charges of being called a "thug" or a "gang member" on social media. Jones is facing charges of carrying two loaded guns and two loaded magazines in a bag with his name on it while trying to board a flight on Friday in Boston.

Those very real charges inside of a very real courtroom figure to be a larger issue for the 25-year-old California native, as the prosecution laid out minimum prison terms between 18 and 30 months for the various charges. As for the accusations made against Jones, Scapicchio said that her client did not intend to bring the weapons to the airport.

"He had no intention of bringing any guns into Logan Airport that day. He had no intention of bringing any guns [into] an airport that day," she said. "And I expect that the evidence is going to show that he had no knowledge of what was going on."

Despite the significant issue facing her client, Scapicchio insisted that Jones does not want to be a distraction to his employer, the New England Patriots.

"All Mr. Jones wants to do is play football. He doesn't want to be a distraction at all. He wants to support his family and play football. That's his goal here," Scapicchio said. "But everyone turned him into this thug and this wannabe gangster with no evidence whatsoever. We're suggesting you do your research before you start writing like that. In this case, we're grateful to the Patriots organization and to the leaders of the Patriots, that they didn't believe and read in and feed into what was happening on social media, where people were saying he was a wannabe thug and he was trying to get the guns past security. Nothing could be further from the truth. That's not what happened in this case. And I suggest we wait to hear all of the evidence before people jump to a conclusion."

Scapicchio declined to answer a question about whether she's had any communication with the Patriots organization, but she said that fans who support the team should support her client.

"The Patriots fans who support the Patriots, I suggest they continue to support Mr. Jones," she said. "He wants nothing more than to work, do his job, and earn a living. That's all he wants. This is an accusation. Last I checked in this country, he's presumed innocent unless and until he's proven guilty by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. This is an accusation, plain and simple. That's all it is."

After spending several minutes calling out unspecified tweets from unspecified people making claims about her client's character, Scapicciho was asked the obvious question: Why give so much weight to random tweets when her client is facing serious charges in court?

"I'm not giving any weight to it whatsoever. I didn't give any weight to it. This happened on its own," Scapicchio responded. "Somebody [made up] a rumor and it took on a life of its own. What I'm asking and what I'm asking everyone to question is why was it so easy for us to believe that for the last four days? And the reason is he's young and Black. And that's unfair. We're all set. Let's go, Jack."

With that, Scapicchio and Jones headed into a vehicle and departed, leaving the same number of questions about why and how those two guns were allegedly in his bag at the airport four days prior.

It's that issue -- and not the unverified and anonymous rumblings of Twitter and Instagram -- that figure to be the major matter at hand for Jones, Scapicchio, the Patriots, and the legal system over the coming weeks and months. Despite Tuesday's post-arraignment denunciation of the media and social media users, Jones and this lingering case will certainly stand as quite the distraction for the foreseeable future.