J5 owner Jabari Edwards is asking a federal judge to throw out incriminating statements he made to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents hours after his arrest last year.

Edwards, in a motion filed Feb. 20 by attorney L.N. Chandler Rogers in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, argues that statements he made to federal agents immediately after his arrest should be suppressed because they violate his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights.

The Fifth Amendment, among other things, is the right of an individual not to incriminate themselves, while the Sixth Amendment guarantees, in part, the right to assistance by an attorney.

Edwards, along with J5 President Antwann Richardson, were indicted in June 2022 for allegedly misusing more than $2 million in Paycheck Protection Plan and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program funding.

They allegedly fraudulently applied for coronavirus relief funds through North Atlantic Security, which Edwards owned at the time but later sold, and Edwards Enterprises, a company listing Edwards as its sole member.

The specific “incriminating statements” in question are not yet part of the public court file. The motion asks they only be made available “under seal” to the judge for the purposes of ruling on the motion.

The two are jointly charged with 17 criminal counts, including multiple charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

Prosecutors argue that Edwards and Richardson fraudulently received PPP and EIDL money that was then commingled with funds from Edwards’ other companies. The money was used to prop up those other businesses, pay their taxes, make payments to friends and family and, in some cases, to buy real property, including Court Square Tower in downtown Columbus.

According to Rogers’ memorandum Edwards was indicted on June 15, and FBI Special Agents Richard Vignogna and Dietrich Bohmer of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program arrested him at his home the next morning. Edwards asked why he was being arrested, and Vignogna allegedly “… stated he would tell Edwards, but Edwards should know ‘I have been watching you for two years.’”

Edwards asked two times to speak to his attorney, Wil Colom, and Vignogna allegedly refused. Rogers wrote that Edwards then asked a neighbor, standing nearby, “… to call Mr. Wil Colom and his wife, Jewel Edwards.”

Edwards asked to speak to Colom again when he was in the agents’ vehicle, Rogers wrote, and “… agents told Edwards … that he had to be (read his Miranda warnings) first and that would occur at the FBI office” in Columbus.

Miranda warnings inform a person in custody that they have the right to remain silent and to have an attorney present during questioning.

By law a person in custody must be informed of their Miranda rights before they can be interrogated, and, if they ask for an attorney, they may not be questioned without one.

Once in an interview room at the FBI office, Edwards again asked for an attorney, Rogers wrote. Vignogna had Edwards sign a form indicating he understood his rights and was willing to make a statement and answer questions.

“… instead of permitting Edwards to call his attorney as he had requested on four distinct occasions, (Vignogna) began inquiring about the city of Columbus’ blight program,” Rogers wrote. “(Vignogna) specifically asked Edwards, ‘Didn’t I think it was illegal for me to be an employee of the city, and partner on a program with funds coming from the U.S. Treasury?’”

Edwards, through J5, was a contracted project manager with the city and not an actual employee. Through another one of his businesses, BH Properties, he partnered with the city’s blight elimination program to purchase and mitigate blighted lots.

Vignogna “went on to question Edwards and elicit responses about matters related to his charges,” Rogers wrote. Edwards, asked to make a written statement, “… responded that he just wanted to ‘call Mr. Colom and my wife.’”

Rogers claims Edwards was not informed of the charges against him until he had been taken to Oxford to be processed through the FBI office there and be arraigned in federal court.

The agents’ repeated refusal to let Edwards speak to his attorney was a violation of his Fifth Amendment rights, Rogers wrote.

“… The Supreme Court has held that once a request for an attorney is made, further interrogation may not occur until a defendant initiates the communication and does so knowingly and voluntarily waiving his rights,” Rogers wrote.

Rogers also gigs the government for not video recording the interaction with Edwards.

“Notably, notwithstanding having a video recorder in the interview room, the agents did not turn (it) on,” Rogers wrote. “One would think that an agent who wanted to ensure a valid waiver of rights occurred would have taken the time to record an interview considering a recorder was in the room.”

Sixth Amendment issues
Rogers also argues that Edwards’ Sixth Amendment rights were violated.

A defendant’s protections begin as soon as they are indicted, Rogers wrote.

“There is no question Edwards was afforded the protections of the Sixth Amendment … at the time of his arrest on June 16, 2022, since he was indicted the day before,” Rogers wrote. “Edwards had a right to have Mr. Colom with him at all critical proceedings which included any interview by the government. This did not happen.”

Rogers also made short shrift of the FBI’s promise that Edwards could talk to his lawyer after he signed the Miranda form.

“The government had an ‘affirmative obligation not to act in a manner that circumvents and thereby dilutes the protection afforded by right to counsel,’” Rogers wrote. “This affirmative obligation would include not falsely promising Edwards he could call his attorney if he executed the waiver of rights form.”

Past action on the case
In November, Edwards and Richardson asked the court to dismiss charges against them, and in December prosecutors filed additional charges against both men.

Also in December, Richardson filed a motion for a separate trial, arguing that Edwards’ statements to federal agents after his arrest were “deflecting culpability” onto him.

Last month US District Judge Sharion Aycock denied the motion to dismiss the charges, as well as Richardson’s request for a separate trial.

Finally, in January prosecutors asked Aycock to lift an asset freeze in place against Court Square Tower after Edwards-owned J5 Towers LLC defaulted on payments to Colom, its former owner. Aycock has not yet ruled on that request.

Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.