One month after the Department of Customs seized truck loads of alcohol from Made Men Sports Bar on Faith Avenue, shady businessman Jonathon Ash has filed for a judicial review of the matter. Ash filed today and has already secured a hearing for Friday morning at 10.
How did he get a hearing so fast? And does this mean the prosecution’s star witness in the botched Shane Gibson trial and the impending Ken Dorsett trial is now taking the Attorney General’s Office to court?
The document, dated June 9, 2020, lists the Comptroller of Customs as the first defendant and the Office of the Attorney General as the second defendant. They will appear before Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bowe Darville “on hearing of the application by the Plaintiff to Order 29 Rule 2 (1) of the Defendants for the perseveration of property seized and other reliefs claimed.”
Ash became a social media meme and made a mockery of the criminal justice system on April 20 when he was allowed to sprint inside Magistrates Court to be charged with violating curfew and selling liquor which is not considered an essential item.
While other curfew violators have been arrested and shackled for court appearances, Ash was not cuffed and had his cell phone in his back pocket.
The 35-year-old so-called deacon was busted on camera selling alcohol at a marked up price, under police protection, while other liquor stores remained closed due to emergency orders. Those police officers were placed on leave pending an investigation.
During his arraignment in April, Ash lied to the magistrate and told him that the liquor store was not his and it was only his second time at the establishment when he got caught red-handed.
Yet, in his filing today, Ash claimed that he is the owner of the liquor store and the seized alcohol is his property.
It’s not the first time he lied in a court of law but the jury in the Gibson trial didn’t buy his cockamamie story.
Ash pleaded guilty and was fined $2,000 for failing to remain at home during the curfew and $5,000 for operating a non-essential business during the curfew. The magistrate condemned him for his “blatant disregard for the law.”