Judge Bruce Wilcox dismissed former Suffolk Republican Party Chairwoman Dawn Jones’ 20-month-old assault and battery allegation against Isle of Wight County Planning Commissioner Jennifer Boykin, after listening to 2½ hours of testimony on Nov. 7.

Wilcox ordered Boykin be subject to a $500 “peace bond,” which her attorney, Fred Taylor, said she’d only have to pay if she violates the 90-day order. Boykin will not have a criminal record as a result of Wilcox’s ruling, Taylor said.

The peace bond is not the same as a restraining or protective order, and does not prohibit contact between the two women, Taylor said. Rather, it requires the parties “keep the peace” by not committing any illegal acts.

The Class 1 misdemeanor charge stemmed from a March 8, 2023, meeting of city- and county-level GOP chairs to select the method of nominating a Republican candidate for the state’s 17th Senate District election. 

State Sen. Emily Jordan, R-Isle of Wight, who was serving as a House of Delegates member at the time, won a primary election against Emporia businessman Hermie Sadler in 2023 for the GOP senate nomination and went on to win her Senate seat in that year’s November general election against former Del. Clinton Jenkins, D-Suffolk. Jones, in March of that year, filed a lawsuit alleging Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s and Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares’ staff had pressured the state Department of Elections to change the nominating method from a primary election to a convention, which a Richmond judge ordered be changed back to a primary despite testimony in that civil case never delving into exactly how Youngkin’s or Mires’ representatives had allegedly pressured the change.

State Republican Party Chairman Rich Anderson, in correspondence The Smithfield Times obtained through a Freedom of Information Act last year, had written to Department of Elections Commissioner Susan Beals on March 7, 2023, and again on March 9 contending “internal party dysfunction” had “manifested within the Suffolk Republican Committee” and that on Feb. 25 of that year the party had “disbanded” the Suffolk GOP, removed Jones as its chair and installed Steve Trent – who’d contributed money to Jordan’s campaign – in her place. Anderson, in a written statement entered as evidence in the Richmond civil case, contended Jones had acted beyond her authority when she – not Trent – cast Suffolk’s vote at the 17th’s Legislative District Committee in favor of holding a primary rather than a convention, and then as chairwoman of the LDC certified that vote to the state.

A video Boykin recorded on her cellphone, which special prosecutor Regina Sykes and Taylor each used as evidence in their cases, captured Boykin saying to Jones “you’re a farce; you’ve been disbanded” as Jones was leaving the meeting, and a few seconds after the exchange telling other exiting attendees to “get your RINO tails out of here,” using an acronym for Republican-in-name-only.

Jones, in a criminal complaint at the Suffolk magistrate’s office six days after the meeting, alleged Boykin grabbed Jones arm and held her cellphone in Jones’ face to record her during the exchange.

Carey Allen, an adviser to Sadler’s campaign, testified that she’d been standing directly behind Jones when Boykin reached between them to pull Jones aside. Jones and Allen were the only two witnesses Sykes called to make her case.

Taylor called six witnesses on behalf of Boykin.

Cpl. Anthony Patton, an Isle of Wight County sheriff’s deputy on patrol on the evening in question, testified he’d parked his patrol car for just over an hour and 10 minutes outside the Walters Ruritan Clubhouse where the meeting was held on orders from his superiors to watch for any disturbances, but said he did not see or hear any such incidents during that time.

John Corsi, a legislative aide to the House of Delegates who attended the meeting as a representative of Jordan’s campaign, testified he’d been standing at the back of the room, 20 to 30 feet away from the door, when he witnessed Boykin’s verbal interaction with Jones, but said he didn’t see any physical interaction between the two.

Corsi described Boykin’s remarks as “not necessarily positive” but not “fighting words.”

Dennis Free, the chairman of the 2nd Congressional District GOP branch that oversees city- and county-level chapters, Trent, Jordan political director Cody Butler and Franklin-Southampton GOP chapter member Peter Helms each testified they too had attended the meeting but didn’t see the alleged physical interaction between Boykin and Jones.

Sykes, during cross examination, quizzed Boykin’s witnesses on their visual and hearing impairments, attempting to paint them as either too far away or too focused on other speakers at the meeting to have witnessed the alleged altercation.

Boykin herself did not take the witness stand.

Sykes’ closing argument painted Boykin as “hostile.” Taylor’s painted the exchange as “heated,” but he asserted Boykin’s conduct was “not the same thing as an assault and battery.”

Sykes declined to comment on the verdict.

“We believe the judge got it right,” Taylor said of the verdict, adding he was pleased his client, after 20 months, had been “exonerated of these false accusations.”

The matter had originally been scheduled to go to trial on Aug. 22, though on that date Judge Nicole Belote recused herself and rescheduled the case after disclosing she’s a close friend and appointee of then-delegate, and now Sen. Jordan. Wilcox is a retired judge from Norfolk.

Editor’s note: This story was updated on Nov. 11 at 9:48 a.m. to correct that the $500 “peace bond” Judge Wilcox ordered is not a protective order and doesn’t prohibit contact between Dawn Jones and Jennifer Boykin.