Patriots CB Jack Jones pleads not guilty to weapons charges - ESPN

New England Patriots cornerback Jack Jones was arraigned on weapons charges in East Boston Municipal Court on Tuesday. He pleaded not guilty, posted $30,000 cash bail, and is next scheduled to appear in court Aug. 18 for a probable cause hearing.

Prosecutors said authorities at Boston's Logan Airport found a glock box with two guns and ammunition inside a bag with Jones' name on it.

Jones, 25, was charged with two counts of the following offenses: possession of a concealed weapon in a secure area of the airport, possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card, unlawful possession of a firearm, carrying a loaded firearm and possession of a large capacity feeding device.

Two of the counts against Jones carry mandatory minimum prison sentences of 2½ years if he is indicted and later convicted. Two other counts carry mandatory minimum sentences of 18 months if he is indicted and later convicted.

«He had no intention of bringing any guns into Logan Airport that day. He had no intention of bringing any guns on to an airport that day,» Jones' attorney, Rosemary Scapicchio, said outside the courtroom. «I expect the evidence is going to show that he had no knowledge of what was going on.»

Scapicchio also took aim at coverage of Jones' arrest.

«It's the social media, and the media, who have turned him into a thug, who have labeled him a thug, with no evidence whatsoever,» she said. «Because he's a young Black man, all of a sudden, he's a thug. That's what happened here. It's disrespectful to Mr. Jones and every other Black man in America. This is the institutional racism we deal with every day in the court system. ...

»That label that was attached to him through social media almost got him fired, and it was