Richard A. Jones

Richard Anthony Jones (born 1950) is an American attorney and jurist serving as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. He previously served as a deputy prosecuting attorney for King County, Washington, attorney for the Port of Seattle, and assistant United States attorney in the region, in addition to private practice.

Early life and education Born in Seattle in 1950, Jones is the son of Quincy Delight Jones Sr., who worked as a semi-professional baseball player and carpenter, and his second wife. He is 17 years younger than his half-brother Quincy Jones, a musician and producer.

After attending Seattle public schools, Richard Jones received a Bachelor of Public Administration degree from Seattle University in 1972 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Washington School of Law in 1975. He was admitted to the Washington State Bar Association in 1977.

In April 2024, Jones sentenced Changpeng Zhao, founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, to only four months in prison over Zhao's guilty plea to money laundering charges, despite federal prosecutors seeking a three-year term. Dennis Kelleher of the non-profit Better Markets criticized the sentence as insufficient to dissuade similar corporate behavior.

Privacy/surveillance Some of Jones's decisions expanding state surveillance powers have been controversial, including one in 2017 to allow unfettered warrantless camera surveillance by the City of Seattle by barring the public release, in response to a public records request, of information regarding cameras installed by the FBI. In a 2016 case also narrowing the scope of a citizen's reasonable expectation of privacy, he ruled that users of the Tor anonymity network, the purpose of which is to provide privacy, do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy and was criticized for not understanding the technology.

Personal He is married to Leslie Jones, diversity program manager for Sound Transit. Jones has been active on the board of the YMCA. He also acts as a mentor to minority youth in Seattle.