United States v. Jones
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
36 F.Supp.2d 304 (1999)
Chad Ramon Jones (defendant), an African American man, was arrested in Richmond, Virginia for a gun offense that violated both state and federal law. Under Project Exile, a joint state-federal program aimed at reducing Richmond's violent crime, state and federal officials agreed the United States should prosecute Jones federally instead of in state court. Jones moved to dismiss on Fifth Amendment grounds, arguing flaws in Project Exile's design made the transfer racially motivated and more likely to result in conviction than if the case stayed in state court.
Whether a state is primarily responsible for enforcing its own criminal law, even if the offense also violates federal law.