Mississippi

Mississippi prosecutors call attorney general’s request to overturn a conviction ‘unprecedented’

Published

1 year ago

July 13, 2023

Mississippi prosecutors call attorney general’s request to overturn a conviction ‘unprecedented’

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The prosecutor’s office in Mississippi’s largest county says the state’s attorney general made a politically motivated decision to ask an appeals court to overturn the conviction of a former police officer in the 2019 beating death of a man who was pulled from a vehicle and subdued by three officers.

The Hinds County District Attorney’s office issued a statement Wednesday criticizing Attorney General Lynn Fitch for taking an “unprecedented” step of opposing a jury verdict, WJTV reported.

“It is the Attorney General’s job to defend this verdict,” the statement said. “If the Court of Appeals wishes to overturn the verdict, that is their job, not hers.”

The Justice Department says a new Mississippi law discriminates against residents of the majority-Black capital city of Jackson.

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves speaks to his reelection platform before attendees of the Mississippi Press Association annual meeting in Flowood, Miss., Friday, June 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves continues to raise significantly more campaign cash than Brandon Presley, the Democrat trying to unseat him.

Mississippi Supreme Court Presiding Justices Leslie D. King, left, and James W. Kitchens, listen as lawyers argue over the constitutionality of a Mississippi law that would authorize some judges who would be appointed in a state where most judges are elected, Thursday, July 6, 2023, before the state supreme court in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

The Mississippi Supreme Court is weighing arguments about a state law that has sparked a monthslong dispute over whether white state officials are stomping on local self-governance in the state’s majority-Black capital city, Jackson.

FILE - Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike Randolph confers with his attorneys on May 10, 2023, in Hinds County Chancery Court in Jackson, Miss., where a judge heard arguments about a Mississippi law that would create a court system with judges who would be appointed rather than elected. The chancery judge removed Randolph as a defendant and dismissed the lawsuit. Randolph has recused himself from hearing an appeal on Thursday, July 6, 2023, as the plaintiffs ask the state Supreme Court to revive the case. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

The Mississippi Supreme Court will hear an appeal as some Jackson residents try to revive a lawsuit that challenges the appointment, rather than the election, of some judges in the capital city.

In an email, a spokesperson for Fitch said the attorney general believes there is legal precedent to support overturning the conviction.

Last August, a Hinds County jury convicted former Jackson detective Anthony Fox of culpable negligence manslaughter in the 2019 beating death of 62-year-old George Robinson. News outlets reported Fox was accused of pulling Robinson from a car and striking him in the head and chest as police were searching for a murder suspect. Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart ruled the death a homicide by blunt-force trauma.

Circuit Judge Adrienne Wooten sentenced Fox, 38, to five years in prison — a 20-year sentence with 15 years suspended. He is in the Madison County Jail, according to Mississippi Department of Corrections records.

In papers filed Monday with the appeals court, Fitch argued that prosecutors failed to prove the core element of culpable negligence manslaughter, which is “wanton disregard of, or utter indifference to, the safety of human life.”

Robinson received “a small, superficial abrasion on his forehead” but had no other visible injuries from the struggle, Fitch wrote. Robinson, who had health problems and was on medication, had a seizure hours later and died two days after that from bleeding in his brain.

The Hinds County District Attorney’s Office said it could find no other case in which the attorney general, who represents the state in criminal appeals, took such a position. The statement also says several law enforcement agencies issued prepared statements within minutes of Fitch filing the brief on Monday, indicating the statements “could only have been coordinated at the request of the Attorney General.”

“The Attorney General’s job is to make the best possible argument for the State of Mississippi,” the district attorney’s office wrote. “It is a critical part of the adversarial process. It is not her job to assist or represent the interests of a criminal defendant convicted by a jury of his peers.”

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Mississippi

Mississippi Lottery: Mega Millions prize is $1.1 billion for Dec. 27 drawing

Published

3 minutes ago

December 26, 2024

Press Room

Mississippi Lottery: Mega Millions prize is .1 billion for Dec. 27 drawing

Want a really happy new year? The Mega Millions jackpot for Friday, Dec. 27, is an estimated $1.1 billion.

The winning numbers will be drawn just after 10 p.m. Central, and the cash option is $516.1 million.

A $1.1 billion-winning ticket was sold in New Jersey earlier this year, and that prize was just claimed this week, nine months after the drawing. In Mississippi, drawing winners must claim their prize within 180 days, and if you win, you can claim it anonymously.

Here’s what you need to know about top jackpots and how to play Mega Millions in Mississippi, including where you can buy tickets and how to claim the prize if you win.

Where can you buy lottery tickets?

Tickets can be purchased in person at gas stations, convenience stores and grocery stores. Some airport terminals may also sell lottery tickets.

How to play the Mega Millions

In order to buy a ticket, you’ll have to visit your local convenience store, gas station or grocery store. In a handful of states, you can purchase tickets online, but Mississippi isn’t one of them.

To play, you will need to pick six numbers. Five numbers will be white balls ranging from 1 to 70. The gold Mega Ball is one number between 1 and 25.

If you believe the odds are against you, ask for a ”Quick Pick” or an ”Easy Pick,” the computer will randomly generate the numbers for you.

Players can add the ”Megaplier” for $1, which can increase non-grand prize winnings by two, three, four or five times. The Megaplier is drawn before the Mega Millions numbers on Tuesday and Friday.

There are 15 Megapiler balls in all:

2X, five balls.
3X, six balls.
4X, three balls.
5X, one ball.

What are the top Mega Millions jackpots?

According to the lottery, the following jackpots are the Top 10 jackpots that have been won as of Oct. 4:

$1.602 billion, Aug. 8, 2023; a Florida player
$1.537 billion, Oct. 23, 2018; a South Carolina player
$1.348 billion, Jan.13, 2023; a Maine player
$1.337 billion, July 29, 2022; an Illinois player
$1.128 billion, March 26, 2024; a New Jersey payer
$1.050 billion, Jan. 22, 2021; a Michigan player
$810 million, Sept. 10, 2024; a Texas player
$656 million, March 30, 2012; a player from Illinois, Kansas and Maryland
$648 million, Dec. 17,2013; a player from California and Georgia
$552 million, June 4, 2024; an Illinois player

I won the lottery in Mississippi! What next?

The Mississippi Lottery advises people to sign the back of their winning ticket immediately.

If your prize is less than $600, you can claim that at any place that sells Mississippi Lottery tickets.

If you win $600-$99,999, you can claim by mail or by going to the Mississippi Lottery Headquarters in Flowood.

All prizes more than $100,000 must be claimed at the Mississippi Lottery Headquarters.

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Mississippi

50th Anniversary Of Possum Ridge

Published

9 hours ago

December 26, 2024

Press Room

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Check out Possum Ridge, an annual exhibit put on by Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson.

Possum Ridge is a fictional town in Mississippi featuring model trains that you and your family can come check out during the holiday season.

Drew Gardner is the museum’s programming manager.

He said, “Yeah, so this is Possum Ridge. We have been doing Possum Ridge, the train town here at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, for over 50 years. It is actually our 50th anniversary. The first time we did it was in 1974. We’re so proud. We have it out every December.”

There are many museum staff members that help make this possible for visitors each year.

Gardner went on and said, “Yeah, so this is really a program from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History that we host. But we’ve got a group, some of our staff as well as others, that have really been dedicated over the years to making sure not only that we have this space but also that we continue to update it. So it’s kind of a unique combination of a community of folks that absolutely love and care for these trains.”

Plenty of visitors have already come through to check out Possum Ridge. We caught up with one family that was visiting the exhibit for the first time.

Mindy and Charles Freeman brought their grandson to the exhibit.

“I think it’s really cool. He went over with us. All of these buildings and stuff are a place in Mississippi. My little grandson here, his name is Sam, and he loves trains. So we just bought him out today to see the train exhibit,” Mindy Freeman said.

The Mississippi Rail lines are nothing short of historic.

These tracks helped countless Black Mississippians travel out of Mississippi during southern segregation to cities like Chicago and Detroit.

“The Illinois Central, as we talked about the Great Migration story. Black Mississippians made their way out of places like Mississippi to Chicago and other places further north. So in Mississippi, these rail lines were a heart for so many,” Gardner said.

There is no charge to view the exhibit. You and your family can check out Possum Ridge until December 31.

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Mississippi

Convicted murderer who escaped Mississippi prison on Christmas Eve has been captured | CNN

Published

20 hours ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

Convicted murderer who escaped Mississippi prison on Christmas Eve has been captured | CNN

CNN
—

A convicted murderer who escaped from a Mississippi state prison on Christmas Eve was captured Wednesday, according to a Mississippi Department of Corrections post on Facebook.

Drew Johnson was captured in an area near the prison, the post said.

Sentenced to life in prison on Valentine’s Day in 2022, Johnson managed to escape from Mississippi’s newest state prison in Greene County nearly three years later on Christmas Eve, according to the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

Authorities in Mississippi had described Johnson as “desperate” and “very very dangerous.”

“Call your family and alert them. Send messages to them and get responses,” the George County Sheriff’s Department warned about the prison escape in a Facebook post. “People tend to be more generous during Christmas and let their guard down. Be vigilant and be careful.”

The 33-year-old has a violent criminal history spanning multiple states. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to a series of unrelated violent crimes, according to a news release from Tennessee’s Shelby County District Attorney’s Office. In 2016, Johnson fatally stabbed an acquaintance more than two dozen times, later abandoning the victim’s body in a field in southwest Memphis.

His violent behavior persisted behind bars. While incarcerated in Tennessee in 2021, Johnson attacked another prisoner, repeatedly striking him in the head with a brick, according to the district attorney’s office. Johnson also pleaded guilty to setting multiple fires while in jail in 2019.

Johnson received a life sentence without the possibility of parole for murder, along with 15-year sentences for each of his other crimes, all of which are to be served concurrently, according to Shelby County District Attorney’s Office.

He also has a pending murder case in Rankin County, Mississippi.

The convicted murderer broke out of South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Leakesville on Tuesday around 3:30 p.m., according to an alert from the Greene County Emergency Management office, shared by police in neighboring George County.

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