Marshand Crisler, the former Hinds County interim sheriff and candidate, faces up to 10 years in prison after a federal jury in Jackson found him guilty Friday of soliciting and accepting bribes from a man with previous felony convictions and a pending violent charge.

Crisler was charged with soliciting and accepting $9,500 worth of bribes during his unsuccessful 2021 campaign for Hinds County sheriff in exchange for favors and giving the man ammunition he can’t possess as a felon. 

The jury took about two hours to reach a unanimous verdict on both charges. 

He will remain out on bond until a sentencing hearing scheduled for Feb. 6, 2025.  

When the verdict was read Friday afternoon, Crisler and family members seated behind him remained silent. On the way out of the courthouse, he referred comments to his attorney John Colette. 

Colette told reporters outside the courthouse that they are disappointed in the jury’s decision and have plans to appeal. He added that Crisler maintains his innocence, and that he and his family are upset about the jury’s decision. 

Over three days, the jury heard testimony from six witnesses and reviewed evidence including recordings of conversations between Crisler and Tonarri Moore, the man with past felony convictions and pending state and federal charges who the FBI recruited as an informant. 

Moore made the recordings for investigators. During several meetings in Jackson and around Hinds County in 2021, Crisler said he would tell More about investigations involving him, move Moore’s cousin to a safer part of the Hinds County jail, give him a job with the sheriff’s office and give him freedom to have a gun despite prohibitions on Moore having one. 

After the government finished calling its witnesses, Colette, made a motion for judgment of acquittal based on a lack of evidence to support charges, which Senior Judge Tom Lee dismissed. 

Friday morning, the jury heard from Crisler himself as the defense’s only witness. 

In closing arguments, the government reminded the jury that Crisler accepted money from Moore and agreed, as a public official, to act on a number of favors. 

Crisler didn’t report any money as a campaign contribution, the government argued, because Crisler didn’t want it to become public that he was taking bribes from a felon. 

“How he did it shows why he did it,” said Charles Kirkham of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

Defense attorney Colette told the jury that the evidence doesn’t prove bribery. Crisler was trying to secure campaign funds from Moore, which is not illegal. 

Colette asked and jury instructions allowed the jury to consider whether there was entrapment of Crisler, who he said was not a corrupt law enforcement officer

“This entire case,” Colette said. “This corruption was all set up by the FBI so they could knock it down.” 

The government got the last word and emphasized that the bribery doesn’t require the agreed acts to be completed. 

In response to accusations of entrapment, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bert Carraway said Crisler wasn’t reluctant to take the money, agreed to perform favors or break the law, making the analogy that Crisler never took his foot off the gas and kept accelerating.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Amy St. Pé and Jennifer Schloegel will compete in a runoff election on Nov. 26 for an open seat on the Mississippi Court of Appeals after no candidate in the three–person race won a majority of the vote’s cast in Tuesday’s election. 

After the Associated Press reported 99% of the vote, St. Pé received the largest share at 35.5%, with Schloegel second at 32.9%. Ian Baker, the third candidate in the race, received 31.6%. 

The AP on Friday had not yet declared Schloegel to be the second person advancing to the runoff race, but Schloegel told Mississippi Today that Baker on Friday afternoon called her to concede the race. Schloegel is a Chancery Court judge in Harrison, Hancock and Stone counties. St. Pé  is an attorney in private practice, a municipal court judge in Gautier, and a city attorney for Moss Point. 

The District 5 seat, which is made up of the counties along the Gulf Coast, became open when Judge Joel Smith decided not to run for reelection.

Now that Schloegel and St. Pé are advancing to a runoff election, it ensures that a woman will fill the open seat. After the election, half of the judges on the 10-member appellate court will be women. 

The Court of Appeals race is now the second major runoff election that will take place just two days before Thanksgiving. A runoff election for the Central District seat on the state Supreme Court will also take place between incumbent Justice Jim Kitchens and Republican state Sen. Jenifer Branning of Neshoba County.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Jeanne Carter Luckey, a Mississippi Gulf Coast philanthropist who served as the state’s Republican National committeewoman, died on Thursday, Nov. 7. She was 63.

Her death was first reported by the Ocean Springs Weekly Record.

An ardent conservative, Luckey was a key figure in the Republican Party of Mississippi. For more than 30 years, she served the party as president of the Mississippi Federation of Republican Women, co-chair of the Mississippi Republican Party and as a delegate to the Republican National Convention, where she spoke earlier this year, according to her bio on the GOP’s website.

Luckey worked her way up the party by training Republican candidates and volunteers throughout Mississippi after becoming involved in politics in college. On social media, tributes from prominent Republicans across the state noted how she seemed to know everyone in the conversative movement, from former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to President-elect Donald Trump.

Gov. Tate Reeves called Luckey a family friend and praised her for representing Mississippi to the RNC.

“Mississippi will miss you, Jeanne!” Reeves wrote.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann wrote that Luckey’s impact on Mississippi will be felt for years to come.

“Her passion for life, her family, and the issues that were important to her was immeasurable,” Hosemann said.

Luckey, who held degrees from the University of Mississippi and the University of Southern Mississippi, was also known for her service on the governing board of the state’s public universities. She was appointed to the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees in 2018 by former Gov. Phil Bryant.

“Jeanne Luckey brought an energy and a commitment to her work as a trustee that resonated throughout our state’s public university system, and we are all better for having worked with her,” Al Rankins, the IHL commissioner, said in a statement Friday. “Students for years to come will benefit from her dedication to higher education in Mississippi.”

During her tenure on the board, Luckey started a task force to examine the university system’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Luckey had been in a wheelchair since she was in a car accident nearly 20 years ago.

Prior to the accident, Luckey was an avid runner who notched between five and 13 miles a week, according to her social media. She had also worked as a special education teacher in the Ocean Springs School District. More recently, she owned a real estate holding company called JCL, LLC, and Magnolia State Development Group.

“A brilliant mind and devoted public servant, she championed education throughout her life, even as an undergraduate at Ole Miss in her decision to pursue special education,” Ole Miss Chancellor Glenn Boyce said in a statement.

Luckey also served on several boards supporting arts and culture on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, including the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, the Great Southern Club in Gulfport, and the Gulf Coast Debutante Society. She reportedly loved the arts and had seen nearly 100 Broadway plays.

While she recently battled health challenges, the Ocean Springs Weekly Record reported that Luckey unexpectedly passed away peacefully in her sleep.

Luckey is survived by her husband, Alwyn, an Ocean Springs attorney who was her high school sweetheart, and their two daughters, Laurel and Taylor.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.