Mississippi Today
Judge denies joint effort to close Tim Herrington’s capital murder case but will consider sealing filings on case-by-case basis
OXFORD — The case against a former Ole Miss student accused of killing Jimmie “Jay” Lee will remain open after a Lafayette County Circuit Court judge denied a joint motion to seal the entirety of the filings.
In a quick hearing Thursday, Judge Kelly Luther said he would consider sealing some filings on a case-by-case basis if asked to do so by the defense for Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr. But Luther added he did not think that would be necessary, since it was unlikely any motions before trial would contain evidence that could prejudice a jury.
“The way discovery is done in today’s age, I don’t anticipate getting any of those items,” Luther said before denying the motion.
Kevin Horan, Herrington’s attorney and a representative from his hometown of Grenada, said he would draft the order and circulate it among the parties. Horan had hoped the motion, which was unusually supported by District Attorney Ben Creekmore, would be successful in order to reduce further pretrial publicity, including social media. The case has attracted national media attention, particularly when Herrington was arrested shortly after Lee went missing two years ago.
“We just move forward,” Horan said.
Luther’s ruling came after Mississippi Today filed a motion to intervene in the effort to close any filings before Herrington’s case goes to trial later this year. The news organization’s motion was supported by WMC-TV, a television station based in Memphis, Tennessee and WTVA, a station based in the Tupelo-Columbus area. The Mississippi Press Association had also issued a press release urging transparency and opposing the order.
Mississippi Today’s attorney, Henry Laird, commended Luther for following the process established by the Mississippi Supreme Court for closing cases.
“This is an example to other judges that this is how you work with the people, and this is how you work with the press,” Laird said.
Creekmore said there had been “some misconception” about the extent of the sealing requested by himself and Horan. Creekmore added his goal was not to seal the whole case file but to protect any motions entered before a jury.
“It wouldn’t have been a complete sealing,” he said.
On Monday, the day Luther had originally intended to rule on the motion to seal the file, he also issued an order from the bench to keep the trial in Lafayette County but pull jurors from another area, then sequester them in a hotel for its duration.
Creekmore was chiefly concerned about a motion confirming which county jurors will be pulled from leading to a flurry of media coverage in that area. He told Mississippi Today he thought the judge’s Thursday order will protect the integrity of the jury.
“I think you have to accept that Lafayette County is already aware of a lot of the facts of the case, and it would be difficult to find somebody who isn’t aware of the case,” Creekmore said.
In his 20 years in the courtroom, Creekmore said this case has drawn more scrutiny than many others he’s worked on, but he wasn’t able to say why.
“I don’t have an answer to that,” he said. “I can answer that question once the case is resolved. I’ve got feelings on it, but I think it would be speculative on my part to try to answer for an entire community.”
Lee was a well-known member of Oxford’s LGBTQ+ community. His disappearance and death two years ago has led to protests outside the courthouse and efforts to memorialize him at local drag shows and pride events.
Herrington’s arrest also drew scrutiny in part because his family is connected in north Mississippi. A preliminary hearing setting bond detailed some of the evidence against him, including Google searches on his computer, text messages he exchanged with Lee the night Lee went missing, and K-9s that identified the smell of a dead body in his car.
But Herrington, through his attorney and family members, has maintained his innocence. As he walked down the Lafayette County Courthouse steps, Horan stated the case will go to trial.
“Certainly,” he said.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
AT&T, union reach deal ending strike
AT&T workers are back on the job today after the company reached a tentative agreement with the Communications Workers of America to end a month-long strike in the Southeast.
The new deal includes a 19.33% pay increase for all workers, and more affordable healthcare premiums.
Wire technicians and utility operations employes get an extra 3% pay increase.
In a statement, CWA president Claude Cummings Jr. praised the solidarity of the striking workers.
“I believe in the power of unity, and the unity our members and retirees have shown during these contract negotiations has been outstanding and gave our bargaining teams the backing they needed to deliver strong contracts,” he said.
CWA district president Jermaine Travis told Mississippi Today that he and his coworkers are happy to be back at work.
“It’s been a long month, so everybody is excited to get back to work and get back to taking care of business,” he said.
Travis also noted the significance of the strike, the longest telecommunications strike in the Southeast.
“I think we’re gonna look back at this strike, at this moment in history, and see it was really important for workers to stand up for the rights and force companies to do right by them, so I think we did a good thing,” he said.
AT&T has also reached a tentative agreement with the CWA in the West.
“As we’ve said since day 1, our goal has been to reach fair agreements that recognize the hard work our employees do to serve our customers with competitive market-based pay and benefits that are among the best in the nation — and that’s exactly what was accomplished,” AT&T said in a released statement. “These agreements also support our competitive position in the broadband industry where we can grow and win against our mostly non-union competitors.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1925
Sept. 16, 1925
“The King of the Blues” was born Riley B. King on a plantation near Itta Bena, Mississippi, the son of sharecroppers.
While singing in the church choir, he watched the pastor playing a Sears Roebuck guitar and told the preacher he wanted to learn how to play. By age 12, he had his own guitar and began listening to the blues on the radio. After playing in churches, he went to Memphis to pursue a music career in 1948, playing on the radio and working as a deejay who was known as “Blues Boy” and eventually “B.B.”
Within a year, B.B. King was recording songs, many of them produced by Sam Phillips, who later founded Sun Records. In 1952, “3 O’Clock Blues” became a hit, and dozens followed.
While others sought to bring change through the courts, King did it through music. The songs that he and other blues artists created drew many listeners across racial lines. One of the biggest fans walked into the studio one day and called him “sir.” His name? Elvis Presley, whose first big hit was the blues song, “That’s All Right, Mama.”
King explained that music was like water — something “for every living person and every living thing.” His smash hit, “The Thrill Is Gone,” made him an international star and led to collaborations with some of the world’s greatest artists.
He survived a fire that almost burned up his beloved guitar, “Lucille,” and won 18 Grammys as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1987, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Both Time and Rolling Stone magazines ranked him as one of the greatest guitarists of all time.
In 2006, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the greatest civilian honor. Two years later, his hometown of Indianola honored him by opening the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center. After he died in 2015, thousands flocked to the Mississippi Delta for the wake and funeral.
“Hands that once picked cotton,” the preacher told the crowd, “would someday pick guitar strings on a national and international stage.” He performed till the end, telling Rolling Stone in 2013 that he had only missed 18 days of performing in 65 years. He died two years later at 89 after battling diabetes for decades.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Podcast: Sen. David Blount discusses tax cuts, retirement system, mobile sports betting
State Sen. David Blount sits down with Mississippi Today’s Bobby Harrison and Adam Ganucheau to discuss the push for income tax elimination and how that would affect the state’s budget. He also talks about needed funding for the state’s troubled retirement system and whether Mississippi will soon adopt mobile sports betting.
READ MORE: As lawmakers look to cut taxes, Mississippi mayors and county leaders outline infrastructure needs
The post Podcast: Sen. David Blount discusses tax cuts, retirement system, mobile sports betting appeared first on Mississippi Today.
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