The federal trial of former Hinds County interim sheriff and candidate Marshand Crisler began Wednesday with attorneys offering differing interpretations of whether evidence will show he sought and accepted bribes and gave ammunition to a convicted felon. 

Crisler, 54, has pleaded not guilty to two charges stemming from actions that happened between September and November 2021 when he ran for a full term as sheriff. 

“The defendant used his badge as a bargaining chip,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Kirkham said in his opening statement. 

He argued that in exchange for $9,500, Crisler made promises to a man named Tonarri Moore, who Kirkham identified as the government‘s informant. 

Crisler allegedly made promises to inform Moore of any criminal investigations about him, to move a member of his family to a better place in the county jail, to give Moore a job with the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department and to give him the ability to possess a firearm despite a  felony conviction. 

Evidence from the FBI’s investigation are recorded phone conversations and in-person meetings between Crisler and Moore. Prior to trial, the recordings and transcripts were restricted from public access and the indictment and other court filings referred to a “Confidential Human Source 1.”

The government intends to call Moore as a witness. He is currently being held at the Madison County jail on a pending manslaughter charge. The recordings were made before Moore was detained. 

Crisler’s defense attorney, John Colette, said his client did not do any of the things asked of him in exchange for money. 

He asked the jury to consider timing and how the government is “cherry picking and not telling the whole story.” 

That timing includes the indictment, which came months before the 2023 Democratic primary when Crisler ran again for sheriff. He remained in the race and lost to incumbent Tyree Jones, who he previously faced in 2021. 

In court, Colette also raised questions about Moore’s credibility, saying he started cooperating with the FBI after a search of his home by the Drug Enforcement Agency. 

Colette told the jury how Moore and Crisler knew each other: Moore worked on Crisler’s 2019 campaign, and Moore has given donations to other political candidates. 

While Crisler may have considered the money exchanged to be campaign donations, he didn’t report them as such, the government argued. 

“Even if he did use that campaign money, it’s still a bribe because the defendant accepted that money as a quid pro quo in exchange for official acts,” Kirkham said. 

Crisler is also charged with giving 14 9mm bullets to Moore., Prosecutors say who Crisler knew Moore was previously convicted and not allowed to possess ammunition or weapons because of his felony conviction. 

But Colette said his client didn’t know until later that Moore hadwas a felony convictionconvicionted felon. Additionally, he said it is not against the law in Mississippi for a formerly convicted person to possess ammunition. 

Each charge has a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. 

The first witness called was Daniel Ratliff, a Mississippi Gaming Commission investigator who was part of the investigation of Crisler when he was a member of an FBI task force. His role was to recruit Moore as an informant and oversee meetings between Crisler and Moore, and recordings of those meetings. 

During Ratliff’s testimony, the jury heard over a dozen recordings that are portions of recordings of the meetings between Crisler and Moore. 

“The reason is I’m the sheriff,” Crisler said in one of the recordings played during the government’s opening statement and during Ratliff’s testimony.

“They’re going to let me do things they don’t let anybody else do,” he said. 

During cross examination, Colette asked a range of questions, including how reliable the recordings are and whether the FBI knew about Moore’s prior convictions before trying to recruit him.

“You wanted to get him to come snitch for you … you didn’t want him to be an agent,” Colette said to Ratliff. 

Trial is expected to last three days and is before Senior U.S. District Court Judge Tom Lee. 

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

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, who leads Mississippi’s largest and capital city, confirmed Wednesday he has been indicted by a federal grand jury in a sweeping corruption probe.

The charges come after undercover FBI agents posing as real estate investors invited the mayor to a fundraiser in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on April 3, according to public records. They said they wanted to develop property in downtown Jackson and help fund the mayor’s 2025 reelection campaign.

“My legal team has informed me that federal prosecutors have, in fact, indicted me on bribery and related charges,” Lumumba said in a video statement shared with reporters on Tuesday. “To be clear, I have never accepted a bribe of any type. As mayor, I have always acted in the best interests of the city of Jackson.” 

The feds had enlisted the help of an unsuspecting Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens, who dabbles in real estate and business consulting. The agents created a company called Facility Solutions Team and got Owens to deliver campaign contributions to the mayor on their behalf, according to federal charges recently filed against Owens’ cousin and associate.

The FBI sting involved a proposed hotel development project in downtown Jackson across from the convention center — a vacant property that has produced a nearly 20-year saga of failed bids and political consternation. In partnership with Owens, the undercover FBI agents created a proposal earlier this year to submit in response to the city’s Statement of Qualifications (SOQ), a document that spells out a city’s needs and solicits interested developers but does not guarantee a contract with the city.

For the government to establish a bribe — known as a “quid pro quo” — a public official must agree to take an official act in exchange for the benefit. Lumumba’s official act, according to federal court documents, was directing a city employee to move up a deadline on the SOQ to an earlier date.

Lumumba had already been in conversation with the city’s Planning and Development Director Jhai Keeton about when to end the bid because they originally chose to extend it by about a month and a half in late February, Keeton said. Originally, FST was the only developer to express interest in the project, Keeton said, and he had wanted to give developers more time to respond.

While Lumumba was in South Florida meeting with the undercover agents, he called Keeton and told him to move the deadline back two weeks to April 16. Keeton didn’t think too much of it, he said, because the mayor had already expressed that “we don’t want to lose anyone we’ve got hoping to get new people.”

“There were still two weeks available to create more competition.” Keeton said.

Two other companies handed in their responses on the day of the deadline. The planning department did not select a winner.

The undercover sting operation has already yielded federal charges against another local elected official. Former Jackson City Councilwoman Angelique Lee pleaded guilty to bribery charges related to the sting in August and promptly resigned from the council.

The feds also raided the businesses of Owens in May. Owens’ cousin Sherik “Marve” Smith pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in October, admitting that he acted as the middleman between an unindicted co-conspirator and two public officials — also unindicted co-conspirators.

Lumumba, who has for years shrugged off public accusations of corruption and has already announced his 2025 reelection bid, preempted official announcement of the federal indictment with his own statement issued to reporters on Tuesday afternoon.

“We believe this to be a political prosecution against me, primarily designed to destroy my credibility and reputation within the community,” Lumumba said in the video statement on Tuesday. “There is no coincidence in its timing being just before the upcoming mayoral race. My legal team will vigorously defend me against these charges. While I am disappointed, I am not deterred, so I ask for your patience and your prayers during this process.”

Lumumba is expected to be arraigned in federal court on Thursday. The U.S. attorney’s office for the southern district of Mississippi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The FBI has been poking around Jackson City Hall for years.

Former council member D’Keither Stamps said federal agents interviewed him in 2014, not long after he took office, seeking information about a 2012 the water billing and meter installation contract city entered with Germany-based engineering firm Siemens. The bungled contract contributed to the city losing millions in water revenue. In 2021 and 2022, infrastructure failures left residents without water for days and weeks.

In 2015, a city employee said the FBI interviewed her about alleged bid-steering in the public works department under the city’s former administration.

The FBI also questioned city officials about a long-running dispute between the mayor and council over the city’s selection of a garbage collection vendor, which resulted in a 17-day trash pile up in the spring of 2023.

In 2015, a city employee said the FBI interviewed her about alleged bid-steering in the public works department under the city’s former administration.

Sources close to a federal investigation say the FBI has been examining a long-running dispute between the mayor and council over the city’s selection of a garbage collection vendor, which resulted in a 17-day trash pile up in the spring of 2023.

In December 2023, a former Lumumba administration appointee Keyshia Sanders was sentenced after pleading guilty to federal wire fraud charges related to her work as the city of Jackson’s constituent service manager.

‘The city is built for corruption. The system is built to be manipulated,” said Stamps, who left city council in 2021 and now serves as public service commissioner for Mississippi’s central district.

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

The University of Mississippi posted its second consecutive record-breaking enrollment this fall, according to figures released Monday by the governing board of the state‘s eight public universities. 

The state’s flagship university in Oxford now enrolls more than 27,000 students, an 11% increase over last year’s headcount. This propulsive growth is fueled by the largest-ever freshmen class in state history, high retention rates, and an increasing number of out-of-state students. 

“Our growth reflects the University of Mississippi’s position as a thriving destination of choice for higher education,” Chancellor Glenn Boyce said in a press release.

Through a spokesperson, the university declined to answer questions about the more than 2,400 new students, including how many are first-time freshmen, transfer students, or from out of state.

“While overall enrollment has been announced, demographic-level data is still being reviewed by the IHL with final approval expected next month,” Jacob Batte, the director of news and media relations, wrote in an email.

Not to be outdone, Mississippi State University also celebrated an all-time-high in enrollment of more than 23,000 students. The land-grant university enrolled more minority, international and veteran students this year than last, according to a press release that also noted it is the state’s only institution of higher learning to experience enrollment growth for nine of the last 10 years. 

“We’re focused on higher education at MSU being unequivocally accessible and are dedicated to ensuring every Bulldog student is on their path to a degree, including those who start at a community college or who have been out of college for a while,” President Mark Keenum said in the release. 

Rounding out the state’s three largest universities, the University of Southern Mississippi’s enrollment held just about steady at 13,170 students, gaining half a percentage point over the previous school year. 

As higher education officials wait for the enrollment cliff, Mississippi’s three top-tier research universities are scooping up an increasing share of students who pursue higher education in the state. This means the five other, less-resourced universities are competing for a declining pool of students and tuition dollars. 

Earlier this year, lawmakers asked the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees about recommendations and strategies to help the state’s eight public universities weather the anticipated drop in enrollment. In the Southern U.S., Mississippi is expected to see the second-worse decline in high school graduates by 2027 after Virginia. 

Following the hearing, one lawmaker introduced a bill to close three universities that ultimately died in the Senate Colleges and Universities Committee. 

Overall, nearly 80,000 students are attending public universities in Mississippi, according to IHL’s figures. 

“Our universities offer a strong foundation for students from across the state and beyond, and these numbers reinforce the confidence of students and parents alike in the quality education available throughout our system,” Al Rankins, the IHL commissioner, said in a press release. “We are grateful to the Mississippi Legislature and Governor Reeves for partnering with us in keeping our universities affordable for Mississippi families.”

Most universities in the state gained enrollment. Mississippi Valley State University and Alcorn State University saw growth this semester. 

But Mississippi University for Women, Jackson State University and Delta State University’s enrollment dropped. 

Despite a 1.5% decline to 2,193 students this semester, the W welcomed its largest freshman class in four years, which the president credited to recent efforts to grow the enrollment, including increased advertising and marketing aimed at a larger pool of prospective students, more academic scholarships paired with an affordable tuition rate, and attendance at national college fairs. 

This semester, the W had 174 new freshmen, up 15 students from last year. 

“The growth in new freshmen is a testament to recent changes we have made in the recruitment process,” Nora Miller said in a press release. “We look forward to continuing that growth, while forging more pathways for community college transfer students to complete their baccalaureate degrees at The W.” 

Still, the enrollment cliff means it’s unclear the growth in the freshmen class will translate to more overall students in the coming years. A university spokesperson noted the drop in the number of college-going high school graduates will be challenging for the W. 

“The coming change in the high school graduate population/demographics will be a challenge for every higher education institution in Mississippi, but especially for regional universities like The W,” Tyler Wheat wrote in an email. 

Wheat added the university is looking to connect with students, especially those who might transfer from a community college. 

“Our goal is an enrollment that is healthy and sustainable for our institution,” he wrote. 

At Delta State, where enrollment woes recently led to major budget cuts, the president, Daniel Ennis, anticipated a drop in the number of students after 21 programs were cut. 

IHL’s numbers show that Delta State lost 62 students for a total of 2,654 students this semester, but the university says that is mostly not related to the program cuts. 

“Based on our preliminary numbers, the majority of the fall 2024 headcount reduction is related to non-degree-seeking part-time students, such as dual-enrollment high school students, post-baccalaureate students, and other non-degree-seeking students who occasionally take a course,” Christy Riddle, a spokesperson, wrote in an email. 

The university’s first-time freshmen class increased to 210 students this semester, which is three more than last year. Excluding dual credit students, the number of students enrolled full-time at Delta State rose by nearly 5% this year, Riddle added. 

Jackson State lost 238 students, putting its fall enrollment at 6,326. 

The university did not respond to questions about what caused the decline and if it has a plan to increase enrollment.

“We’re working on an enrollment release that we intend to share with the public,” Rachel James-Terry, the director of public relations, wrote in an email.

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