Former Hinds County interim sheriff Marshand Crisler has been sentenced to 2 ½ years in federal prison for soliciting and accepting bribes during his unsuccessful 2021 campaign.

U.S. District Court Judge Tom Lee sentenced him Tuesday for the two counts he was convicted of in November. Crisler received concurrent sentences of 30 months in custody of the Bureau of Prisons, followed by three years of supervision and an order to pay a $15,000 fine, according to court records. 

Crisler faced up to 10 years in prison. He remained out on bond until his sentencing. 

The court recommended Crisler to be assigned to the nearest facility to Jackson. Nearby federal facilities are in Yazoo City, Aliceville, Alabama, central Louisiana and Memphis.  

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

The jury heard from several witnesses, including Crisler himself and Tonarri Moore, the man with past felonies and pending state and federal charges who the FBI recruited as an informant. 

Parts of recorded conversations between the men, which Moore made for investigators, were played in court.

During several meetings in Jackson and around Hinds County in 2021, Crisler said he would tell Moore 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. 

Crisler was found guilty after a three-day trial in Jackson. The jury took about two hours to reach a unanimous verdict for both charges .

In November after the verdict, his attorney, John Colette, told reporters his client and family were disappointed in the decision and Crisler planned to appeal. 

Crisler was indicted in April 2023 – the same year he ran again for Hinds County sheriff. He lost in a runoff election to Tyree Jones, the incumbent Crisler faced two years earlier. 

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

Feb. 11, 1644

The first known legal protest by those of African descent in what became the United States took place when 11 Black Americans petitioned the Council for New Netherland (New York) for freedom, saying they had fulfilled their contracts to the Dutch West India Co. 

They had been brought to the colony just a few years after its 1624 founding. They won their fight, but they remained in legal limbo in what became known as “half-freedom.” They received property, but they still had to pay crops and cattle to the company each year. 

One of them, Manuel de Gerrit de Reus, was accused with eight others of killing a Black man. The company decided to execute only one of them, and de Reus drew the short straw. But when the officials tried to execute him, both nooses around his neck broke. At the behest of witnesses, they pardoned him instead. 

Five months later, eight Black Americans returned to court, demanding their full freedom. They cited the arrival of English soldiers, who might re-enslave them. Despite those fears, the Black Americans managed to keep their freedom and lived north of what is now Washington Square Park, creating New York City’s first free Black community.

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

State Auditor Shad White on Monday continued to criticize legislation that attempted to alter the scope of powers his office has in auditing nonprofit companies, continuing the statewide officials’ clash with the Republican-majority Senate. 

White, a Republican, told attendees at the Stennis Capitol Press Forum that the legislation would have “gutted” his office and prevented his staff from adequately investigating organizations that receive federal or state funds. 

“It basically took away our ability to look at more waste in state government,” White said. 

Sen. David Parker, a Republican from Olive Branch, authored the Senate Bill 2847 but killed the measure last week.  

The bill would have required White’s office to audit nonprofits receiving more than $10 million in federal funds and allowed him at his discretion to audit nonprofits receiving less than $10 million in federal dollars. 

The legislation would also remove his office’s ability to “institute suit” against people he believes defrauded the state, an issue over which he and Attorney General Lynn Fitch are currently fighting in court over. 

Parker said the legislation was not politically motivated. He advocated for its passage because he did not like how White handled the arrest of a DeSoto County alderman accused of illegally obtaining unemployment insurance. 

“This bill is not about personal attacks or political agendas,” Parker said. “It’s about making sure our system is fair, balanced and transparent — and that we don’t rush to judgment in ways that can damage lives.” 

White said the legislation increased his motivation to run for governor in 2027.

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