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Grand jury meets in Oxford for Jay Lee case

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Grand jury meets in Oxford for Jay Lee case

A special grand jury hearing was held at the Lafayette County Courthouse Monday for Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr., the Ole Miss graduate charged with murdering Jimmie “Jay” Lee, Mississippi Today has confirmed. 

Lee was a queer, Black student at the University of Mississippi known for performing at a local drag night. His death has shocked Oxford’s tight-knit LGBTQ+ community and sparked a movement called “Justice for Jay Lee” which wants Herrington convicted.

The grand jury hearing comes about three months after Herrington was released from jail on a $250,000 bond. He was charged with Lee’s murder in July 2022.

In Mississippi, grand jury hearings are secret. It is unclear when the grand jury will return a decision, but it could be as soon as Tuesday. A text and call to Steven Jubera, the Lafayette County Assistant District Attorney assigned to the case, was not returned.

This hearing, the final step in a criminal investigation, marks a critical juncture in Herrington’s case. The grand jury could either vote to indict Herrington, meaning the case could proceed to trial, or return what is called a “no true bill” if there is not enough information to indict.

This became public on Sunday morning when Justice for Jay Lee posted on Instagram that Herrington “will be appearing in court for indictment” this week. Braylyn Johnson, a friend of Lee’s and one of the group’s main organizers, said Justice for Jay Lee learned the grand jury would be meeting through a “whistleblower.” 

The post called for people to protest at the courthouse to show Herrington that Lee and his family have support in Oxford.

“We need ALL of our supporters to make it here to rally with us for JUSTICE!,” the post read.

That night, the Justice for Jay Lee page received a direct message from the Oxford Police Department’s Instagram page. 

OPD’s Instagram message to Justice for Jay Lee.

“We appreciate your steadfast promotion for Jay Lee,” the message read. “But please hear us out. This is a special grand jury session just for this case due to the amount of evidence. Herrington WILL NOT be at the court house (sic). Disturbances could cause us not to be able to present to the grand jury. It could also lead to a request for a change of venue and we do not want that.”

“We have worked hard on this case and do not want to do anything to jeopardize it,” the message concluded.

OPD Captain Hildon Sessums, who sent the message, told Mississippi Today he was intending to warn Justice for Jay Lee that protesting could jeopardize the case. Sessums said he also wanted people to know that Herrington would not be at the courthouse.

“We’re never going to try to stymie anybody’s First Amendment right,” Sessums said. “We just want people to realize that some actions have consequences, and the last thing we want to do is to do anything to jeopardize this case. We try to run everything by the book.” 

Sessums added that OPD isn’t trying to be secretive. Justice for Jay Lee has repeatedly called on the department to release more information about the case — specifically more details on the possible whereabouts of Lee’s body, which still has not been found more than 260 days after he went missing. 

“I just don’t think they understand all the logistics and what we’re doing and maybe that’s on us for not being as transparent as they would like us to be,” he said. “But again, this case has a lot of moving parts and we’re doing everything we can to get a guilty verdict.”

Herrington’s attorney, Kevin Horan, was not at the grand jury hearing on Monday. A state representative, Horan was at the Capitol working on a bill when reached by a Mississippi Today reporter on Monday afternoon. He said he was not expecting to hear anything about the case.

“I’m fixin’ to do a bill in about 30 seconds,” he said.

It is unclear who testified before the grand jury hearing, though Johnson said that she spoke with Jay Lee’s mom, Stephanie Lee, as she was leaving the courthouse.

At a preliminary hearing last fall, an OPD detective presented evidence obtained from Herrington’s computer and cell phone. That included Snapchat messages sent between Herrington and Lee the night that Lee went missing, and a Google search that Herrington made as Lee was coming over to his house that said, “how long does it take to strangle someone gabby petito.”

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

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1997

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-22 07:00:00

Dec. 22, 1997

Myrlie Evers and Reena Evers-Everette cheer the jury verdict of Feb. 5, 1994, when Byron De La Beckwith was found guilty of the 1963 murder of Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers. Credit: AP/Rogelio Solis

The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the conviction of white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith for the 1963 murder of Medgar Evers. 

In the court’s 4–2 decision, Justice Mike Mills praised efforts “to squeeze justice out of the harm caused by a furtive explosion which erupted from dark bushes on a June night in Jackson, Mississippi.” 

He wrote that Beckwith’s constitutional right to a speedy trial had not been denied. His “complicity with the Sovereignty Commission’s involvement in the prior trials contributed to the delay.” 

The decision did more than ensure that Beckwith would stay behind bars. The conviction helped clear the way for other prosecutions of unpunished killings from the Civil Rights Era.

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

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Medicaid expansion tracker approaches $1 billion loss for Mississippi

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mississippitoday.org – Bobby Harrison – 2024-12-22 06:00:00

About the time people ring in the new year next week, the digital tracker on Mississippi Today’s homepage tabulating the amount of money the state is losing by not expanding Medicaid will hit $1 billion.

The state has lost $1 billion not since the start of the quickly departing 2024 but since the beginning of the state’s fiscal year on July 1.

Some who oppose Medicaid expansion say the digital tracker is flawed.

During an October news conference, when state Auditor Shad White unveiled details of his $2 million study seeking ways to cut state government spending, he said he did not look at Medicaid expansion as a method to save money or grow state revenue.

“I think that (Mississippi Today) calculator is wrong,” White said. “… I don’t think that takes into account how many people are going to be moved off the federal health care exchange where their health care is paid for fully by the federal government and moved onto Medicaid.”

White is not the only Mississippi politician who has expressed concern that if Medicaid expansion were enacted, thousands of people would lose their insurance on the exchange and be forced to enroll in Medicaid for health care coverage.

Mississippi Today’s projections used for the tracker are based on studies conducted by the Institutions of Higher Learning University Research Center. Granted, there are a lot of variables in the study that are inexact. It is impossible to say, for example, how many people will get sick and need health care, thus increasing the cost of Medicaid expansion. But is reasonable that the projections of the University Research Center are in the ballpark of being accurate and close to other studies conducted by health care experts.

White and others are correct that Mississippi Today’s calculator does not take into account money flowing into the state for people covered on the health care exchange. But that money does not go to the state; it goes to insurance companies that, granted, use that money to reimburse Mississippians for providing health care. But at least a portion of the money goes to out-of-state insurance companies as profits.

Both Medicaid expansion and the health care exchange are part of the Affordable Care Act. Under Medicaid expansion people earning up to $20,120 annually can sign up for Medicaid and the federal government will pay the bulk of the cost. Mississippi is one of 10 states that have not opted into Medicaid expansion.

People making more than $14,580 annually can garner private insurance through the health insurance exchanges, and people below certain income levels can receive help from the federal government in paying for that coverage.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, legislation championed and signed into law by President Joe Biden significantly increased the federal subsidies provided to people receiving insurance on the exchange. Those increased subsidies led to many Mississippians — desperate for health care — turning to the exchange for help.

White, state Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, Gov. Tate Reeves and others have expressed concern that those people would lose their private health insurance and be forced to sign up for Medicaid if lawmakers vote to expand Medicaid.

They are correct.

But they do not mention that the enhanced benefits authored by the Biden administration are scheduled to expire in December 2025 unless they are reenacted by Congress. The incoming Donald Trump administration has given no indication it will continue the enhanced subsidies.

As a matter of fact, the Trump administration, led by billionaire Elon Musk, is looking for ways to cut federal spending.

Some have speculated that Medicaid expansion also could be on Musk’s chopping block.

That is possible. But remember congressional action is required to continue the enhanced subsidies. On the flip side, congressional action would most likely be required to end or cut Medicaid expansion.

Would the multiple U.S. senators and House members in the red states that have expanded Medicaid vote to end a program that is providing health care to thousands of their constituents?

If Congress does not continue Biden’s enhanced subsidies, the rates for Mississippians on the exchange will increase on average about $500 per year, according to a study by KFF, a national health advocacy nonprofit. If that occurs, it is likely that many of the 280,000 Mississippians on the exchange will drop their coverage.

The result will be that Mississippi’s rate of uninsured — already one of the highest in the nation – will rise further, putting additional pressure on hospitals and other providers who will be treating patients who have no ability to pay.

In the meantime, the Mississippi Today counter that tracks the amount of money Mississippi is losing by not expanding Medicaid keeps ticking up.

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

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On this day in 1911

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-21 07:00:00

Dec. 21, 1911

A colorized photograph of Josh Gibson, who was playing with the Homestead Grays Credit: Wikipedia

Josh Gibson, the Negro League’s “Home Run King,” was born in Buena Vista, Georgia. 

When the family’s farm suffered, they moved to Pittsburgh, and Gibson tried baseball at age 16. He eventually played for a semi-pro team in Pittsburgh and became known for his towering home runs. 

He was watching the Homestead Grays play on July 25, 1930, when the catcher injured his hand. Team members called for Gibson, sitting in the stands, to join them. He was such a talented catcher that base runners were more reluctant to steal. He hit the baseball so hard and so far (580 feet once at Yankee Stadium) that he became the second-highest paid player in the Negro Leagues behind Satchel Paige, with both of them entering the National Baseball Hame of Fame. 

The Hall estimated that Gibson hit nearly 800 homers in his 17-year career and had a lifetime batting average of .359. Gibson was portrayed in the 1996 TV movie, “Soul of the Game,” by Mykelti Williamson. Blair Underwood played Jackie Robinson, Delroy Lindo portrayed Satchel Paige, and Harvey Williams played “Cat” Mays, the father of the legendary Willie Mays. 

Gibson has now been honored with a statue outside the Washington Nationals’ ballpark.

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

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