Lexington’s former police chief, the department’s members and the city are facing a second lawsuit, this time for the alleged unlawful arrest and jailing of a Jackson Public Schools officer in 2021.
Javarius Russell, who was attending a New Year’s Eve celebration, accuses former chief Sam Dobbins and other defendants of arresting him for crashing a four-wheeler all-terrain vehicle into a police vehicle, which he said didn’t happen and in his complaint filed Monday called a “pure fabrication.” As he was in Dobbins’ police car, another officer told the chief that Russell didn’t cause damage to the car, but he was still arrested, according to the lawsuit.
Russell was jailed over the long weekend, and during that period Dobbins allegedly told Russell and another man who attended the gathering that in exchange for $2,700 in cash, Dobbins would drop their charges and let them go, according to the lawsuit. Dobbins also allegedly spoke with Russell’s family and told members about the deal.
“Mr. Russell did nothing wrong; he is just one victim of the blatant misconduct and brutality perpetrated by the Lexington Police Department,” Joshua Tom, legal director of the ACLU of Mississippi, said in a statement. “The actions of these officers represent a clear danger to the Lexington community, and they, along with the City of Lexington, must be held accountable.”
City officials will have 21 days to respond to the lawsuit, which is one side of a legal argument.
Lexington is 86% Black and attorneys say they have long suffered under the department’s racially motivated and discriminatory policing practices, according to the ACLU.
Dobbins was fired last year after an audio recording surfaced of him using racial slurs, bragging about killing 13 people during his law enforcement career and shooting a man over 100 times.
Civil rights organization JULIAN filed the first lawsuit last summer on behalf of five Black residents who accused Dobbins and officers of retaliation, unlawful arrest and other mistreatment. Attorney Jill Collen Jefferson asked for a restraining order against the police department to prevent it from mistreating Black residents, but that order was denied in September.
Attorney Malik Shabazz of Washington D.C.-based Black Lawyers for Justice came to Lexington last summer to meet with residents and call for charges for Dobbins and a review of the police department and its operation under him.
As a result of his unlawful detention, Russell suffered mental and emotional distress, including “severe anxiety connected to those in law enforcement positions, even though he himself is a law enforcement officer,” the lawsuit states.
Lexington police did not return his employer-issued firearm until his release, and Russell has been blocked from using his firearm for his job, according to the complaint. He also suffered financial harm from loss of wages when he had to take time off work to recover.
The ACLU of Missisisppi is asking for a judge to award damages and declare that the defendants violated Russell’s constitutional and civil rights.
Attorneys request that the police department and city be enjoined from interfering with the rights of anyone in their custody, soliciting cash payments from jail detainees and telling people in custody that they can have charges dropped for doing something for the police.
They also want the federal court to oversee implementation of police and city policies and training to prevent unlawful acts from happening again and for an independent special monitor to be appointed to oversee progress, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit is part of a new ACLU of Mississippi initiative to work with law firms, private attorneys and community organizations to file lawsuits to address unconstitutional police misconduct and violence.
“The more individual civil actions we bring, the more we hold police accountable,” Executive Director Jarvis Dortch said in a statement. “Unfortunately, there are far too many Javarius Russell’s, and it often feels like the issue of police violence is overwhelming.”
The new president of Delta State University, Daniel Ennis, wrote in a campus-wide email Thursday that Steven Hugley, the recently hired interim band director who mocked women and trans people on his now-deleted podcast, will remain in his position.
Ennis wrote in the 6:11 p.m. email that the U.S. Constitution protects free speech and, in a separate email to marching band students, that the university’s “guiding principles” did not allow him to discipline an employee for private comments he had made before he was hired.
“I acknowledge that this response, which does not include an announcement of a personnel action, will be viewed as insufficient by some and appropriate by others,” he wrote to the campus. “I would not be worthy of my office if I didn’t accept that free expression at Delta State University means I am subject to your assessment and criticism.”
Ennis, who took his post earlier this summer, had faced calls from students, faculty and alumni to rescind Hugley’s hiring following an article in Mississippi Today that detailed some of the comments Hugley had made as the co-host of the podcast, “Always Right.”
Those included gagging at a photo of a trans woman, repeatedly misgendering notable trans people and calling for transitioning — the process of changing one’s physical appearance to align with their gender identity — to be made illegal for trans adults. In Mississippi, lawmakers earlier this year banned gender-affirming care that results in trans minors medically transitioning.
“If you do, not only are we gonna lock you up, we’re also gonna lock up the doctor,” Hugley said in reference to parents who seek gender-affirming care for trans kids, “and then we take it the next step.”
Though Hugley will keep his position, Ennis’s campus-wide email also contained an elaborate reminder that employees who “choose” to work at Delta State had agreed to participate in an inclusive environment that was free from discrimination or harassment and committed to nurturing students. The word “choose,” repeated four times, hyperlinked to the university’s webpages for diversity, equity and inclusion, and Title IX.
“Even the most diehard defenders of free speech concede that organizations and institutions can set professional standards,” he wrote.
To that end, Ennis added that Delta State “is no place for contempt.”
“I value behaviors, activities and ideas that support the recruitment, retention and graduation of students,” he wrote. “Conversely, I take a dim view of that which drives students away from this wonderful place.”
In the separate email to marching band students, Ennis wrote that his decision was based on “the range of viewpoints expressed” at his meeting with them last week, though most students who spoke were opposed to Hugley’s hiring.
He also wrote that while he knew his decision not to remove Hugley “might cause some discomfort for certain students,” he promised to “be diligent in working to create a climate where all DSU students, employees, and constituents are valued and nurtured.”
If at any time a student felt singled out due to their identity, he wrote that they should notify the music department chair, Julia Thorn, the dean of the college of arts and sciences, or the vice president for student affairs.
“They stand ready to listen and to provide guidance,” he wrote.
Louis Armstrong by Harry Warnecke and Gus Shoenbaechler 1947. Credit: Wikipedia
Louis Armstrong, trumpeter known around the globe as “Satchmo,” was born in an impoverished area of New Orleans known as “the Battlefield.”
“As a boy, he released his energy in a variety of ways — not always socially acceptable,” singer Mahalia Jackson wrote. “One of Louis’ last transgressions as a youth, at the age of 12, was to fire a gun into the air during a New Year’ Eve celebration. He was arrested and sent to reform school.”
The two-year stay had an unexpected effect on the lad — he learned to play the cornet. After his release, he gravitated to where he could listen to music, surviving by selling newspapers and whatever work he could find. He eventually befriended one of the great band leaders of the day, Joe “King” Oliver, who gave him his first cornet.
Armstrong’s inventive playing and gravelly voice reached far beyond jazz, prompting singer Bing Crosby to declare, “He is the beginning and end of music in America.”
He broke down barriers, becoming the first Black American to host a nationally broadcast radio show and made countless appearances on radio, television and film. Often silent on politics, Armstrong made his own stand for civil rights in 1957 when he balked at participating in a U.S. government-sponsored tour of the Soviet Union after nine Black students were blocked from entering a Little Rock school. Complaining about President Eisenhower’s handling of the problem and the way “they are treating my people in the South,” he turned down the government’s request. “It’s getting almost so bad a colored man hasn’t got any country.”
In response to his comments, the FBI opened an investigation of him. He performed to the end, dying in 1971, a month before he would have celebrated his 70th birthday.
Six law enforcement officers who called themselves the “Goon Squad” pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges they tortured two Black men, hurled racial slurs and used a sex toy on them before shooting one of them in the mouth.
The charges against five Rankin County Sheriff’s Department deputies and a Richland police officer followed a months-long Justice Department investigation, which found credible evidence of the attack on Michael Jenkins, 32, and Eddie Terrell Parker, 35.
On Jan. 24, during an early-morning raid, the officers broke down the door of Parker’s home in Braxton, Mississippi, without a warrant. They restrained the two men before beating, tasing and threatening them with rape. The officers shot multiple rounds into the air, threatening to kill the men, before a deputy placed his gun in Jenkins’ mouth and fired. The bullet lacerated Jenkins’ tongue, shattered his jaw and shredded his neck, nearly killing him and causing permanent injuries, according to Jenkins’ lawyers.
“To them, he wasn’t even human,” said Jenkins’ mother, Mary.
The men’s attorney, Trent Walker, said his clients “feel they’re getting justice. They feel vindicated.” At the time the allegations emerged, “there were a lot of naysayers,” he said. “This proves there is justice in Mississippi, even in Rankin County with its long history of police violence.”
At Thursday’s hearing, handcuffed officers stood with their lawyers in a semicircle before U.S. District Judge Tom S. Lee, who read from a 13-count criminal information. Five deputies pleaded guilty to federal charges: Brett Morris McAlpin, 52, who served as chief investigator; Jeffrey Arwood Middleton, 45, who worked as a lieutenant; Christian Lee Dedmon, 28, who worked as a narcotics investigator; and Hunter Thomas Elward, 31, and Daniel Ready Opdyke, 27, who worked as patrol deputies. Joshua Allen Hartfield, 31, who worked as a narcotics investigator with the Richland Police Department, also pleaded guilty.
According to the criminal information filed Thursday, the white deputies handcuffed Jenkins and Parker before beating them and calling them “n—–,” “monkey” and “boy,” telling them to stay out of Rankin County and “go back to Jackson or to ‘their side’ of the Pearl River.” While deputies taunted the two men, Dedmon “repeatedly drive-stunned Jenkins with his taser,” according to the information.
When deputies discovered a dildo in the home, Opdyke forced it into the mouth of Parker and attempted to force it into the mouth of Jenkins, according to the information. Dedmon then threatened to anally rape the two men, but when he moved toward Jenkins’ backside, the deputy stopped when he noticed that Jenkins had defecated on himself, according to the information.
While Elward held the two men down, Dedmon poured milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup on their faces and into their mouths, and Dedmon poured cooking grease on Parker’s head, according to the information. Elward threw eggs at the men.
Officers then ordered the two men “to strip naked and shower off to wash away evidence of abuse,” according to the information. Hartfield guarded the door to make sure they didn’t escape.
Opdyke struck Parker with a wooden kitchen implement, Middleton assaulted Parker with a metal sword, and Dedmon and McAlpin smacked Parker with pieces of wood, according to the criminal information. Dedmon, Middleton, Hartfield and Elward all tased Jenkins and Parker repeatedly.
McAlpin and Middleton stole rubber bar mats, and McAlpin was “about to steal a Class A military uniform” when he heard two gunshots, according to the document.
The first gunshot was discharged by Dedmon, who fired into the yard. After removing a bullet from the chamber of his gun, Elward stuck a gun into Jenkins’ mouth and pulled the trigger. The gun clicked. Then he racked the slide, only this time, the gun fired a bullet, which lacerated his tongue, broke his jaw and exited through his neck.
The officers pleaded guilty to depriving the two men of their rights by neglecting Jenkins’ need for medical care, according to the information. “[They] attempted to cover up their misconduct rather than provide [Jenkins] with medical care.”
The officers also pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice. They attempted to cover up the shooting by planting a gun in the home and accused Jenkins of attempting to shoot at officer Elward, according to court records. They also planted methamphetamine on Jenkins and charged him with drug possession, disorderly conduct and assaulting an officer. Parker was falsely charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and disorderly conduct. The charges against the two have been dismissed. The officers then stole the hard drive from a surveillance camera system in Parker’s home and threw it in a river.
Dedmon and Elward pleaded guilty to discharging a gun in the commission of a violent crime. That carries a 10-year minimum and up to a life sentence, consecutive to any other prison time.
The other charges against the officers range between 10 and 20 years for each count.
“Based on the facts in their guilty pleas, all former deputies lied to me the night of the incident,” Sheriff Brian Bailey said in a statement. “This incident and the crimes of these individuals has been devastating not only to the victims but also to the sheriff’s office and the hundreds of men and women that work here.”
U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca, right, stands with Deputy Attorney General Mary Helen Wall during a press conference Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, at the Thad Cochran U.S. District Courthouse in Jackson, Miss., after six law enforcement officers pleaded guilty to brutalizing and assaulting two Black men during a home raid that ended with an officer shooting one of the victims in the mouth. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
“They became the criminals they swore to protect us from,” said U.S. Attorney Darren LaMarca at a news conference Thursday afternoon.
“The defendants in this case wanted to send a message to their victims that they didn’t belong,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke. “They sought to dehumanize these victims.”
Deputy Attorney General Mary Helen Wall of the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office said these brutal attacks “caused more than harm to the victims — it severed the trust of the people.”
Six months after the raid, the Rankin County Sheriff’s department fired five deputies they said were involved.
Jenkins and Parker alleged in their lawsuit that their torture was racially motivated because, throughout the incident, the deputies used racial slurs and accused the men of sleeping with White women.
Jenkins has moved out of the state, fearing he may face retaliation, according to his lawyers.
“The code in Rankin County is that you do not speak up,” said Jenkins’ attorney, Malik Zulu Shabazz. “We believe that there are credible threats or risks to their safety.”
The Rankin County Sheriff’s Department has faced previous lawsuits related to police misconduct, some involving the officers named in today’s indictment.
In 2021, Damien Cameron, a 29-year-old Black man, died after a confrontation with Rankin County deputies Elward and Luke Stickman. Cameron’s mother, who filed a civil lawsuit against the department, said she witnessed the officers kneel on Cameron’s neck and back, while Cameron told them he could not breathe for over 10 minutes.
A grand jury chose not to indict the officers for Cameron’s death a year before Elward shot Jenkins. “If they would have did something then, this wouldn’t have happened,” said his father, Mel Jenkins.
That same year, a man named Cory Jackson died while incarcerated at the Rankin County Jail. Jackson’s family was driving him to a hospital because he was suffering from a psychotic episode, when Jackson fled from their car. He was arrested by a Rankin County deputy and suffered injuries while in custody. He was never hospitalized and died in jail that same night.
Also Thursday, Dedmon pleaded guilty to assaulting a man identified as “A.S.” by “punching, kicking and tasing him.” Elward and Opdyke also pleaded guilty to failing to intervene.
After the guilty pleas Thursday, Walker said he had spoken “with Mr. Parker and Mr. Jenkins, and they are very grateful and appreciative of the work of the Justice Department and the U.S. attorney’s office.”
Update: This story has been updated to include comments from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Rankin County Sheriff Brian Bailey.
NESHOBA COUNTY FAIR — Republican Gov. Tate Reeves at the Neshoba County Fair gave conflicting answers to reporters on how seriously he views Mississippi’s worsening hospital crisis and what he’s proposing to fix the problem.
Reeves, running for a second term, initially indicated that hospitals around the state laying off employees and slashing medical services was not a real campaign issue, but he later said there’s “no doubt” state leaders should do more to improve health care infrastructure.
Mississippi Today initially asked the first-term governor last week what his reaction was to hospitals and medical facilities laying off employees. The governor chuckled, didn’t substantively respond and brushed off the question.
“I’m shocked that you decided to take the position of the CEO of the Hospital Association today,” Reeves answered. “The fact of the matter is we know that my opponent can’t talk about my record. He can’t talk about what he believes in, so he’s making up all these things that don’t make any sense.”
But another reporter later asked the governor how he believes the state Legislature should address the burgeoning issue, prompting a more serious answer from the Republican official.
“We’ve got to have more availability of health care throughout our state, we’ve got to have more accessibility to health care throughout our state and we’ve got to make sure that we can make health care more affordable throughout our state,” Reeves said.
Much like in 2019, Medicaid coverage and access to health care are some of the primary issues between the two leading candidates in this year’s governor’s race.
And while medical infrastructure in the state has been fragile for several years, it’s gotten increasingly worse during the current statewide election cycle.
Here is a list of hospitals that have recently announced layoffs or cuts to services:
North Mississippi Health Services in Tupelo announced last month it was laying off employees, cutting their hours and reassigning them to different jobs.
Memorial Hospital in Gulfport announced layoffs just days before the Oschner announcement.
In June, St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson announced it was cutting 5.5% of its workforce and ending its behavioral health program.
KPC Promise, a hospital in Vicksburg, closed last May.
And Delta Health last year closed its NICU unit, leaving the Delta region, one of the most impoverished areas in the nation, without a neonatal center.
Reeves told the press on Thursday that he believes bringing “better, more higher-paying jobs” that provide private insurance to employees, not Medicaid, can improve access to health care. He believes certificate of need, or CON, laws requiring medical facilities to seek approval from a state agency before they create a new health care center should be eliminated.
Presley, currently north Mississippi’s utility regulator, has repeatedly hammered the first-term governor at campaign events for his response to struggling hospitals, often saying that the governor is “twiddling his thumbs” while hospitals lose more revenue.
“Tate Reeves doesn’t give a damn about the Greenwood Leflore Hospital,” Presley told reporters Wednesday night in Greenwood.
The Democratic candidate believes one of the main ways hospitals can stay afloat is for state leaders to expand Medicaid coverage to the working poor, something the GOP-dominated Legislature and Reeves have resisted for years.
Most hospital administrators have pushed for state leaders to expand the federal program, though they acknowledge the policy wouldn’t be a panacea.
Iris Stacker, the CEO of Delta Health System in Greenville, said last month she supported Medicaid expansion because it would reduce the amount of uncompensated care that medical workers provide to patients without health insurance.
Mississippi is one of 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid. The 40 other U.S. states that have expanded the program have seen a significant drop in uncompensated care costs post-expansion. Louisiana, which expanded Medicaid in 2016, saw a 55% decrease in uncompensated care costs for rural hospitals.
Economic experts say the remaining states, many in the Deep South, would experience an economic boon if officials expanded the program. Studies show Mississippi is leaving more than $1 billion in new health care related revenue on the table every year it does not expand.
Medical leaders have pleaded for state leaders to expand the program under the federal Affordable Care Act to draw down on additional funds. If the program were expanded, the federal government would likely cover 90% of the costs while the state contributed a 10% matching rate.
Reeves is expected to defeat John Witcher and David Hardigree in the GOP primary on Tuesday. The winner of the party primary will compete against Presley, the only Democratic candidate, in the Nov. 7 general election.
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday released a new TV commercial labeling a Tuesday ad from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brandon Presley as “100% false.”
Presley’s Tuesday ad claimed that while Reeves has been in statewide office for several years, he helped steer millions of welfare funds “to help his rich friends.” The governor’s new ad pushes back on that assertion and says Reeves had “nothing to do with the scandal.”
“It all happened before he was governor,” Reeves’ ad said of the welfare scandal. “Tate Reeves has supported the prosecution to find the truth. And Democrat Brandon Presley, he doesn’t care about the truth.”
Several people have pleaded guilty to federal and state crimes connected to the welfare money scandal, mostly stemming from how millions of federal funds disbursed by the Mississippi Department of Human Services were mishandled.
Investigators and prosecutors have not alleged Reeves committed a crime related to the welfare scandal, nor have they indicated they’re investigating him in connection to the scheme that has so far led to several people pleading guilty to federal and state crimes.
But text messages previously obtained by Mississippi Today indicate Reeves inspired the state’s welfare agency in 2019 to indirectly pay Paul Lacoste, a fitness trainer, on a contract he received from a nonprofit in 2018 to provide a statewide boot camp program.
Lacoste told John Davis, the former MDHS director who has pleaded guilty to state and federal crimes, that Reeves had selected a date and location for a 2019 meeting about appropriating funds for Lacoste’s exercise program.
“Tate wants us all to himself!” Lacoste wrote at the time.
Two days after meeting, Davis asked his deputy to find a way to push a large sum of money to a nonprofit without triggering a red flag in an audit, to reimburse the organization for funding Lacoste’s boot camp. Davis called the project “the Lt. Gov’s fitness issue.”
Reeves’ office has denied he had any involvement in the scandal and labeled the communications with Lacoste as “inconsequential conversations.”
More recently, Lacoste said that it was former Gov. Phil Bryant, who directly oversaw the welfare agency during the scandal, that directed the welfare agency to work with Lacoste.
Since Reeves has been governor, his administration, through MDHS, has pursued civil litigation to recoup misspent dollars from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, including $1.3 million from Lacoste.
However, current MDHS Director Bob Anderson, with the governor’s approval, fired the initial attorney, former federal prosecutor Brad Pigott, who was handling the civil suit.
After Reeves’ Thursday ad, Presley’s campaign, in a news release, said the governor’s campaign was being disingenuous with the public by claiming he bears no responsibility for what state officials have described as the largest public embezzlement scheme in state history.
The Democratic candidate’s campaign highlights that the misspending occurred while Reeves was lieutenant governor and, as leader of the Senate, could have pushed lawmakers to conduct more robust oversight hearings of the state’s welfare agency.
“Tate Reeves will do or say anything to hide his role in the largest public corruption scandal in state history, where Tate Reeves blocked the investigation into $77 million lost, squandered, and stolen taxpayer dollars to protect his rich friends who received illegal payments for a horse ranch, a volleyball stadium, and even his personal trainer received a million dollars,” Presley spokesperson Michael Beyer said in a statement.
The rapid response to Presley’s ad from the governor’s campaign likely shows how much money Reeves is willing to spend on advertising throughout the election cycle and how hard he’ll work to push pack on efforts tying him to the scheme.
This is now the fourth ad Reeves’ campaign has pushed out this year. His previous ads have highlighted his advocacy for banning trans youth from competing in athletics programs, his efforts to recruit industries to the state and his administration’s response to natural disasters.
A state political action committee created last month by a Wisconsin political operative has received more than $885,000 from out-of-state super PACs to help state Sen. Chris McDaniel in his bid against incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann.
The Invest in Mississippi PAC was created in July by Thomas Datwyler of Wisconsin, who had been listed as a campaign treasurer and consultant by the McDaniel campaign. The PAC had failed to file a campaign finance report with the Mississippi secretary of state’s office by Tuesday’s deadline, but filed one Wednesday afternoon.
Invest in Mississippi has been running hundreds of thousands of dollars in ads, mainly attacking Hosemann, and appears to have spent more on the race than McDaniel’s campaign has over the last month.
Invest reported the donations it received included:
American Jobs and Growth PAC, Washington, D.C. — $200,000
Defend US PAC, Washington, D.C. — $110,000
Fund for a Working Congress, Annapolis, Maryland — $150,000
Save Our Constitution PAC, Cincinnati, Ohio — $425,000
The donors appear to be dark-money super PACs, which have been pumping millions of unsourced dollars into campaigns across the country. Fund for a Working Congress helped pump millions into an Oklahoma congressional race last year, outspending the candidates themselves. Save Our Constitution PAC is reported to be backed by Illinois billionaire Richard Uihlein.
McDaniel had created his own PAC that received $475,000 in dark money from an out of state group and then funneled funds to his campaign. But his campaign and PAC returned the money, and he shut the PAC down, after Hosemann complained to the attorney general that the donations violated state law.
McDaniel did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday about his campaign finances or the new PAC. Datwyler also did not respond to a request for comment.
McDaniel has declined to say what interest out-of-state dark money groups have in Mississippi’s lieutenant governor’s race or his campaign or why they would pump hundreds of thousands of dollars into the fray.
The Invest PAC reported it spent more than $440,000 during July, most of that appearing to be media buys.
McDaniel’s campaign, which has struggled to raise money from Mississippi donors, reported it raised only $167,000 for the same period, and spent $288,000.
A state PAC aiming ads against McDaniel, True Conservatives Mississippi PAC, also reported its campaign finances. It reported raising $272,000 and spending $259,000 for the month. The PAC’s largest donations were $100,000 from Friends of Mississippi Hospitals and $75,000 from the Republican State Leadership Committee Mississippi PAC in Washington, D.C.
Hosemann has complaints with the state attorney general’s office alleging McDaniel and his PAC have violated state campaign finance and reporting laws. Mississippi has weak campaign finance and ethics laws, and nearly nonexistent enforcement or investigation of violations.
TUPELO — A Tupelo defense attorney recently subpoenaed Lauren Smith, a candidate running for the state Legislature, to testify in a criminal case involving a Democratic member of the Tupelo City Council for allegedly violating an election statute.
Documents filed in Lee County Circuit Court show Jim Waide, attorney for Tupelo Councilwoman Nettie Davis, subpoenaed Smith, a Republican candidate for a state Senate district in Lee County, to testify at Davis’ Aug. 14 criminal trial.
Waide declined to comment on the subpoena, but he has previously told the Daily Journal he strongly objects to District Attorney John Weddle’s efforts to prosecute Davis, a civil rights veteran, over allegedly violating a somewhat obscure election law.
A grand jury indicted Davis in 2021 after a video surfaced of her soliciting donations for a raffle intended to award cash prizes to people who voted in the city of Tupelo’s municipal general election.
Weddle, a Republican, alleges Davis’s comments violated a law that prohibits anyone from offering “any prize, cash award or other items of value to be raffled, drawn for, played for or contested for in order to encourage a person to vote or to refrain from voting in any election.”
The video did not record Davis advocating for any specific candidate or a particular political party.
The penalty for violating the statute is only a misdemeanor and carries no jail time. But the stakes for Davis politically are much higher because the law calls for sitting public officials to be removed from office if convicted.
While state prosecutors are preparing to take Davis’ case to trial, an attorney specializing in election law and Smith’s opponent, incumbent Sen. Chad McMahan, believe the Senate candidate appears to have admitted on video to also skirting an election law.
Smith testified before the Mississippi Republican Party Executive Committee in a Feb. 16 hearing that she has lived in the northern Mississippi town of Saltillo since at least 2018. However, she voted at a Tupelo business address for part of that time.
Her public voting record shows she voted under the Tupelo address, located in a different Senate district, in the 2020 presidential election and the 2022 congressional primary election. Still, Smith, at the hearing, insisted she lived in Saltillo during that time.
“I want to point out that I might have used the address to vote outside of my district, but it was merely a place of convenience,” Smith said at the hearing. “It was where we had a sawmill, we had our place of business.”
State law requires Mississippians to register to vote in the precinct where they live, and section 97-13-35 of the Mississippi Code states anyone “who shall vote out of the district of his legal domicile” shall, upon conviction, be imprisoned in the county jail for no more than one year or be fined no more than $1,000, or both.
Smith denies the allegation she committed voter fraud or violated any of the state’s election laws, though she does not dispute she voted under the Tupelo address while she lived in Saltillo.
Smith told Mississippi Today she did not know why Waide, a longtime criminal defense attorney, subpoenaed her, but she will “gladly go” to court and testify.
It’s unclear why Waide is seeking Smith’s appearance in court, but he could be attempting to paint a picture that state prosecutors in the area are selectively prosecuting certain cases of election law violations and ignoring others.
Weddle also declined to comment on the subpoena, though he could, in theory, file a motion with the court objecting to Smith’s testimony.
A district attorney’s office typically does not handle misdemeanor offenses, though Weddle ultimately decided to present Davis’ case to a grand jury.
Weddle has not issued any public statement about Smith’s scenario, but two days after the video of Davis’ raffle comments circulated online, he issued a statement saying he would investigate the video thoroughly.
“I take election fraud seriously, and I am dedicated to handling this matter and any other violations aggressively,” Weddle said at the time.
