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OXFORD – Jimmie “Jay” Lee disappeared on his mother’s birthday. 

Every year, Lee would call his mother, Stephanie, to sing “Happy Birthday.” On July 8, 2022, he texted her around 2 a.m. But the 20-year-old never responded after that. Not to Stephanie’s texts. Or to her 92 missed calls. 

That’s because just a few hours later, Lee was allegedly killed by Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr., a fellow student at the University of Mississippi with whom Lee had a secret relationship, the prosecution argued in their opening statement in Herrington’s capital murder trial on Tuesday at the Lafayette County Courthouse. 

Lee had gone back to Herrington’s apartment at Herrington’s behest after the two had fought about sex, the prosecution said. Lee was a well-known member of Oxford’s LGBTQ+ community, but Herrington, whose family leads a prominent church in his hometown of Grenada, was not. 

“He invited Jay back over with the promise that he was gonna do something he’d never done,” said Gwen Agho, a special prosecutor from Hinds County who joined the case to assist Lafayette County District Attorney Ben Creekmore. 

But after 22,000 pages of evidence, 71 search warrants and seven law enforcement agencies, there is no direct evidence to show that Lee is dead, argued state Rep. Kevin Horan in his opening statements defending Herrington. 

There is no body, no DNA, no blood and no urine, Horan said. Last week, he successfully moved to exclude evidence from K9 dogs from the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department that “alerted” to the smell of a dead body in Herrington’s apartment and car after questioning its validity. 

Horan also sought to cast doubt on evidence on what may be the strongest piece of circumstantial evidence the prosecution has to offer: A Google search that Herrington allegedly made while Lee was on his way over that reads “how long does it take to strangle someone.” 

The search could have been about sexual activity with anyone, not just Lee, Horan said. 

“I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen, that at the conclusion of this case, you’re going to have just as many questions then as you have now about whether or not they’ve proven a death,” Horan told the jury. 

In fact, Horan said the evidence will show that it was actually Lee who threatened Herrington, because Lee sent a message before heading over telling Herrington “if this goes bad, it’s not gonna be good for you.” 

If convicted, Herrington faces the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

“You can’t go on objection, you can’t go on speculation, you can’t go on suspicion,” Horan told the jury. “Guesswork. Wonderment. All of those things you can’t do.”  

The opening of trial came after jurors arrived late Monday night from Hattiesburg. Two years after Lee went missing, it was sparsely attended. Few sat behind Herrington, who never turned to face the gallery. 

But Lee’s family and close friends seem just as committed to justice. Lee’s friends were the first members of the public to enter the courtroom shortly after 8 a.m. Some members of Lee’s family wore shirts with his picture on it. 

They were instructed by Judge Kelly Luther to avoid emotional outbursts during testimony. Tissues boxes were placed in front of where Lee’s family sat. The attorneys were also told to keep their cool. 

“I anticipate a hotly contested case,” Luther said before proceedings started. 

The jury was comprised of eight women and seven men chosen from Forrest County. Eleven were white and four were Black.

During the selection process in Hattiesburg, potential jurors were asked if they had any problem with proof of death because Lee’s body has not been found, and none raised a hand. They were also asked if they knew any members of the LGBTQ community, or if they didn’t want to be exposed to information about a relationship between two men.

In his opening statement, Horan noted the case was touchy, due to Lee and Herrington’s sexual relationship and the emotions of Lee’s mother, who was the state’s first witness on Tuesday. 

“The court is gonna instruct you at the conclusion of this case that you cannot allow your sympathy for a mother to come into play here,” Horan told the jury. “Y’all have got to decide this case on the facts.” 

Horan also said that the jury will see no evidence to support Herrington’s underlying offense of kidnapping. 

“If that didn’t happen, the rest of their case goes like a house of cards,” he said.

Aside from the Google search, Agho did not address the way Herrington allegedly killed Lee in her opening statement. 

Instead, she emphasized all the details that police have gathered to prove Lee is no longer living. When Lee’s friend stopped by his apartment at Stephanie’s request, the door was ajar. Lee’s dog was inside. So were his valuables and his clothes. 

That fall, Lee was slated to enroll in a master’s degree in social work at Ole Miss, but he never showed up for class. In the two years since he went missing, there have been no more credit card charges under his name, and no more social media posts. 

“No more anything,” Agho said. “The plans for grad school? Moot. … All proof that Jay’s no longer with us.” 

In November, a Lafayette County judge declared Lee dead, at the request by his parents for a legal declaration of death.

When Stephanie Lee testified, she said the last day she saw her son was on July 7 before he headed back to Oxford after spending the holiday at home in Jackson, according to her testimony. 

“What was the last thing you ever heard from your son?” Agho asked. 

“It’s your birthday,” she replied.

Justice Reporter Mina Corpuz contributed to this report.

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More than two years after Jimmie “Jay” Lee disappeared, sparking fear in Oxford’s small LGBTQ+ community, a University of Mississippi graduate will stand trial on capital murder charges this week. 

Sheldon Timothy Herrington, Jr., is accused of killing Lee, a fellow Ole Miss graduate who was pursuing a master’s degree in social work, in an effort to keep their casual relationship a secret, according to arguments prosecutors made during Herrington’s preliminary hearing two years ago. 

Herrington is charged with capital murder for allegedly kidnapping Lee, then killing him, according to the indictment. If convicted, Herrington faces the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The 24-year-old was indicted by a Lafayette County grand jury last year. He is being represented by state Rep. Kevin Horan. In interviews with Mississippi Today and other media outlets, members of Herrington’s family, who lead a prominent church in Grenada, have vociferously defended his innocence. 

Herrington is charged with capital murder for allegedly kidnapping, then killing, Lee. If convicted, he faces the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“We’re all in shock, we’re all devastated, and we are all looking forward to proving his innocence,” Herrington’s half-brother, Tevin Coleman, said two years ago. 

Dozens of people from Herrington’s hometown, including the then-superintendent and Grenada County Sheriff, have written letters to the court on his behalf before evidence was presented during 2022’s preliminary hearing. 

In Oxford, Lee’s disappearance and death led his friends to organize a local movement, called Justice for Jay Lee, in an effort to remember Lee’s life. They have protested outside the Lafayette County Courthouse so loudly their chants could be heard during proceedings. They have tailgated in the Grove and tabled during local drag shows where Lee performed.

“It doesn’t feel real, especially since they haven’t found his body,” Braylyn Johnson, one of Justice for Jay Lee’s main organizers, told Mississippi Today two years ago. A fellow Ole Miss student, Johnson lived with Lee during the pandemic. 

The trial will be presided over by Judge Kelly Luther. It was originally slated for earlier this fall but was postponed due to a lack of hotel availability for jurors during football season. 

Anticipating the coverage, Luther ruled earlier this fall that jurors will be brought in from outside the county after denying a joint motion to seal all pre-trial filings in the case.

The jury is being selected in Forrest County, but there is nothing in the case file to indicate from which county jurors were being chosen.

Last week, Luther ordered that any public demonstrations in relation to the case will occur in the park next to City Hall. The potentially lengthy proceedings at the Lafayette County Courthouse are expected to bring significant media attention to the small north Mississippi college town.

Lafayette County District Attorney Ben Creekmore did not respond to a request for comment from Mississippi Today. A special prosecutor has been appointed to assist him.

Herrington has been out on bond since December 2022. Lee was declared legally dead earlier this month, but police have not recovered his body. The public has received little information about Lee’s potential whereabouts, or what efforts police have undertaken to find him.

Lee went missing on July 8, 2022, and Herrington was arrested a few weeks later. During the preliminary hearing, an Oxford Police Department detective testified to a plethora of evidence, including Snapchat and text messages, Google searches and video surveillance.

According to cellphone location data, Lee’s last location was in the vicinity of Herrington’s apartment on July 8. 

Earlier that morning, the two exchanged messages about a fight they’d had. Herrington asked Lee to come back to his apartment, and Lee responded that he thought Herrington was “just tryna lure me over there to beat my ass or something.”

At 5:56 a.m., minutes after Lee messaged Herrington he was on his way, Herrington searched “how long does it take to strangle someone gabby petito,” then “does pre workout boost testosterone.” 

Less than an hour later, video surveillance shows Herrington buying duct tape at Walmart and, later that day, retrieving a long-handle shovel and wheelbarrow from his parent’s house in Grenada and putting it in the back of a box truck that he used for a moving business. 

During the police investigation, DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department “cadaver dogs” — K-9s that are trained to identify the smell of a dead body – “alerted” three times in Herrington’s bedroom, once in his living room and in his car. 

During the preliminary hearing, Horan repeatedly questioned if the police had reviewed the dogs’ training or checked if the dogs had ever before correctly identified the smell of a dead body. 

Last week, the prosecution agreed to withdraw evidence stemming from “the K-9s searches or purported detection of human remains” after Horan filed a motion to exclude it. 

Horan has also filed a motion to dismiss the indictment on technical grounds.

Read Mississippi Today’s previous reporting on the case here.

Justice Reporter Mina Corpuz contributed to this report.

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The winner of Tuesday’s runoff election between Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens and Jenifer Branning likely won’t be declared until next week, according to an official with the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office.

Elizabeth Jonson, a spokesperson for the agency tasked with administering Mississippi’s elections, told Mississippi Today on Wednesday that there are currently more outstanding ballots than the current vote spread between Kitchens and Branning, who are vying for a seat on the state’s highest court.

“So voters probably won’t know the result until next week,” Jonson said. 

With 97% of the vote reported on Wednesday morning, the Associated Press reported Branning narrowly led the race with 50.5%, and Kitchens trailed with 49.5%. About 1,200 votes currently separate the two candidates in the unofficial tabulations.

The tight race could come down to absentee and affidavit ballots, some of which are still flowing into local election offices. State law currently allows for election workers to process mail-in absentee ballots for up to five days after Election Day, as long as the ballot was postmarked by the date of the election.

READ MORE: Supreme Court race remains too close to call, final result could hinge on absentee and affidavit ballots

Gov. Tate Reeves declared Thursday and Friday state holidays because of Thanksgiving, so state and most county employees, which includes local election workers, are not required to work on those days.

Both Branning and Kitchens in separate social media posts seemed to acknowledge that the close vote margin will likely lead to several additional days of vote counting. 

“Thank you to everyone who helped our campaign in yesterday’s runoff election,” Branning wrote. “While we are still waiting on the remaining votes to be counted, I’m grateful and appreciative of your support.” 

Kitchens similarly said the race was too close to call and that his supporters may not have an answer until next week. 

“There are thousands of votes left to count, but we remain hopeful and prayerful,” Kitchens wrote. 

This year’s delayed result is similar to a 2020 election for another central district seat on the Supreme Court. After 16 days of vote-counting in a close race, then-appointed Supreme Court Justice Kenny Griffis was declared the winner over state Court of Appeals Judge Latrice Westbrooks.

Kitchens, a Crystal Springs native, was first elected to the court in 2008. He is a former district attorney and private practice lawyer. He is largely considered one of two centrist members of the court. 

Branning, a Philadelphia resident, is a private practice attorney who was first elected to the Legislature in 2015. She is challenging Kitchens and pledging to ensure that “conservative values” are always represented in the judiciary, but she stopped short of endorsing policy positions, which Mississippi judicial candidates are prohibited from doing.

Counties have until Dec. 6 to certify election results and transmit them to the Secretary of State’s office.

Live election results: Mississippi Supreme Court, Court of Appeals runoffs

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Ole Miss is a whopping 26-point favorite. A State victory likely would be the biggest upset in Egg Bowl history. As the Clevelands discuss, despite the old saying that you can throw the records out in a rivalry game, the better team almost always wins. The most memorable Egg Bowls are discussed at length.

Stream all episodes here.

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The Mississippi Supreme Court runoff election between incumbent Justice Jim Kitchens and Republican state Sen. Jenifer Branning remained too close to call Tuesday night, with political prognosticators signaling a careful counting of ballots that could take days.

With 91% of the total votes reported, the Associated Press reported that Branning received 50.2% of the vote, while Kitchens had 49.8%. The reported margin of votes at 10:45 p.m. was about 500 in favor of Branning.

The tightly contested race could come down to absentee and affidavit ballots, which are not counted in AP’s election night tabulation. State law currently allows for election workers to process mail-in absentee ballots for up to five days after Election Day, as long as the ballot was postmarked by the date of the election.

The Mississippi Republican Party worked hard for months to oust Kitchens, one of the dwindling number of centrist jurists on the high court, consolidating its infrastructure behind Branning. Conservative leaders are keenly aware that Kitchens is next in line to lead the court as chief justice, a job with administrative powers, should current Chief Justice Mike Randolph step down.

Though candidates for judicial offices in Mississippi are technically nonpartisan, political parties and trade associations often contribute money to candidates and cut ads for them, which has increasingly made them effectively as partisan as traditional campaigns. 

Kitchens is one of two centrist members of the high court and is widely viewed as the preferred candidate of Democrats, though the Mississippi Democratic Party has not endorsed his candidacy. The GOP has directly endorsed Branning. 

Kitchens, a resident of Crystal Springs, was first elected to the court in 2008. He is a former district attorney and private practice lawyer. On the campaign trail, he has pointed to his experience as an attorney and judge, particularly his years prosecuting criminals and his rulings on criminal cases.

Branning, also private practice attorney, was first elected to the Legislature in 2015. She has led the Senate Elections and Transportation committees. During her time at the Capitol, she has been one of the more conservative members of the Senate, voting against changing the state flag to remove the Confederate battle emblem, voting against expanding Medicaid to the working poor and equal pay for women, and supporting mandatory and increased minimum sentences for crime.

While campaigning for the judicial seat, she pledged to ensure that “conservative values” are always represented in the judiciary, but she stopped short of endorsing policy positions, which Mississippi judicial candidates are prohibited from doing.

The two candidates have collectively raised around $187,000 and spent $182,000 during the final stretch of the campaign, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Secretary of State’s office. 

Counties must certify the election results and send them to the Secretary of State’s office by Dec. 6, meaning a counting effort could continue through the Thanksgiving holiday and into the first part of December.

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Amy St. Pé , an attorney from Jackson County, defeated Jennifer Schloegel, a chancery judge, on Tuesday night for an open seat on the Mississippi Court of Appeals. 

With 94% of the vote reported, the Associated Press projected that St. Pé, who led with 61.5% of the vote, would defeat Schloegel, who trailed at 38.5%. The runoff election pitted two prominent Gulf Coast names against one another and saw hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars spent in the race. 

St. Pé is a municipal judge in Gautier. Schloegel is a chancery court judge in Hancock, Harrison and Stone counties.

Whenever St. Pé is installed as the judge replacing outgoing Judge Joel Smith, she will be one of five women serving on the 10-member Court of Appeals, the highest number of women who have ever served on the court at one time.

Election results: Mississippi Court of Appeals runoff

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It’s Egg Bowl Week in the Magnolia State, as integral a part of Thanksgiving weekend in Mississippi as turkey, oyster dressing and casseroles.

So, without further adieu, and in no particular order, my five most memorable Egg Bowls of the nearly 50 I have witnessed:

1) The Immaculate Deflection: Ole Miss led 24-23 at Mississippi Memorial Stadium in 1983 when Artie Cosby, one of the best place-kickers in Mississippi history, lined up for a 27-yard, chip shot field goal. I was standing under the goal posts at the south end of the stadium amid gusting winds that threatened my balance. Cosby’s kick appeared perfect and then one of those 60 mph gusts blew the ball straight up into the air and then backward. Today, you would swear the scene was created by artificial intelligence. So it was that Billy Brewer’s first Ole Miss team went to a bowl game. So it was that State coach Emory Bellard told me postgame, “God just decided that Mississippi State wasn’t going to win that game.”

2) Back to Veterans Memorial Stadium and back to 1981. Ole Miss trailed State 17-14 with just 13 seconds to play. John Fourcade aimed a pass toward his crackerjack receiver Michael Harmon in the end zone. What happened next is Egg Bowl lore. State fans will tell you Harmon pushed off. The back judge, Dick Pace, instead ruled that State defensive back Kenneth Johnson, who intercepted the pass, was guilty of pass interference. With first down from the one, Fourcade faked a handoff and circled right end for the game-winning touchdown and then proceeded to wave the ball at State fans on his way back to the sidelines. For years, I had a running joke with Harmon. “You know you pushed off, Michael,” I’d tell him, to which he’d reply with a smile, “That’s not what the official said…”

3) Back to Scott Field for the 1997 Egg Bowl and another thrilling finish. Stewart Patridge, a clutch quarterback if there ever was one, drove Ole Miss on a last-minute drive for a touchdown and winning two-point conversion in a 15-14 Rebel victory. As exciting as the finish was, the pregame fireworks were just as memorable. A pregame brawl broke out, which, of course, State blamed on Ole Miss and Ole Miss blamed on State. I remember this: Mississippi Highway Patrolmen watched, seemingly amused, until it became apparent that somebody was going to get maimed, if not killed. It took officers a while, but they stopped it.

4) This happened in 2007 at Starkville, two days after I had written a column saying it was time for Ole Miss to find a new football coach, that the Ed Orgeron experiment has failed. Ole Miss, winless in the SEC and last in the league in every major statistical category, led 14-0 in the fourth quarter and faced fourth and one at midfield. State had gained only four first downs the entire game. Nevertheless, Orgeron decided to go for a first down instead of punting. State stuffed BenJarvus Green-Ellis for a two-yard loss. Suddenly, the Scott Field crowd was back in the game and so was State. To make a long story short, the final score: State 17, Ole Miss 14. Orgeron was fired the next day.

5) The Piss and Miss: Nobody who saw it will forget what happened at Scott Field in 2019. Ole Miss wide receiver Elijah Moore, who has become a terrific pro, snagged a short touchdown pass with four seconds remaining to cut State’s lead to 21-20. Moore celebrated on his hands and knees, hiking a leg as if he were a dog peeing in the State end zone. Officials did not appreciate Moore’s taste in humor and flagged him 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. Ole Miss missed the ensuing PAT and State won 21-20, costing Ole Miss coach Matt Luke his job and earning a $75,000 bonus for State coach Joe Moorhead, who was subsequently fired. Interestingly, State received a Music City Bowl bid as a result of the victory, which added $2.75 million to the SEC’s bowl pool. So Ole Miss received an extra $100,000 or so in its SEC bowl share because of Moore’s antics. What’s more, Ole Miss hired Lane Kiffin to replace Luke and State hired Mike Leach to replace Moorhead. You could not make all this up if you tried.

Here are five Egg Bowls I wish I had seen:

1) The first one ever in 1901: The opening kickoff was delayed 45 minutes because — believe it or not — there was a heated dispute. Ole Miss accused State of playing non-students, including one who had played for Ole Miss the year before. Finally, the game began and State won 17-0 in a game called for darkness in the third quarter.

2) In 1907, the Rebels and the Bulldogs sloshed onto the field on a cold, gray day at the State Fairgrounds in Jackson after several days of relentless rain. Much of the field was underwater, some of it knee-deep according to newspaper reports. The State men proved better mudders, winning 15-0, in part because Ole Miss coach Frank Mason provided an urn of coffee spiked with whiskey to warm his players. When asked about his team’s travel plans afterward, Mason said the team would leave for Oxford that night, but that he would not. And, he added, “I hope I never see them again.” He likely never did. He was fired shortly thereafter.

3) In 1918, the teams played not once but twice. State won 34-0 at Starkville and then two weeks later 13-0 at Oxford. The Rebels were coached by none other than Dudy R. Noble, a State graduate who later would become State’s beloved athletic director. “I know what hell is like,” Noble would tell folks. “I once coached at Ole Miss.”

4) In 1926 at Starkville, Ole Miss won 7-6 ending a 13-game losing streak to its bitter rival. Rebels fans and players celebrated, intending to tear down the goal posts. A melee ensured during which State fans reportedly attacked the Ole Miss celebrants with wooden chairs. As a result, a football-shaped trophy — the Golden Egg — was created to be awarded each year to the winning team (in lieu of goal posts). Thus, the Battle for the Golden Egg, later shortened to Egg Bowl. As noted, the trophy has done little to curb fighting, before games or after.

5) In 1941 at Oxford, State and Ole Miss played for the SEC championship for the only time in history. State won 6-0 to claim the only outright SEC title in Bulldog history. The late, great William Winter, a future governor, covered that game as an Ole Miss student reporter. More than seven decades later, he recounted the game, remembering even the most minute details. When an interviewer, this one, expressed amazement at Winter’s keen memory for something that happened 73 years before, he replied, “Well, you have to understand it was the most important thing in my life at the time.”

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Polls will close at 7 p.m. today as voters in central Mississippi choose a state Supreme Court justice and those in south Mississippi choose a state Court of Appeals judge in runoff elections.

In the Jackson Metro area and parts of central Mississippi, incumbent Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens faces Republican state Sen. Jenifer Branning of Neshoba County. In areas on the Gulf Coast, Jennifer Schloegel and Amy St. Pé square off for an open seat on the Mississippi Court of Appeals.

READ MORE: Meet the candidates for Mississippi Supreme Court’s Nov. 26 runoff election

Below are the results compiled by The Associated Press. Results will begin automatically updating after polls close at 7 p.m.

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