Days after Mississippi’s largest company – Laurel-based poultry processor Sanderson Farms – finalized its $4.5-billion sale to an out-of-state competitor, it agreed to pay its part of millions of dollars in restitution to workers for its alleged role in a scheme to suppress wages.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit this week that outlined decades of communications and data sharing between the poultry industry’s largest players, including Sanderson and its new owner, accusing the companies of working together to keep wages and benefits from being competitive.
“Through a brazen scheme to exchange wage and benefit information, these poultry processors stifled competition and harmed a generation of plant workers who face demanding and sometimes dangerous conditions to earn a living,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Doha Mekki of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division said in a statement.
Cargill Inc., Sanderson Farms Inc., and Wayne Farms signed an agreement with the Justice Department to pay $84.8 million in restitution to workers to resolve the lawsuit.
Cargill and Continental Grain Co. closed the acquisition of Sanderson Farms on Friday, almost a full year after announcing its plans. Continental owns Wayne Farms. The new corporate entity combines Sanderson – the third largest chicken production company in the country – with Wayne – the sixth largest – to create Wayne-Sanderson Farms.
“While we are pleased to have resolved this matter and put it behind us, both legacy companies are proud of their track record with their employees and growers and the agreement with DOJ evidences our commitment to continue to be an industry leader in those areas,” Wayne-Sanderson Farms said in a statement.
Cargill said in a statement it denies any wrongdoing but has been cooperative. The antitrust probe slowed the company’s plans to purchase Sanderson, which was first announced in August 2021.
The settlement, which still has to be approved by the court, also calls for a compliance monitor who will ensure the poultry companies are following regulations related to both processing facilities and with chicken growers.
The lawsuit says Sanderson and Wayne were both in violation of a protection act for the farms that hatch and grow chickens for slaughter. The poultry processors used a “tournament system” that adjusted payouts based on the quality of their brood compared to others, according to the lawsuit. The processors, however, are the ones supplying the chicks and feed.
DOJ alleged the poultry companies failed to provide the information the chicken growers needed to understand the inherent financial risks. Propublica outlined those types of risks in a 2019 investigation that showed how another poultry processor – Koch Foods – took advantage of Black Mississippi farmers to grow chickens, leaving them saddled with debt.
The agreement prevents Sanderson-Wayne from penalizing chicken growers by reducing base pay while still allowing for incentives and other bonuses. It requires expanded disclosures and transparency in contracts and prohibits retaliation against growers who raise antitrust concerns.
The new Sanderson-Wayne Farm is based in Oakwood, Georgia, with Clint Rivers, the CEO of Wayne Farms, as its head. The future of Sanderson’s corporate offices in Laurel is unclear.
“As we proceed with the integration of Wayne-Sanderson Farms, we look forward to investing in our communities, employees and grower partners to ensure there continues to be a strong and competitive American food supply,” the new company said in a statement.
Under its new ownership, Sanderson is no longer publicly traded. D.R. Sanderson founded the business in 1947 as a feed and seed store. For 75 years, it was family owned and based out of Laurel. Today, it spans more than 17,000 employees.
“It has been an incredible privilege to lead the Sanderson Farms team over the last 33 years and to continue my family’s legacy by helping to nourish families across the country,” former CEO Joe F. Sanderson, Jr. said in a statement. “I am proud of all we have achieved together, and I am confident that the fairness, honesty and integrity that has been synonymous with the Sanderson Farms name will carry on with Wayne-Sanderson Farms.”
A film to debut in the fall will follow the story of Mamie Till Mobley and her fight for justice after the lynching death of her son Emmett Till in 1955.
A portrait of Emmett Till, Christmas 1954. Credit: Associated Press
“Till”, written and directed by Chinonye Chukwu, will be shown during opening weekend of the New York Film Festival from Sept. 30 to Oct. 16 at the Lincoln Center in New York City. The premiere and screening were announced Monday on what would have been Till’s 81st birthday.
Deborah Watts, co-founder of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation and a Till family member, said the film is the story of Mamie Till Mobley’s love for her son and how that powered her fight for justice and commitment to the truth.
“Seeing this film made is yet another milestone for our family, and a testament to Mamie’s fight for justice and to our commitment to legacy,” Watts said in a statement. “The power of history turning tragedy into triumph is something Mamie would have wanted all of us to do.”
The film’s trailer, released this week, opens with Mamie Till Mobley reflecting on her son’s death as scenes recreated from history play: Till saying goodbye as he boarded the train from Chicago to Mississippi; Till’s kidnapping in the middle of the night; and Mamie Till Mobley seeing her son’s body.
That trailer also shows her insisting on having an open casket for her son’s funeral. Photographs of Till’s damaged body published in Black publications Jetand the Chicago Defender showed people across the nation what happened to him and helped galvanize the civil rights movement.
The film’s release comes nearly 70 years after Till’s death, and family members say justice has not been served.
The U.S. Department of Justice has reopened the case several times, but its investigations did not result in new charges.
Family members say new evidence uncovered in recent weeks should be used to charge Carolyn Bryant Donham as an accomplice in Till’s death. Donham, then 21 in 1955, accused Till of making advances toward her and grabbing her at the shop where she worked.
Her former husband, Roy Bryant, and his brother-in-law J.W. Milam kidnapped, beat and shot the teenager and threw his body into the Tallahatchie River. The men were acquitted of the crime but later admitted to killing Till.
In June, the original arrest warrant listing her as “Mrs. Roy Bryant” alongside Roy Bryant and Milam was discovered in the basement of the Leflore County courthouse in Greenwood.
This month, the Associated Press received a copy of Donham’s unpublished memoir. In it, she said she didn’t know what would happen to Till after accusing him. Donham said when her former husband and his half brother brought the teenager to her in the middle of the night to identify, she denied it was him and claimed Till identified himself.
As of now, there aren’t any plans to reopen Till’s case. The attorney general’s office told the Associated Press there isn’t new evidence in the case. Leflore County District Dewayne Richardson, who would handle any new prosecution, did not respond to a request for comment.
In the film, Danielle Deadwyler stars as Mamie Till Mobley and Jalyn Hall as Emmett Till. Frankie Faison and Whoopi Goldberg star as Mobley’s parents, John and Alma Carthan.
The cast also includes Sean Patrick Thomas, who plays Mamie’s husband Gene Mobley; John Douglas Thompson as Mose Wright, the great uncle who Till stayed with in the Delta; and Haley Bennett as Carolyn Bryant Donham.
The film has several producers including Goldberg and Keith Beauchamp, a friend of the Till family who created the 2005 documentary “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till”that led to one of the DOJ’s investigations of Till’s death.
Dates for the premier and community screenings will be announced at a later time as part of the lineup and schedule for the New York Film Festival.
Early access passes for the New York Film Festival are on sale. Tickets for the general public will go on sale Sept. 19 at 12 p.m. ET.
In his Neshoba County Fair speech on Wednesday, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said that with state coffers at historically full levels, “This year, it’s time to give you your money back.”
“It’s not the government’s money,” Hosemann said. “It’s your money.”
Hosemann said that lawmakers could have provided a rebate last year, but were focused on passing the largest income tax cut in state history. In setting up his proposed rebate, he told fairgoers, “Inflation is scaring me. The possibility of a recession is scaring me.”
Mississippi, like most states, is collecting an unprecedented amount of revenue thanks to a number of factors, including federal COVID-19-relief money directed to the states, inflation and strong consumer spending. About 20 states already have opted to return some of those record revenue collections to taxpayers through direct payments. While Hosemann proposed a direct rebate during the 2022 session, the Legislature opted instead to provide the record tax cut that will not kick in until calendar year 2023. The income tax, when fully enacted in 2026, will be the largest in state history, taking about $525 million out of state coffers.
In addition to that tax cut, Hosemann renewed his call for a direct rebate during the 2023 session at the Nashoba County Fair speech, saying the state had the funds to do both.
The state ended the just completed fiscal year with $1.4 billion above the revenue projection and concluded the previous fiscal year about $1 billion about the official projection. The official revenue projection for the just-completed fiscal year was $5.9 billion. The state collected $7.4 billion in tax collections.
Hosemann said Wednesday that he’s “proud Mississippi led the way with the Dobbs case” to end the national constitutional right to abortion. But he said now Mississippi faces a challenge to provide health services to mothers and children and to be “pro child.” He lamented that the House shot down proposals to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage for working mothers, which “the Senate voted for three times to have.”
“How can we celebrate the rights of the unborn and then when they get here tell them, good luck?” Hosemann said. “We are better than that.”
The first-term Republican lieutenant governor made clear that the Senate where he presides will again make it a priority to extend postpartum coverage. Under current state law, pregnant women who fall below a certain income level are eligible for health care coverage through Medicaid. But the Medicaid coverage extends only 60 days after the pregnancy.
He cited Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana among the states that have extended postpartum coverage and said Mississippi should do the same.
Hosemann recapped an “historical” legislative session early this year, including spending about $1 billion in federal funds for water, sewer and other infrastructure and reducing state debt.
“And one other thing — we passed the largest teacher pay raise in Mississippi history, $246 million,” Hosemann said. “… The greatest asset that Mississippi has is a child’s brain.”
Hosemann also made clear he is running for a second term as lieutenant governor, and not seeking any other office.
“If you’ll rehire me for another four years, I promise to come back to work for you,” Hosemann said.
Hosemann and Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney spoke Wednesday on the opening day of the fair’s political speakings. The six other statewide elected officials and House Speaker Philip Gunn are scheduled to speak Thursday.
Nancy New’s attorney has filed a subpoena directly on former Gov. Phil Bryant for documents related to the use of federal welfare funds to build a volleyball stadium at his alma mater, University of Southern Mississippi — information the state has appeared intent on concealing.
“We have no confidence that the state will follow through with its subpoena or pursue the evidence wherever it leads,” said Gerry Bufkin, the attorney for New and the nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center. “We’re going to find the truth, even if we have to drag it kicking and screaming into the light.”
Bufkin’s subpoena asks Bryant to produce any of his communication surrounding the USM volleyball stadium and efforts to fund it. This marks the first known time the former governor, who oversaw the welfare agency while the misspending occurred, has been compelled to provide documents related to his involvement in the scheme.
The attorney also filed subpoenas on the USM Athletic Foundation, and on the Attorney General’s Office and Institutes of Higher Learning — two state agencies that approved the project. These three entities, as well as a spokesperson for Bryant, did not return requests for comment to Mississippi Today on Wednesday morning.
The Monday subpoena comes just days after Mississippi Department of Human Services fired the private attorney representing the agency in a massive civil suit that attempts to claw back $24 million in misspent grant funds from 38 individuals or companies. The suit is heavily based on audits conducted by State Auditor Shad White, a Bryant appointee, and private forensic auditors the welfare agency hired in 2020.
The welfare agency’s lawsuit targets New, her son Zach New, former welfare director John Davis, NFL legend Brett Favre, and many others — but not Bryant.
The agency said it removed the attorney on the case, former U.S. Attorney Brad Pigott, because Pigott had recently filed his own subpoena on the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation. Pigott was poking into why and how New, former First Lady Deborah Bryant’s close friend, paid $5 million in welfare funds to satisfy Brett Favre’s desires to see a new stadium on USM’s campus, where his daughter played volleyball.
“Although USM Athletic Foundation is not yet a party in this case, Brad Pigott issued an extensive subpoena to that entity without any prior discussion of the matter with MDHS,” current welfare director Bob Anderson said in a statement Saturday.
MDHS originally told the public that it would include the volleyball stadium in its civil suit, but Pigott told Mississippi Today the governor’s office prohibited him from doing so.
“All I did, and I believe all that caused me to be terminated from representing the department or having anything to do with the litigation, was to try to get the truth about all of that,” Pigott told Mississippi Today hours after his firing Friday. “People are going to go to jail over this, at least the state should be willing to find out the truth of what happened.”
The federal government prohibits states from spending funds from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant on brick and mortar, such as building an athletic facility. To get around this prohibition, the parties crafted a $5 million lease agreement, pretending that the New nonprofit would use the athletic facilities on campus to provide services to needy families. The athletic foundation would use the money to build the volleyball stadium, which it called the Wellness Center.
A text Favre sent to his business partner in late 2018, obtained by Mississippi Today, illustrates the attitude surrounding the payment: “(Nancy New) has strong connections and gave me 5 million for Vball facility via grant money.”
Nancy New, who has pleaded guilty to state charges of fraud, bribery and racketeering in the overall welfare scandal, has argued in responses to the state’s complaint that she has taken responsibility for her role in the scheme, but that she was acting on the direction of others who have been shielded from consequences.
For example, Bryant was the one who directed Nancy New to give Brett Favre the $1.1 million contract, she alleged in a recent filing. A spokesperson for Bryant denied this.
“Nancy and Zach have been cast as the ring leaders in this spending circus since the beginning. The auditor’s office focused on them to the exclusion of others and now MDHS has fired Brad Pigott to ensure that the cast of characters remains small,” Bufkin said. “This certainly appears to be a patent attempt by the state to obfuscate truth and to protect itself and its political allies.”
When a new Mississippi law started requiring doctors to report all abortion-related complications they treated, legislators framed it as a way to shed light on a hidden epidemic of suffering.
“There exists credible evidence that two (2) or three (3) Mississippi women per week suffer complications following abortions sufficient to require hospitalization,” the 2004 bill said.
During debate over the bill, then-Rep. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, responded to criticism that it would burden abortion providers by pointing out that all doctors would have to report complications, because women “don’t typically go back to the same doctor who butchered them.”
Yet in the 16 years after the law came into effect, the health department collected just 40 complication reports, according to documents Mississippi Today obtained from the health department through a records request. The complications were almost all for easily treatable conditions and no deaths or comas were reported.
Between roughly 4,000 and 6,000 Mississippians got an abortion each year during that same period.
Mississippi Today asked the health department whether there are any known issues with the data or incomplete reporting. The department did not respond.
The law makes it a misdemeanor to fail to report an abortion complication.
The Charlotte Lozier Institute, an anti-abortion research group affiliated with Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, creates annual reports on states’ abortion reporting. Genevieve Plaster, deputy director of policy at the organization, said the small number of complications reported – in some years zero – suggests some complications are not being reported, especially given the high rate of medication abortion in Mississippi. She pointed to research in California that found a 5% complication rate and a 0.3% major complication rate for medication abortions.
“It’s highly unlikely that no complications occurred” in 2019, she said.
Fillingane said when the Complication Reporting Act was introduced, he and other lawmakers heard “rumors and stories, anecdotal evidence of abortion doctors performing poorly in the operating room and we didn’t want that to be happening in Mississippi.” In 2003, an Alabama woman died after an abortion performed by a doctor who also worked in Mississippi. He lost his license in both states.
Fillingane has looked at the complication reports occasionally, he said.
“I think we always suspected that the number of complications were few, that there weren't gonna be like this massive number of complications,” he said. “But we didn’t know. You can assume something and be totally wrong in your assumption until you have something like this in place.”
The end of elective abortion in Mississippi doesn’t affect the complications reporting requirement: Doctors will still report any complications to the health department, through a form that does not contain the patient’s name or identifying information like social security number or date of birth.
Elizabeth Nash, state policy analyst at the Guttmacher Institute, a policy organization that supports abortion rights, said many states began passing complication-reporting requirements around 2010.
“The idea was that there were all these abortion complications that people didn’t know about, and that abortion in and of itself was dangerous, so there must be all of these negative outcomes that people just aren’t aware of,” Nash said. “The problem with that is fundamentally that abortion is safe and effective.”
The anti-abortion organization Americans United for Life has proposed model legislation that, like Mississippi’s law, requires state health departments to track information about complications. Nash said she expects states where abortion is now almost entirely banned to pass laws requiring doctors to report each procedure with documentation to show why it was legal.
In the 2022 session, both Fillingane, now a state senator, and House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, introduced a piece of AUL model legislation that would have required doctors to report detailed information on each abortion they perform. Both bills died in committee.
The model legislation claims that “Surgical and nonsurgical (chemical) abortion is an invasive procedure that can cause severe, short-term and long-term physical and psychological complications for women, including, but not limited to…” It then lists more than 20 complications, most of which Mississippi doctors have never reported to the state health department.
Fillingane said new legislation next session could specify what doctors must report when they perform abortions that are still legal in Mississippi, when the pregnant person’s life is threatened or when they have reported a rape to law enforcement.
“What is life threatening, how did you come to that conclusion, what evidence are you putting in your file to back that up?” he said doctors could be asked to report. “Or if it’s based on the allegations that have been made of a rape, what kind of backup information, what kind of follow-up or verification did you do of that alleged rape? Was there a police report filed, has there been an investigation, a prosecution, where are we on that?”
Several OB/GYNs have told Mississippi Today that they anticipate no doctor in the state will perform abortions in cases of rape because of the risk of being sued or criminally investigated.
Gunn, who was also a co-author on the 2004 complications reporting bill, did not respond to a request for comment.
Now that abortion is banned in nearly all cases in Mississippi, abortion pills – which Mississippians can order online from overseas pharmacies – are likely to be the focus of new legislative efforts. Lawmakers have cited safety concerns about the pills, which have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and in wide use around the country since 2000.
“… I think that causes some big problems, when you give a woman a handful of medicine to go home and expel a child,” Rep. Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven, told Mississippi Today in early May.
The Mississippi statistics don’t indicate what kind of abortion led to the complication. But more than half of the abortions performed at the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the state’s only abortion clinic for years, were via medication.
A study published in the medical journal the Lancet earlier this year found that about 1% of people nationally who used pills to self-manage an abortion reported serious complications, with no deaths reported.
Mississippi Today is pleased to announce the soft launch of our first sister newsroom, Verite, a Black-led, mission-driven newsroom, which is set to begin publishing in the fall. The New Orleans newsroom is the first step in plans for a network of local, independent newsrooms across the Southeast that center accountability and a community-first perspective.
Verite’s in-depth, data-based reporting will focus on solution-based coverage on crucial topics, such as education, housing, health care, criminal justice, the environment and politics — while centering the voices of communities that have been historically ignored and uplifting a region that has been left behind compared to similar national metropolitan areas.
“Local matters in the South, and we have searched high and low for the right local news leaders for our first expansion,” said Mississippi Today CEO Mary Margaret White. “I could not be more confident about the talent we have on board for New Orleans.”
Led by Executive Director David Francis (former EVP and publisher of NOLA.com|The Times-Picayune) and Editor-in-Chief Terry Baquet (former managing editor of Nola.com|The Times-Picayune) and Managing Editor Tim Morris (former political editor and columnist of The Times-Picayune), Verite aims to build a newsroom that’s founded on local trust, equity and a deeply rooted understanding of the vibrant cultures and information needs of the New Orleans metropolitan area.
“Black and brown journalists continue to be overlooked and underrepresented in the newsroom,” said David Francis, Verite Executive Director. “At Verite we want our newsroom to be a platform for the community as well as for hiring and elevating journalists that reflect the diversity of the community, appreciate the New Orleans culture and understand the needs and perspectives of the city.”
Through partnerships with HBCUs and other institutions, Verite will connect the dots between the classroom and their professional newsroom by offering internships, fellowships and mentorship for minority students training them to join the Verite mission. Recognizing that over 75% of newsroom employees are non-Hispanic whites, Verite’s investment will create a pipeline of talent across the country that can be shared and celebrated.
“When we set out to create Verite, we wanted to fix the relationship gap and invest in human potential to uplift the new generation of reporters, editors and communicators from under-served communities,” said Terry Baquet, Verite Editor-in-Chief. “Maintaining our commitment to training these new reporters will add to their experience and help provide viewpoints in other markets. This approach is a cornerstone of our vision and will result in aiding all news outlets to better serve the greater community.”
Verite has received a grant from The Ford Foundation which will specifically support editorial planning, recruitment and the hiring of a top-notch team of journalists. Verite is also the recipient of a planning grant from the American Journalism Project that will provide tailored support including, 1:1 guidance, capacity building resources, peer learning opportunities and other tools to strengthenVerite’s business and revenue operations.
For more information about donating or signing up for the Verite newsletter, please visit www.veritenews.org and follow along on Twitter @VeriteNewsNola
Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney says he believes that the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) is violating state law by turning patients away from the state’s only safety net hospital.
The state insurance department, according to Chaney, has received numerous complaints from UMMC patients who have been told by their doctors that they cannot receive care at the hospital because they are insured by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi.
UMMC has been out of network with Blue Cross, the state’s largest insurer, since April 1 due to disagreements over reimbursement rates and Blue Cross’ quality care plan.
Chaney said that he believes UMMC turning away patients would violate Mississippi Code 37-115-31, which states that UMMC “shall be utilized to serve the people of Mississippi generally.”
“If you are the university hospital, you have a moral and ethical obligation to take care of Mississippians and a statutory requirement that you do so,” Chaney said.
Chaney said that his office has forwarded several of these allegations to UMMC and “other proper authorities that can enforce the law.”
Under federal law, public hospitals like UMMC may not deny a patient care based on the ability to pay or who the insurance provider is. UMMC and Blue Cross are still honoring in-network rates for Blue Cross patients who come into UMMC’s emergency room. Mississippi Today has not independently confirmed any instance of UMMC turning away a patient in an emergency situation.
UMMC’s official policy is that each Blue Cross customer must sign a form that confirms the patient is aware that UMMC will not accept payment from Blue Cross for any elective services and that they will be responsible for their medical bills if they continue their care at the hospital. With Chaney’s allegations, it is unclear if this policy is being followed with each Blue Cross patient.
“The problem is the people at the top that we deal with (at UMMC) are telling us one thing when what’s happening down at the bottom is totally different from what they’re telling us,” Chaney said.
UMMC spokesperson Marc Rolph said the hospital had “no comment” on Chaney’s allegation that UMMC is violating state law.
Federal law required UMMC to continue honoring in-network rates for certain patients for a 90-day period after it went out of network, but that “continuity of care” grace period expired on July 1. Since then, children with rare genetic conditions and transplant patients have been forced to seek their care out of state or switch to another insurer.
Chaney has also previously alleged that without UMMC in its network, Blue Cross is violating network adequacy requirements. There are a litany of specialty services UMMC provides, such as its children’s cancer care program and transplant programs, that can’t be found anywhere else in the state. State law requires that Blue Cross customers have reasonable access to these services if the services are covered by their insurance plan.
Chaney launched a network adequacy review of Blue Cross on July 1, the results of which likely won’t be finalized or made publicly available for months.
Gov. Tate Reeves tried to keep the University of Southern Mississippi out of the state’s ongoing welfare scandal. Instead, with a controversial firing, Reeves focused the nation’s attention on the university.
Attorney Brad Pigott filed a July 11 subpoena on University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation regarding the $5 million it received to build a volleyball stadium — the single largest known purchase within the state’s massive welfare embezzlement scandal. About a week later, Pigott was fired by Reeves’ welfare agency.
A former U.S. attorney, Pigott was hired to lead the agency’s civil lawsuit against dozens of people and entities in efforts to recoup up to $24 million in misspent or stolen federal welfare funds originally sent to Mississippi to help the state’s poorest residents, just a fraction of the overall $77 million scandal. That money, as we now know, ended up in the hands of welfare administrators and many of their high-profile friends who did little to nothing to help the state’s poor.
Pigott says his abrupt termination was politically motivated, that staffers in Reeves’ office had long wanted him to keep USM Athletic Foundation out of his civil lawsuit. The last thing Pigott did as head of the case was subpoena communications the USM athletic foundation had with former Gov. Phil Bryant and NFL quarterback Brett Favre — two people who have, up until the civil case, escaped public legal scrutiny in the scandal. Favre was sued civilly; Bryant was not.
“I believe I was fired as a result of a pattern of orders from the (current) Mississippi governor’s office concerning protecting an entity, called the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation, from any responsibility in this matter,” Pigott told the New York Times.
Reeves has not denied this assertion, and a statement from his appointed welfare director, which suggested that the subpoena prompted him to remove Pigott from the case, appears to confirm Pigott’s suspicion. The welfare agency said the subpoena was a surprise, but Mississippi Today published an email the newsroom obtained that showed Pigott sent the department a draft of the subpoena more than a week before filing it.
The story has jarred the conscience of the state and nation. Mississippians have skeptically watched state leaders investigate the welfare scandal for more than three years now. Criminal charges originally filed in early 2020 have fallen squarely on six people further down the totem pole, but no one else has been arrested. The welfare department’s civil suit, filed in May, names 38 people or organizations. But Pigott’s firing calls into question the future of even that case.
While carrying out an effort, apparently, to protect USM from being a main focus of the state’s investigation into the scandal, Reeves has ensured that Southern Miss is at the very focus of it.
As taxpayers are rightfully wondering why Reeves would insert himself into this scandal he had previously been left out of, it is appropriate to dig into the only thing that has consistently driven him to move on anything: politics.
Reeves, like most successful statewide politicians, has long courted the sizable Southern Miss voting bloc. The Hattiesburg university is the third largest in Mississippi, and the most recent data published by the USM Alumni Association lists 75,000 active alumni in the state of Mississippi — close to 10% of the state’s total gubernatorial cycle electorate.
Reeves’ electoral performance in south Mississippi, where USM alumni are most concentrated, quite likely won him the Governor’s Mansion in 2019. Reeves picked up 23% of his total statewide vote share in Hattiesburg and south. A key to that Pine Belt and Gulf Coast success was his full-breathed support from local elected officials, many of whom are USM alumni.
Importantly for Reeves, one of the most successful political fundraiser in Mississippi history, USM support comes with plenty of political cash. Mississippi Today reviewed the governor’s campaign contributions and found sizable donations from at least 11 USM Athletic Foundation board members.
And several people on the foundation’s board are either direct beneficiaries or known investigation targets of the welfare scheme.
Zach New, who pleaded guilty to state and federal embezzlement charges related to misspending federal grant funds, sits on the USM Athletic Foundation board. Both Zach New and his mother Nancy New, who sat on the athletic foundation’s board before her son replaced her, have donated modestly to Reeves’ campaigns since at least 2015.
Together, the News ran a nonprofit that received and was tasked to administer federal welfare funding to programs that would help the needy. But they instead steered much of it to friends and celebrities, such as Favre and another football star Marcus Dupree, and even diverted $5 million in welfare funding to the USM Athletic Foundation for the volleyball center at their alma mater.
Reeves has long been in the News’ orbit, recording an education commercial for his gubernatorial campaign in mid-2019 at the special needs school the News owned in Jackson — where, at that time, they were running a separate federal fraud scheme to which they have since pleaded guilty.
At the end of 2019 and early 2020, when the News sensed they would soon face criminal charges, the Reeves administration was poised to take office. Several times, according to text messages obtained by Mississippi Today, they turned to Reeves’ incoming chief of staff, among other powerful political sources, for help. Reeves’ former chief of staff told Mississippi Today the incoming administration steered clear of assisting the News.
NFL legend and USM alumnus Brett Favre, who was close with the News and publicly took credit for a multi-million dollar donation that helped build the volleyball center, also sits on the USM Athletic Foundation board. Favre endorsed Reeves in 2019, calling the future governor “a friend and family man who is committed to making our state a better place.” Deanna Favre, the quarterback’s wife, wrote Reeves a $2,500 check just days before the 2019 governor’s election.
The quarterback also attended a Reeves fundraiser in July 2019 — a couple months before Reeves faced a crowded GOP primary for governor.
It’s always a great day on the campaign when you get to spend some time with friends. I am truly blessed to call @BrettFavre and @PhilBryantMS my friends and have their support in my run for Governor! pic.twitter.com/DShiRaCFFP
Another USM Athletic Foundation board member is Poncho James, a close acquaintance of Favre’s who invested at least tens of thousands in the so far fruitless experimental pharmaceutical company called Prevacus that Favre was backing and that received welfare funding. James hosted that Hattiesburg fundraiser for Reeves in 2019, where Favre snapped the picture with Reeves and Bryant. James also wrote the future governor a $2,500 check for that race.
James, according to text messages obtained by Mississippi Today investigative reporter Anna Wolfe, believed that getting Reeves elected in 2019 could help their concussion drug venture.
Tommy Duff, one of the state’s few billionaires, also sits on the USM Athletic Foundation board. He is president of the board of trustees of the Institutions of Higher Learning, which voted to approve the lease that allowed for Nancy New and her nonprofit to pay the athletic foundation $5 million to build the volleyball facility, according to the board’s meeting minutes.
Duff has given Reeves at least $32,000 for his campaigns since 2011. In recent months, however, the two have reportedly fallen out. Duff, who typically writes a sizable check to Reeves each year, last gave to the governor’s campaign in 2020.
Rodney Bennett, former president of University of Southern Mississippi, sat until recently on the USM Athletic Foundation board. Bennett wrote Reeves’ campaign a $1,000 check in 2019 and another $1,000 check in 2020.
Other USM Athletic Foundation board members have given Reeves large campaign contributions over the years. Chuck Scianna, a Texas businessman, wrote Reeves a $25,000 check in 2018, a $10,000 check in 2020, and another $10,000 check in 2021. Hattiesburg businessman and board member “Abb” Payne has given Reeves at least $22,500 since 2015. Joe Quinlan, a bank executive and foundation board member, wrote Reeves a $5,000 check in 2019.
Clare Hester, one of the state’s most high-powered lobbyists, represents the Southern Miss Athletic Foundation. Hester and Reeves have long had a close working relationship, with the lobbyist giving Reeves at least $40,000 in campaign contributions.
For his part, Reeves is not coy about his relationship with USM. He regularly travels to Hattiesburg to announce government grants or projects, and he attends sporting events.
Time will tell how those USM supporters and alumni feel about how Reeves has handled the events of the past few days — and whether state or federal investigators will focus even more attention on the USM Athletic Foundation.
“All I did, and I believe all that caused me to be terminated from representing the department or having anything to do with the litigation, was to try to get the truth about all of that,” Pigott told Mississippi Today hours after his firing. “People are going to go to jail over this, at least the state should be willing to find out the truth of what happened.”
Jimmie “Jay” Lee, a 20-year-old University of Mississippi student, has been missing since Friday, July 8. Credit: Courtesy Oxford Police Department
Oxford police presented little on-the-record evidence other than the word of a detective to obtain a warrant to arrest Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr., a recent Ole Miss graduate, for the first-degree murder of Jimmie “Jay” Lee, according to an affidavit obtained by Mississippi Today.
The sparse evidence in the affidavit – one of the few documents publicly available at this stage of the case – is not unusual in Mississippi, legal experts and defense attorneys say.
Since Herrington’s arrest Friday, the Oxford Police Department has not released any new details regarding probable cause or a potential motive in the case, leaving members of the public to search for answers. Police have stated in press releases that they believe Lee, a Black student who was well-known in Oxford’s LGBTQ community, was visiting someone at Molly Barr Trails, a student housing complex, on the day he was killed.
It’s unclear who Lee was visiting, and police have yet to find his body.
The Lafayette County District Attorney’s Office did not return calls on Tuesday. Kevin Horan, Herrington’s attorney and a state representative, was not available for comment. Carlos Moore, Herrington’s uncle by marriage who is also retained in the case, told WREG Herrington is innocent.
The affidavit, obtained by Mississippi Today, shows OPD detective Ryan Baker swore an oath in Lafayette County Justice Court that Herrington “did feloniously, willfully and unlawfully with deliberate design to effect the death of Jimmie Dale Lee III” on July 8. The affidavit does not describe the evidence that led Baker to this conclusion.
Baker took that oath on Friday, July 22, and Judge Mickey Avent issued the warrant that led to Herrington’s arrest that day. Police announced the arrest at 6:51 p.m., and Herrington was booked at the Lafayette County Detention Center at 8:13 p.m. He was held without bond over the weekend.
In Mississippi, affidavits contain law enforcement’s conclusion, or theory, of the case, said Matt Steffey, a law professor at Mississippi College who helped write the state criminal procedures. The documents typically do not present an explanation of the underlying facts in the case.
“It’d be nice, wouldn’t it, for all those things to be on the record,” Steffey said. “That has not been the arc of development of criminal procedure in our state today.”
Steffey called the level of detail in the affidavit in Herrington’s case “very thin” but “not dramatically out of line with other affidavits I’ve seen.”
Judges can deny warrants if they believe police need to present more evidence. In fact, the state’s criminal procedures encourage judges to probe the police’s theory of the case. State code says that judges “should not accept without question the … mere conclusion that the person whose arrest is sought has committed a crime.”
Steffey said that Baker may have provided Avent with more evidence in verbal testimony – but the public may not know, because justice court proceedings are not transcribed in Mississippi.
The evidence that police had to obtain the warrant to arrest Herrington could factor into his bond hearing tomorrow if his attorney requests a preliminary hearing, local defense attorneys say.
Herrington is charged with first-degree murder, also known as simple or plain murder in Mississippi. The state Constitution gives judges discretion to revoke or impose bond, but first-degree murder is typically a “bailable” offense.
The prosecution is arguing that Herrington should be denied bond. In a motion submitted on Friday, Assistant District Attorney Tiffany Kilpatrick wrote that Herrington should be held without bond because he is a threat to the community and a “profound” flight risk.
Kilpatrick also argued that Herrington should be held because he could be charged with capital murder, which is typically not a bailable offense in Mississippi.
“Specifically, the Defendant at this time is charged with what is commonly known as ‘simple murder’ at this point in time based on the evidence available as of writing this Motion,” Kilpatrick wrote. “Clearly the Defendant will be facing Capital Murder charges if evidence of such is discovered. As of now, Jay Lee’s body has not been recovered.”
David Hill, a defense attorney in Oxford, said that prosecutors would have a greater chance of preventing Herrington from receiving bail if they’d first charged him with capital murder, not first-degree.
“If they anticipate he’s facing capital murder charges, they should charge him with capital murder,” Hill said, “because if the proof is evident and the presumption is great, he can’t get bail.”
Lee’s disappearance and Herrington’s arrest has hit national headlines, fueling speculation in Oxford and across the country. On social media, some users have searched through Lee’s accounts for clues, trying to piece together a narrative in the absence of more information from the police.
Steffey, the law professor, said local police may be withholding information from the public to help the prosecution’s case.
“Public transparency is a secondary value at this point to an effective prosecution,” Steffey said. “They may have a reason for not giving out more information – they may worry it’s going to risk destruction of evidence, or loss of witnesses, or who knows. Or there could be no reason.”
Since Lee’s disappearance is such a high-profile case, Steffey said the public might expect more transparency from law enforcement than the standard case. He has pushed for more sunshine in Mississippi’s justice system as a contributor to the state’s criminal procedures.
“I argued for more transcripts records and transparency at every stage and was often met with, ‘That’s not the way we do things, that won’t work outside big cities,’” he said. “The law is a change resistant profession.”
