Kelly Donoho/Mississippi State athletics

This was the scene at an April 27 game at Dudy Noble Field when Mississippi State hosted Georgia. Expect a similar scene, with less sunshine, when State plays Stanford this weekend in an NCAA Super Regional.

Dozens of current and former college athletes are asking top leaders at the NCAA to keep Mississippi from hosting college baseball regionals and women’s basketball tournament games until lawmakers change the state flag, which features the Confederate battle emblem.

The 31 former college athletes, including Jackson State and NBA great Lindsey Hunter, sent the letter on Thursday to top leaders at the NCAA, which oversees athletics of the nation’s colleges and universities. The athletes called the flag “a symbol that has terrorized generations” and “a known symbol of oppression, division and hate.”

College baseball is immensely popular in Mississippi, and the state’s big three universities — Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Southern Miss — regularly host postseason tournaments. Additionally, Mississippi State has hosted several women’s basketball tournament games in recent years.

“We believe it will finally push Mississippi lawmakers to join civic leaders and the business community in solidarity to take action to de-sanction the current Mississippi state flag,” the athletes wrote.

NCAA letter from athletes (Text)

The NCAA in 2001 passed restrictions for postseason play in Mississippi because of its state flag. But those restrictions do not include postseason bans for several sports.

In their Thursday letter, the athletes argued that the NCAA’s current postseason bans disproportionately affect black college athletes. While the NCAA enforces Mississippi postseason bans for college football and men’s basketball — sports that have high percentages of black players — others sports with very low percentages of black players like baseball, tennis and volleyball have no such Mississippi postseason ban.

In essence, the athletes are asking the NCAA to further tighten their existing postseason restrictions. In the letter, the athletes said that the old policy “must become more restrictive in order to accomplish needed change.”

The letter was sent on the same day that Greg Sankey, commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, said in a statement that the SEC would consider banning championship events in Mississippi until the state changes its state flag.

Lawmakers in both the Senate and House have engaged in conversations about changing the state flag since last week as protests about racial equality have continued across the state and nation. Tens of thousands of protesters in Mississippi have focused their demands around the state flag.

But legislators had signaled this week that the efforts to change the flag were on their last breath. Lawmakers plan to leave Jackson for the year on June 28, and the single living piece of legislation that would change the flag appeared to be dead in Senate committee.

“Time is of the essence,” the athletes wrote in their letter to the NCAA. “Because of this current climate of protest and awareness, Mississippi’s legislature has spent the past two weeks reviewing and debating laws to change the state flag. Despite public support for a flag change being at an all-time high, Mississippi’s leadership looks as if they will table the issue during the final weeks of the 2020 session.”

As news spread of Sankey’s statement on Thursday evening, lawmakers began sharing public feedback.

Former Ole Miss football player Rep. Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia and one of the most powerful lawmakers at the Capitol, tweeted on Thursday night his support of efforts to change the flag.

“A flag’s sole purpose is to unite a people around a common cause,” Lamar tweeted. “Reality has proven clear that the Mississippi flag no longer unites, but divides us unnecessarily. I will not sit by idly while our college athletes lose their hard earned right to compete in postseason play before our home state fans over a banner that no longer accomplishes its sole mission to unify our people. I will stand up for our student athletes.”

Lamar continued: “It is time to change the flag. It is the right thing to do.”

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Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America

A fairgoer holds a Mississippi State flag during the Neshoba County Fair Wednesday, July 31, 2019.

Greg Sankey, commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, said in a statement on Thursday evening that the conference would consider banning championship events in Mississippi until the state changes its state flag, which contains the Confederate battle emblem.

As protests regarding racial equities and Confederate iconography rage across the state and nation, lawmakers have discussed changing the state flag the past two weeks — one of the most earnest discussions of changing the state flag since 2001, when Mississippi voters decided nearly 2-to-1 to keep the current flag.

Both Ole Miss and Mississippi State University are members of the SEC.

“It is past time for change to be made to the flag of the state of Mississippi,” Sankey said in the statement. “Our students deserve an opportunity to learn and compete in environments that are inclusive and welcoming to all.”

Mississippi State President Mark Keenum released a statement shortly after Sankey’s statement published.

“Since 2015, our Student Association, Robert Holland Faculty Senate and university administration have been firmly on record in support of changing the state flag,” Keenum said in the statement. “I have reiterated that view to our state’s leaders on multiple occasions, including during face-to-face discussions in recent days and hours. On June 12, I wrote to the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the Mississippi House reaffirming that support. The letter said, in part, that our flag should be unifying, not a symbol that divides us. I emphasized that it is time for a renewed, respectful debate on this issue.”

Ole Miss Chancellor Glenn Boyce and Athletics Director Keith Carter also released a joint statement in response to Sankey’s comments.

“The University of Mississippi community concluded years ago that the Confederate battle flag did not represent many of our core values, such as civility and respect for others,” Boyce and Carter wrote. “In 2015, the university stopped flying the state flag over our campus. Mississippi needs a flag that represents the qualities about our state that unite us, not those that still divide us. We support the SEC’s position for changing the Mississippi state flag to an image that is more welcoming and inclusive for all people.”

One bill that would change the state flag is pending before the Senate Constitution committee, although Sen. Chris Johnson, R-Hattiesburg and chair of the committee, has said he will not take the bill up.

Lawmakers could choose to file any new resolution or bill, but a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate would be required to consider any bill to change the flag. The Legislature is expected to remain in session until next Friday.

Lt. Gov. Hosemann, mum on state flag issue, assures near certain death of bill that would change flag

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Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America

Gov. Tate Reeves prepares to speak to media after being sworn into office at the Capitol on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020.

The Senate Education committee on Thursday morning rejected the nomination of former Sen. Nancy Collins, a key ally of Gov. Tate Reeves, to the state board of education.

Collins stood before the committee on Thursday morning for her confirmation hearing to serve on the state board of education, which sets policy and makes decisions for the state’s roughly 466,000 public school students.

After she introduced herself to the committee and answered a question from the committee chair, Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, voted to table her nomination. Most members concurred on a voice vote, and the hearing abruptly ended.

The Collins rejection marks a tough defeat for Reeves in his first year as governor. Reeves’ appointment of Collins, announced in January, was met with sharp criticism from public school advocates. She championed controversial school choice legislation on Reeves’ behalf in her five years as a state senator.

In a press conference Thursday, Reeves chalked Collins’ rejection up to Democratic partisan politics, and criticized Senate Republicans for allowing it.

“An awful lot of Republicans are concerned with the amount of influence Democrats have in the Mississippi Senate, particularly with education,” Reeves said. “… Her only sin was being a conservative. She was defeated because she is a conservative. Even more unfortunate is the fact that some of the Republicans on the committee allow that to happen.”

Collins’ nomination was unique in that Reeves announced her nomination in January 2020 during his final days as lieutenant governor, but a back-dated letter obtained by Mississippi Today shows he nominated her in July 2019, when the seat became open. Once the announcement became public, a public education advocacy group began encouraging its members to call state senators and ask them to vote against Collins when her hearing came up.

Besides the delay in Collins taking the seat, the nomination is also unique because Reeves made it as he left office. It’s not unusual for the Senate to decline taking up nominations of the outgoing officeholder and leave the nominations to the new officeholder.

The rejection of Collins’ appointment on Thursday means that Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann will now get to make the nomination for the vacant seat.

Collins had been serving as a state board of education member and participating in meetings since Jan. 16, 2020. The board meets monthly to discuss policy and adopt rules for the Mississippi Department of Education and the state’s public schools. She replaced Charles McClelland, whose term expired in July 2019.

The Mississippi State Board of Education is comprised of nine members who serve nine-year terms. Members are appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the house.

The governor appoints five positions: one school administrator, one teacher, and one individual from the state’s North, Central, South Supreme Court districts, respectively. The lieutenant governor and speaker each get two at-large representatives, meaning they have no residential or occupational requirements on who to choose. The board appoints the state superintendent, who serves as the board secretary, and two student representatives who also serve on the board as a non-voting members.

During her time as a senator, Collins authored a controversial school choice program. The Education Scholarship Account program provides public funds for students with special needs to attend private schools. While some say the program allows parents to do what they think it best for their children, it has been also criticized for multiple reasons, including the charge by a legislative oversight committee that the program lacked accountability. This year, the Legislature revised that program to provide more oversight.

Collins also briefly proposed legislation to the dismay of public retirees, including teachers, that would have frozen for a period of time their annual cost of living adjustment. She opted not to file the legislation after the outcry from retirees.

Collins was defeated in a 2015 re-election campaign by Sen. Chad McMahan, R-Guntown, who serves on the Senate Education committee which took up her confirmation.

Collins’ nomination could technically revived while the Legislature is still in session, but Senate officials confirmed to Mississippi Today that her nomination is dead.

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Bruce Newman, Oxford Eagle

The Confederate monument at the Circle at the University of Mississippi, in Oxford.

The Board of Trustees of the Institutions of Higher Learning has voted to relocate the Confederate monument at the University of Mississippi. 

“The Board reviewed the detailed plans for the new site, considered events on college campuses across the South involving Confederate monuments, and listened to the university’s various constituency groups. The Board subsequently determined relocating the Confederate statue to be most appropriate for Ole Miss moving forward,” said Ford Dye, board president, in a press release sent out by IHL.

The board’s vote happened in the wake of national and statewide protests demanding racial equality, which includes ending the exaltation of Confederate iconography. 

In 2019, a multiracial, bipartisan group of students engineered a plan to move the Confederate statue from its prominent place at the front of the Circle on University Avenue to the campus cemetery, where Confederate soldiers are buried.

During the time of that planning, a Memphis based group of neo-Confederates staged a march to the monument to “draw a line in the sand” over the actions the university has taken over the past two decades to remove or contextualize the traditions and monuments that glorified the Confederacy.

The plan was approved by University of Mississippi representative bodies comprised of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff and administrators. Athletics Director Keith Carter also signed off on the monument’s relocation.

IHL halted this movement in January when board member Tommy Duff said he wanted more information from the university about it.

For its regular June meeting, a project proposal was submitted to IHL stating, “The university’s privately funded plan proposes relocation to the University Cemetery
because a cemetery is sacred ground that serves as the final resting place of the fallen. For that reason, cemeteries have long been deemed appropriate places for war
memorials … and the relocation of the monument immediately adjacent to the cemetery would place the monument in a broader and more proper historical context.”

Moving the monument is expected to cost $1.15 million, which will be privately funded.

As part of relocating the monument, the university will construct a well lit, brick path to the monument, which was put on the campus by the Daughters of the Confederacy in 1906. 

A new marker will also be added to the cemetery to, “recognize the men from Lafayette County who served in the Union Army as part of the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War,” the proposal states. 

Cameras will be installed around the cemetery to allow the University Police Department to monitor it. 

“It’s great to see that all of our hard work did not go in vain and obviously I’m happy to see it’s been relocated,” said Arielle Hudson, one of the co-authors of the student resolution that put this entire process in motion. 

Hudson added that she is having some concerns now that she has seen the university’s proposed plan for moving the monument.

“We do not want it to become a shrine. We’re still not trying to attract neo-Confederates and I hope they don’t see it as an opportunity to gather there,” Hudson said. 

Josh Mannery, now Associated Student Body president at UM, was a member of the senate who approved the resolution that Hudson co-wrote. 

“Thinking back on it, it’s still one of the coolest moments because there was such an air of something important happening that night,” Mannery said. 

Mannery said he was relieved at IHL’s decision and that the students’ work culminated into something positive. Now that the monument will be relocated, “the ball is back in the university’s corner. Now we can start having conversations about other things that we can change like increasing representation in our faculty and staff, taking more firm stances on issues that marginalize our communities, normalizing a more inclusive Grove, and having conversations about equity.”

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Ricky Ball family receives narrow explanation from attorney general’s office for dropped manslaughter charge

A lawyer with the state attorney general’s office omitted key evidence in a meeting with the family of Ricky Ball, who was shot and killed in 2015 by Canyon Boykin.

This story was published in partnership with The Appeal.

By Ko Bragg and Justin Brooks, The Appeal | June 17, 2020

In a meeting with the family of Ricky Ball, a Black man shot and killed by a white police officer, a lawyer with the Mississippi attorney general’s office said the office could not pursue a manslaughter case against the officer. But the lawyer, Michael Ward, narrowly interpreted or omitted the state’s evidence, and called the case “troubling.” 

In audio recorded on May 28 and obtained by The Appeal, Ward tells Ball’s mother and aunt that if the case had gone to trial, statements from Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) officers and the state medical examiner’s report would lead the jury to conclude that Canyon Boykin, who was fired from the Columbus Police Department two weeks after the shooting, was justified when he shot Ball in October 2015. A June 4 report from the attorney general’s office, detailing why it dropped the case, gives the same reasoning.

But Ward, who said he spent two weeks looking into the case for Attorney General Lynn Fitch, casts doubt on Boykin’s integrity as an officer. He also acknowledges that Boykin and Ball had “previous run-ins” and that “there were racial issues” involved. 

“Officer Boykin in my opinion is not a star officer,” Ward said on the recording.  “This case is really troubling.” 

Neither Ward nor a spokesperson for Fitch’s office responded to The Appeal’s requests for comment.

Elizabeth Ball Cockrell, Ball’s aunt who says she identified her nephew’s body after the shooting, told The Appeal she felt as though Ward was not working on the family’s behalf. 

“I feel like he was more paving a clearance for Officer Boykin to walk away scot-free,” she said in a phone interview.  

Fitch dropped the manslaughter charge against Boykin in late May, and at her request, a local judge dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning the case cannot be brought back to court on the same grounds. 

“It’s a systematic issue, our inability to have these officer-involved shooting cases handled appropriately,” said Scott Colom, district attorney for the 16th District, which includes Columbus. He recently made public some of the case files from the attorney general’s office. 

Boykin’s indictment, he said, “represented the voice of the community.” But “then you have a dismissal with very little explanation … and there’s evidence that supported the indictment that was not mentioned in the dismissal,” he said. “It’s why there is so much distrust in our criminal justice system.”  

The shooting

Around 10 p.m. on October 16, 2015, three members of Columbus Police Department’s Special Operations Group—Boykin, Officer Johnny “Max” Branch, and Officer Yolanda Young were doing an unapproved ride-along with Boykin’s fiance, Alisa Stanford, in an unmarked Crown Victoria.

Young said in sworn testimony she observed that a license plate light was out on a Grand Marquis, and Branch, who was driving, followed it before turning on the police lights. Shannon Brewer, who was driving the Marquis with Ball seated on the passenger side, didn’t immediately pull over and later explained to investigators that Ball panicked, grabbed her wheel and said that he was “dirty.”

Branch got on Boykin’s radio and called in the traffic stop. “We got one failing to stop,” he said.

Young said Brewer drove over a speed bump, and Ball jumped out of the car. Boykin exited his vehicle and ran after Ball. While Boykin pursued Ball, Young handcuffed Brewer, and hugged and comforted Stanford, Young said in sworn testimony.

Boykin said he shouted for Ball to stop and deployed his Taser, and Ball fell to the ground. Boykin approached Ball—whose body he later told MBI investigators, was “locked up from the taser”— and saw a gun in Ball’s hands. Boykin said he then yelled “gun” twice. Boykin told investigators he never yelled out any command for Ball to drop the gun he said he saw.  

Boykin dropped his Taser and “transitioned to his firearm,” he said. “I did feel threatened, and that’s why I drew my weapon,” Boykin told investigators five days after the shooting. “I did—I did point it at him. I didn’t fire until I seen—when I seen him turn, that’s when I felt the full threat.”

Young said Boykin ran away from Ball in a semicircle to get out of the direct line of fire, per his training. Ball then got up and ran, Boykin later told MBI investigators. Boykin said that after Ball ran about 20 to 25 yards, he saw Ball slow down and raise his right arm as if to shoot him. Boykin fired nine rounds; one bullet struck Ball in the right hip and another struck a critical artery in his right arm. Only about 13 seconds elapsed between Branch’s radio call about Brewer failing to stop and Branch reporting shots had been fired, radio traffic recordings show.

Boykin told the MBI that after he shot Ball, Ball got up and jumped a ditch.

None of the officers’ body cameras were active during the encounter leading up to or during the shooting. Boykin activated his camera only after the fatal shooting. 

According to the bodycam footage obtained by The Appeal, Boykin says to other officers arriving at the scene, “Oh, fuck. He fucking pulled a gun on me, dude. … There’s his blood right there,” and points to the ground. “He’s hit bad on the right side.”

Officer Christian Benton’s body camera picks up someone yelling for help. Officers find Ball, one-tenth of a mile away from the traffic stop, lying on his back between two houses, his shirt drenched with blood.

Officers shout “show me your hands!” and “get your hands up!” as they approach Ball with their weapons drawn. Officers are heard saying they spot a gun near Ball and drag his body by the leg away from it. Later, in a statement to investigators, Officer Garrett Mittan, who responded to the scene, said officers pulled Ball away from the gun after they realized he was unresponsive.

The gun found near Ball was the same weapon Mittan reported stolen from his home on August 5, 2015, according to a report from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  A wrongful death suit on behalf of Ball accused Mittan of planting the weapon at the scene. The city of Columbus settled the suit with Ball’s family for an undisclosed amount in 2018.

Bodycam footage then shows officers finding “dope” in the cinderblocks of the home where Ball hid; an MBI report states that a Taurus 9 mm pistol and marijuana were found there. 

As Ball writhes on the ground, Benton runs to get purple gloves, then comes back to handcuff Ball’s wrists. “Stop moving. I can’t help you if you keep moving, quit it,” he says as he locks the cuffs above Ball’s head. Officers stand around Ball’s body, shining their flashlights on him as EMTs tend to his injuries. 

Bodycam footage from inside the ambulance shows a female EMT attempting to resuscitate Ball. Someone is heard saying “no pulse” before the video cuts off. Ball was pronounced dead at 11:12 p.mat Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle, just an hour after the traffic stop. 

In a June 2018 deposition for a civil matter related to the shooting, Jeff Reynolds, one of Boykin’s attorneys, asked then deputy chief medical examiner Lisa Funte about the likelihood of survival if “Ball had given up sooner.”

“It’s possible he may have still died even if he had received timely medical intervention,” Funte replied. “But he would have had a much greater chance of survival with immediate medical attention.” 

After the city fired Boykin, he sued, claiming that he was fired unjustly because of “uninformed public pressure,” according to the lawsuit. The city settled with Boykin in 2017 for an undisclosed amount.

Colom, the district attorney, transferred the case to the attorney general’s office in July 2016,  when Democrat Jim Hood was still in office. A Lowndes County grand jury indicted Boykin in September 2016, and Fitch inherited the case when she took office in January. 

‘Previous run-ins’  

In the May audio, Ward says to the Ball family that he was aware Ball and Boykin had “previous run-ins” and that there “was a history” between the two of them. But the attorney general’s report discounts statements from Ball’s former girlfriend and family friend that suggest Boykin may have targeted Ball.

Aunnaray Leech, a friend of the Ball family, told investigators that Boykin was aggressive toward Ball in the past. And Dominique Cotton, Ball’s former girlfriend, told investigators that Boykin was harassing Ball in the weeks leading up to the shooting, particularly after Ball fled from Boykin during a traffic stop months before. 

On Aug. 26, 2015, Boykin and Branch attempted to pull Ball over. He was driving a blue Hyundai with Laura Hines, a white woman and step-cousin to Boykin. Ball refused to pull over and led Boykin and Branch on a chase through Columbus. The officers lost the vehicle for several minutes. When they finally located Hines, Ball was nowhere to be found. Hines told Boykin she had been riding with Ball.

As they were pursuing Ball’s car, Boykin said to Branch, “I’m going to snatch her out the car, snatch him out the car,” according to body camera footage. “You going to whoop his ass?” Branch asked Boykin. “He was going to jail no matter what,” Boykin says. “No matter what he was going to jail today. … If i get my fucking hands on him, fucking moolie, goddamnit, motherfucker.”

Moolie is an Italian slur against Black people. Boykin’s counsel rejected the transcription of the audio recording, saying Boykin instead said “bully” and does not know what “moolie” means.

A local judge ruled in August 2017 that the video would be admissible at trial to help “establish the defendant’s state of mind” during the shooting.

‘Very strange situation’

Ball’s family raised questions in the meeting with Ward about the gun that police say they found at the scene of the shooting. Ward replied, “It was stolen in August and found there in the cinder blocks. Very strange situation.” 

In a June 2018 deposition for a civil case against Boykin, an officer with the MBI said Ball’s fingerprints were not on the gun found at the scene, there were discrepancies in the Taser log, and he had no opinion about whether Boykin was justified in shooting Ball. 

When Funte, the deputy chief medical examiner, sat for a deposition in 2018, she said that the amount of pain Ball was in may have caused him to drop the gun in question. 

“He would still have the ability to grip things,” Funte said. “Pain, again, is going to cause you to attend to the pain. So, he’s holding something, he may drop it, but it’s still possible for him to continue to grip it. … It’s also possible that when he gets shot, the impact of the bullet, itself, may cause him to drop or release his grip on the gun on anything he’s carrying.”

Ward told Ball’s family that he asked Boykin to take a polygraph because “there was a lot of issues involved” in the case. The report from the attorney general’s office notes that Boykin took the polygraph and “was found to be truthful in his answers concerning this case that supported his claim of self-defense.”

Ward acknowledged to the family that “polygraphs are not admissible in court, they’re not 100 percent sure.” 

‘Overwhelming evidence’

Ward told the Ball family that Funte agreed with Boykin’s version of what happened. But neither he nor the attorney general’s report acknowledge the clarifications Funte made to her original statement. 

The report cites Funte’s February 2017 affidavit as evidence that Ball was shot while raising a pistol, as Boykin claimed. “Notably this is contrary to social media postings contained in the case file claiming Mr. Ball was shot in the back,” the report reads, referencing posts on YouTube in the aftermath of the shooting. 

But in a declaration, filed with the court a year after her affidavit, Funte said that both bullets entered Ball “from back to front.” She also clarified that her affidavit addressed one specific possibility and was not intended to address all of the “potential possibilities regarding the position of Mr. Ball when he was shot.” Funte said Ball could have either been turning to shoot Boykin with a gun in his hand when he was shot or Ball could have been running and pumping his arms when he got shot. 

The attorney said he could not share Funte’s reports with the family because it was part of the attorney general’s office’s investigation. However, The Appeal obtained her entire autopsy report, including photographs of Ball’s body, from public court records at the Lowndes County Courthouse. 

Fitch’s office also based its decision to dismiss the case on a report from Charles Wetli, a forensic pathologist hired as an expert witness by the attorney general. Wetli reviewed Funte’s autopsy report and 2017 affidavit, Boykin’s indictment, and photographs of Ball’s autopsy and photos from the scene of the incident and concluded in his August 2017 report that “Mr. Ball was not shot from behind.”

Wetli coined the term “excited delirium,” a condition of agitation or acute distress often caused by drugs or electric shock from a Taser that could cause sudden death. It is not recognized by the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, or the World Health Organization. 

Legal experts say the defense for Officer Derek Chauvin—who kneeled on George Floyd’s neck last month until he died—may hinge on the same controversial condition, despite Floyd’s autopsy proving otherwise. 

‘We’re limited by the cards we have’ 

Ward also told the Ball family that the office dropped its indictment against Boykin because of the Weathersby rule—a state Supreme Court precedent that says if the defendant is the sole eyewitness, a jury would have to believe the defendant’s testimony, barring substantial evidence to rebut or contradict their account. The jury would have to accept Boykin’s version of what happened unless “we can present credible evidence to rebut it,” Ward said. 

“We’re limited by the cards we have to get a conviction,” Ward said. “And we can’t go in hoping we’re going to get a biased jury and try to throw some darts and hope for a conviction. But this is absolutely not an exoneration of Boykin whatsoever. I want y’all to understand that.”

In January 2019, Boykin’s defense attorneys used the same argument in an attempt to get the state to drop the case. “It should be required to (dismiss this case) not only to end Officer Boykin’s nightmare, but also to save the State the needless waste of taxpayer resources and the court’s time in trying a case which the State knows cannot be successful,” the motion reads. 

In response to Boykin’s motion, then assistant attorney general Stanley Alexander argued against this reliance on Weathersby. “Weathersby is only to be applied at the completion of the state’s case and then if only the defendant’s account of the crime is not contradicted. … The argument is simply premature at this time,” Alexander wrote in February 2019. Fitch fired Alexander in January and has since let go of other assistant attorneys general from the previous administration. Alexander declined to comment. 

Protesters demand answers

The decision to dismiss the case sparked protests outside Fitch’s office in Jackson on June 5. According to Mississippi Today, a group of about 150 people shouted, “No free kill” and protesters tried to hand deliver a letter to Fitch, demanding to know the evidence her office considered in dropping the charges against Boykin. The Clarion-Ledger reported that the letter eventually made it to her office.  

Colom, the district attorney, told the Appeal in a June 1 phone interview that he regrets transferring the case to the attorney general’s office: “Had I known that [the attorney general] would dismiss the case this way at a period in time when we’re having a national reckoning, a national crisis around African Americans and police brutality … I would not have transferred it.”

Ball Cockrell, Ricky Ball’s aunt who was in the meeting, told The Appeal she wanted this case to go to trial, and following the meeting with Ward, she didn’t feel like his reasoning for dropping the case made sense to her. 

“I’m not a lawyer, but it was just so many things that didn’t have a clear answer,” she said. 

Throughout the audio, Ward drew comparisons between himself and the Ball family: Ward said he was also a Christian, has a son Ricky’s age, and that he knew how hurt the Ball family was since he lost his best friend three years ago. 

Toward the end of the meeting, Ball’s mother, Angela, got emotional. 

“Here I am 52 raising a 7-year-old,” she said of Ball’s daughter, Makayla Hendricks, who joined the protests outside Fitch’s office. 

“[Ward] said this doesn’t exonerate Boykin and he stayed up so many sleepless nights … but you don’t tell us what kept you up at night worried about this case? I didn’t walk out of that meeting feeling good.” 

The Appeal is a non-profit media organization that produces original journalism about criminal justice that is focused on the most significant drivers of mass incarceration, which occur at the state and local level.

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As education officials debate how and when to reopen public schools in the fall, lawmakers are currently working on legislation that would designate $150 million in federal stimulus funds to help Mississippi’s public schools implement a digital learning plan.

Mississippi Senate

Sen. Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville

On Wednesday, Senate Education Committee Chair Dennis DeBar, R-Leaksville, introduced the “Equity in Distance Learning Act,” which would appropriate funding to the state’s public schools to pay for online learning and technology. The intent is for the Legislature to allocate $150 million from the state’s $1.25 billion in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act money, which would require lawmakers to pass a separate appropriations bill.

The Mississippi Department of Education last week released guidelines on how schools should reopen in the fall, whether that be virtually, traditional or some hybrid of the two. The department is actively working on instituting a digital learning plan for the upcoming school year and intends to pay for it through federal stimulus funds the department received directly, as well as from the Legislature. The plan centers around technology, curriculum, training, computer security and internet connectivity as resources needed for districts to fully implement a digital learning plan.

The plan is pricey — equipping every school district and student with the training and technology necessary means about 300,000 laptops or tablets, thousands of wifi hotspots, purchasing digital curriculum, trainings and more, which will cost about $250 million, according to the department.

To pay for this, the department is counting on federal funds via the CARES Act. Gov. Tate Reeves received $34.6 million in a specific fund to be used for education, and the state’s K-12 schools received $169.8 million through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER). Separately, the Mississippi Legislature has control of $1.2 billion in federal funds to be used for coronavirus relief efforts.

The department has requested $200 million from the Legislature’s portion of federal funds.

The Legislature will appropriate funding to schools based on average daily attendance, which is also how school funding is calculated. DeBar said after much discussion this was determined to be the fairest way. Districts themselves are “highly encouraged” to fully match the Legislature’s contribution with their own ESSER funds, according to the bill. The $150 million lawmakers hope to allocate would break down to about $350 per student, DeBar said.

The first priority for the program would be “devices” – computers, tablets and hardware and software to run them. The second would be on “connectivity,” ensuring families have access to internet services.

Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, said he is concerned with Mississippi’s lack of broadband access, particularly in rural areas.  Census Bureau data shows that statewide, almost one-fifth of Mississippi households do not have a computer and nearly one-third don’t have broadband, the federal standard for internet speeds.

“Is there other legislation that will address this?” Bryan asked. “I have a fair number of people in my district, who if they have a device, would have to drive 12 to 15 miles to a McDonald’s to use it.”

DeBar noted there is other legislation pending to broaden internet access in Mississippi. But he said the distance learning bill would also help schools and families with stopgap measures, such as MiFi mobile hotspots and internet antenna towers at schools.

“My biggest fear is that in August or September, if we have another round of (COVID-19) and schools are shut down again and we’re in the same spot we were,” DeBar said.

When Reeves made the decision to close schools this spring to prevent the spread of the virus, many districts went from in-person classes to sending home packets since not all students had the ability to participate in online learning. In fact, when the Department of Education surveyed districts on their methods of instruction, only 13 indicated they were doing virtual learning exclusively.

Sen. Nicole Boyd, R-Oxford, questioned whether teachers and parents would have sufficient training on the devices and software programs.

“A device without technical training will be a worthless device,” Boyd said.

DeBar said the bill’s aim is to also provide professional training for teachers, students and parents. Additionally, the bill would require districts to produce distance learning plans to show they can sustain their programs, in part because the funds would be “one-time money” and schools would have to keep them going after. The bill would require districts to provide plans by Oct. 1.

DeBar’s bill passed out of committee with little discussion, and now heads to the full Senate for consideration.

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