Delta State Spring Semester Comes to a Close

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Finishing the year strong with our last lecture in week 14 teaching “Race, Civil Rights, and the Supreme Court”. For the past 5 years I have taught this class on Monday nights at Delta State University along with two other pre-law classes on Criminal Law and The Judicial Process. Time now to pass the torch to another adjunct to teach our next generation of leaders (and hopefully some future lawyers) as to how the Constitution impacts our lives every day.

Carr named Section Chair of New Criminal Defense Section of MS Bar

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Carr Law Firm is proud to announce that the Mississippi Board of Bar Commissioners has approved the creation of a new Section of the Bar: Criminal Defense. Over the past six months, our firm spearheaded the effort to get this Section created. We have reached out to our friends statewide to put together a Board of outstanding criminal defense attorneys in an effort to make this the best practice group within the Bar. You can be part of the inaugural group of members by joining the new Section when the Bar's annual enrollment opens August 1.

All Criminal Charges Against IPD Sgt. Gregory Capers Dismissed!

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Starting in May 2023, Indianola Police Department Sgt. Gregory Capers received an incredible amount of negative media attention in state and national news regarding a shooting incident involving an 11 year old boy while in the line of duty. Sgt. Capers was placed on administrative leave from his job without pay, and criminal allegations were filed against him.

Knowing the facts were on his side, and thankfully trusting his attorneys fighting for his job and to clear his name, slowly the truth came out.

While it is awful in ANY situation for a child to get shot, we at Carr Law Firm can now announce all felony and misdemeanor criminal charges against Sgt. Capers have been dismissed.

Court of Appeals reverses Bolivar County Murder Conviction!

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On March 5, 2024, the Mississippi Court of Appeals reversed a May 2022 first degree murder conviction of CLF client Jacqueze Marshall in Bolivar County. In a 14 page opinion with concurrences from all judges, the COA found that the trial court erred in forcing defense counsel to place certain individuals back on the jury that defense counsel challenged and stated race neutral reasons for doing so.
The new trial date will be set at a later date.

https://courts.ms.gov/images/Opinions/CO174462.pdf

No Probable Cause Found!

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This week Carr Law Firm client SRO Tommy Boykin has been cleared of all criminal accusations stemming from a March 2023 incident at Gentry High School in Indianola. After being terminated from his school resource officer job due to an unsupported allegation, and waiting almost a year for his day in court, no probable cause was found and charge was dismissed.

Officer Boykin is looking forward to continuing to serve the people of Sunflower County now that his name is cleared.

Reinstatement GRANTED with back pay!

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Client - a long time house arrest officer with MDOC - was terminated from her job because someone filed simple assault charges on her - when client was off duty breaking up a fight in a Wal Mart parking lot.

We took the case to court - not only was our client found not guilty of simple assault at trial - but the accuser herself was found guilty of simple assault, sentenced to days in jail, and had a restraining order put on her!

With the not guilty verdict in hand, we went back to the Employee Appeals Board and fought for our client. The Board did right by Mrs. Dawson - she was reinstated to her MDOC job, awarded back pay, all vacation and sick time credited, and the incident was removed from her employee file! See Order below.

Lexington Judge Reverses Order - Client Speaks Out

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This is an excerpt from an article by Elura Nanos for the publication “Law and Crime”. The original article in it’s entirety can be found here

A week after finding a prominent civil rights attorney guilty on multiple criminal charges with what was described as a “canned verdict” that was “emblematic” of how Black residents are mistreated by local government, a Mississippi judge reversed his own ruling in a short order riddled with errors.

Jill Collen Jefferson is an attorney, the President of the Civil Rights group JULIAN, a Harvard Law School professor, and a former staffer for both Barack Obama and the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. For years, Jefferson has fought for racial justice in Holmes County, Mississippi — one of the nation’s poorest counties.

In 2022, JULIAN sued the Lexington Police Department on behalf of a group of local residents over the department’s alleged misconduct that included racial profiling, harassment, threats, brutality, and corruption. The department and the town’s government are currently under investigation by the Department of Justice for much the same misconduct.

In June 2023 — just days after the DOJ hosted a session for residents to speak freely about their experiences with police — Jefferson filmed a traffic stop by the same police department, and was promptly arrested Saturday, charged with multiple crimes, and held for several days in a local jail.

Jefferson ultimately stood trial for four misdemeanor charges stemming from the June arrest: unlawful use of a mobile phone while driving; obstruction of a public roadway; failure to comply; and resisting arrest. Her attorneys presented evidence that included Jefferson’s testimony as well as her video recordings. Holmes County Justice Court Judge Marcus Fisher presided over the bench trial, acting both as judge and as fact-finder.

Although the charge of unlawful mobile phone use was dropped at the conclusion of the trial, Jefferson was found guilty of the other three charges and fines were assessed against her as a penalty. In an email to Law&Crime Wednesday, Jefferson’s attorney, Michael Carr, said that the conviction, which Fisher read aloud in open court after the trial, “appeared to be a pre-prepared script.” Carr also noted that Jefferson’s testimony and evidence presented at trial directly contradicted the narrative presented by the Lexington Police Department.

Carr went on to say that as Jefferson’s legal team prepared her appeal, anomalies arose immediately. To file an appeal, the judgment of conviction must be submitted to the Circuit Court. However, Carr said that the justice court clerk advised him that although an entire week had passed since Jefferson was pronounced guilty, Fisher had not turned in his orders of conviction to file with the court.

On the same day that Carr asked for the conviction order, he received a different order signed by Fisher: one that rescinded the oral pronouncement of conviction and found Jefferson not guilty on all charges.

The unanticipated reversal was shocking.

“In 18 years of defense practice, I have never seen this happen – a judge reversing himself within days after an oral pronouncement of guilt at court and assessing fees and fines at that moment,” said Carr.

Fisher’s brief order, which contains multiple errors but no explanatory information as to the reasons underlying the unusual decision, can be seen below.


The document, “Order Resending Previous Decision” — as opposed to “rescinding” — declared that “it is the Court responsibility to carefully examine all the evidence,” and that “after a thorough review” of the case, the Court “hereby resends all Guilty verdicts previously entered on January 31.” It continues on that the “court further resends the guilty verdicts for the charges of Blocking a Public Roadway to Film a Traffic Stop and Failure to Comply.”

The 10 line order was rife with punctuation errors throughout. Jefferson initially described her trial as “really heartbreaking,” and said Fisher ignored the evidence she presented. She said she expected the “canned verdict” even before her trial began, because she observed other proceedings and noticed that Fisher already had verdict sheets printed on his desk before her trial started. When it came time for Fisher to read the verdict aloud, Jefferson said she “could tell he didn’t write [the verdict sheet] because he couldn’t pronounce some of the words in the verdict.”

Jefferson also said that during her trial and while in the courtroom, she discovered that some charges were added after the fact by the arresting officers. Furthermore, her team was not presented with key evidence that included body camera footage of the arrest until the night before Jefferson’s trial began.

Moreover, Jefferson reported that Officer Scott Walters, the main officer involved in her arrest, bragged about the arrest and even taunted Jefferson with a Facebook friend request after she was found guilty.

Jefferson called her experience “emblematic of what we’re organizing against,” and warned that had there not been public outcry, her verdict would never have been reversed.

“It’s a personal victory for me, but in terms of this community, they’re not going to do that for any of the innocent Black people that they’ve put canned verdicts against,” Jefferson told MPB News, “They’re not going to reexamine those cases and give them a second chance. They only did that because I’m an attorney and know my rights and we kicked up a stink about all of this.”






Carr Gets Another Dismissal After DA Jails Client For Two Years with No Trial

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Another case dismissed! Client and his co-defendant incarcerated for approximately two years in Coahoma County awaiting trial on charges of Kidnapping and Aggravated Assault. Alleged victim was continuiously uncooperative and would not come to court on any hearings or motions. Finally, on day of trial, when we announced ready, DA had no choice but to drop the case.

Felony Drug Possession Case Dismissed!

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Case Dismissed! During the execution of a search warrant based on the word of a confidential informant, a 12 member SWAT team broke down my client’s door, ransacked his house, terrified his family, only to find a $20 crack rock in a bowl of grits! (0.3 grams) Client was arrested, incarcerated, and indicted, only to have the DA’s office dismiss the case 5 years later on the morning of trial - after our firm announced we were ready for trial.

Carr Travels to New York City for Appearance on Good Morning America

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Attorney Michael Carr has been an attorney with the Southern States Police Benevolent Association for the last 13 years. On December 17, he traveled with client and PBA Member Greg Capers for an exclusive interview with Good Morning America. We are proud to help our members with all issues including criminal, civil, employment, and misdemeanor matters.

Corresponding Article can be found below:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/officer-speaks-after-grand-jury-clears-shooting-11/story?id=105737488

Carr Law Firm Jury trial #12 for the year end with a Hung Jury!

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Bolivar County criminal trial term week 4 update: one case was tried from a 2019 allegation of sexual battery which resulted in a hung jury. Defendant was represented by Mike Carr of Carr Law Firm. A second case was attempted to be started on Wednesday on a charge of manslaughter, but a sheriff’s deputy accidentally allowed for prospective jurors to see one of the defendants while he was still in an orange jumpsuit and in shackles, which is prejudicial to his right to a fair trial and a constititional violation, therefore caused a mistrial even before the trial could start. This resulted in no convictions this week by the DA’s office.

Carr Speaks at Access to Justice Commission of the MS Bar

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On October 24, Attorneys Mike and Jessica Carr spoke with Chancellor Debra M. Giles and Jennifer Adams Williams about encouraging law students to consider small town and rural law practice as part of our membership in the Access to Justice Commission of the Mississippi Bar. While years in the making, we at the ATJC have finally established a rural practice summer clerkship program where the Bar will sponsor select law students to partner with rural practitioners to assist with the various legal needs of Mississippians in underserved areas of our state.

Coahoma County Criminal Trial Term Update: DA’s Office has THREE Mistrials in THREE Weeks Plus a Hung jury

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July 24 - State v. Hill, Porter, Stacker, and Marion (2020 incident) - charge of shooting into a dwelling x2 and shooting into a motor vehicle x2. Law enforcement prior to trial had told the DA they had lost material evidence - DA did not inform defense counsel or the Court and started trial anyway. The Court, upon discovery of this issue mid-trial, properly declared mistrial. Post mistrial - Court further suppressed all evidence as violation of search and seizure. DA office had no admissible evidence left. Case dismissed

July 31 - (2019 incident) State v. Green & Walls - 1st Degree Murder and Aggravated Assault - hung jury

Aug 7 - (2021 incident) State v. Harmon - Manslaughter - Mistrial declared due to DA failure to disclose autopsy pictures to defense counsel.

Aug 10- (2019 incident) State v. Pollard - multiple counts of drug possession - Mistrial declared bc Defendant brought into courtroom before the jury while still in chains.

Every one of these cases is 2-4 years old. Due to the mistrials and the hung jury - all are still on the Court docket. Each jury costs Coahoma County (conservatively) $3,500. This price does not include the cost of pretrial incarceration which can last years as well as the cost of manpower to investigate these cases and expert witness fees and expenses.

In short, in the past three weeks, taxpayers of Coahoma County spent well over $15,000 with no return.

Lexington Releases Civil Rights Attorney Arrested While Filming Traffic Stop - Mississippi Free Press

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Authorities have released civil rights attorney Jill Collen Jefferson from jail in Holmes County after Lexington Police arrested her on Saturday, June 10, while she was filming a traffic stop she saw after leaving an event. Police arrested the JULIAN president nine days after she complained about the department’s treatment of Black residents while meeting with U.S. Justice Department officials.

Jefferson’s attorney, Michael Carr, who said he “is very concerned (Lexington Police) engaged in a false arrest in this case,” informed the Mississippi Free Press this morning that she was being released. Bail bondsman Bonita Streeter also confirmed the release, saying officials had waived fees for the civil rights attorney’s release.

Jefferson, who is from Jones County, founded JULIAN in 2020. She named the organization, which conducts investigations into possible civil rights violations, after her mentor, longtime civil rights leader Julian Bond.

The arrest sparked a backlash from the community over the weekend.

“The citizens of Lexington are fearful of driving for fear of harassment from the police,” the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party said in a statement this morning condemning Collen’s arrest. “Innocent mentally ill citizens are brutalized on our streets and imprisoned unlawfully. Our elected officials have refused to act on this matter because these unlawful arrests are benefitting the city financially.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who is with the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, visited Lexington on June 1 along with U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca of the Southern District of Mississippi.

“In her remarks, Assistant Attorney General Clarke discussed the Justice Department’s commitment to address civil rights issues, including enforcing federal school desegregation orders, addressing jail and prison conditions and prosecuting hate crimes,” a Justice Department readout said. “The meeting focused on civil rights issues, like law enforcement accountability.”

The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party said its members “were feeling hopeful” after Clarke and LaMarca’s visit—until Jill Collen Jefferson’s arrest.

“Upon leaving an event, she witnessed police officers engaging with a citizen, but because of the numerous complaints against the police department, she decided to drive by the scene and record,” MFDP said. “While driving, an officer asked her to show her driver’s license Other officers approached the vehicle and began to pull her out. She was placed in handcuffs and put in the patrol car.”

Attorney Carr said police charged Jefferson with three misdemeanors, including failure to comply, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. But he told the Mississippi Free Press this morning that the police department had offered no “narrative supplement” to explain why they charged her with those offenses.

After this story first published, though, Carr shared a recording with the Mississippi Free Press that his office obtained that he says includes remarks the arresting officer made about Jefferson. This reporter could not verify the identity of the person speaking in the recording, however.

“I told her to give me her license five, six, seven, eight times,” a man can be heard saying on the recording. “She argued she ain’t got to. … She was riding by filming. I guess she thought that was a good idea.”

The Mississippi Free Press reached out to the Lexington Police Department for comment this morning, but an employee said there was “no one here right now to speak about that matter” and to call back later. Reached again this afternoon following this story’s initial publication, the department again said no one was available to speak.

Later this afternoon, attorney Carr sent this reporter a vide of Jill Jefferson speaking with members of the media in Lexington, where she accused the local police of “terrorizing Black people here.”

She said she was driving around with a passenger when she saw the police had someone pulled over and decided to film the incident. The passenger, she said, got out of the car, fearing the police would pull Jefferson over for filming them.

“As soon as the cops saw me, Officer Scott Walters started flagging me down with his flashlight,” Jefferson told reporters. “I stopped, I let my window down, and he said, ‘Show me your ID.’ I said, ‘Why do you need to see my ID?’ … And then he pulled out his taser. And I said, ‘You’re going to tase me?’ And that point, I called my attorney. He said, ‘Jill, of course this is not right, but just show them your ID so you can get this over with.'”



Jefferson said she followed her lawyer’s suggestion, but the situation only escalated from there.

“I held up my license. At that point, Officer Walters snatched my phone out of my hand, he slammed it on the top of the car,” she said. “He started trying to yank at my door handle, trying to pull it open. My car door was locked. He reached through the window and unlocked my car door through the inside. He pulled the door open, pulled me out of the car, pushed me against the car, and then proceeded to arrest me—cuff me. He put my hands behind my back. I did not resist.”

Jefferson said that, after the officer put her in the back of a police car, Jefferson said another officer joined Walters searching her car.

“Then they went to the driver’s side and Officer Walters knelt down and put his hand under the seat and he said, ‘Oh, looky here.’ He’d found my firearm,” she said. “And he said, ‘I sure hope it’s stolen.’ At that point, he came back to the police car. I told him the search was illegal. He told me he would never hire me. He told me I was a shit lawyer since I didn’t know about search incident to arrest. He told me I was being arrested for failure to comply. I told him I had not done anything wrong. He said nothing and shut the car door. He took me to the police station.”

In July 2022, JULIAN shared a recording with the Mississippi Center For Investigative Reporting in which a Lexington police officer bragged about shooting a Black man, saying he “shot that n— 119 times” and that he did not “give a f— if you kill a motherf—ker in cold blood.” JULIAN alleged that then-Police Chief Sam Dobbins was the voice in the recording, and the City voted 3-2 to fire him days later.

A month later, JULIAN filed a lawsuit against the Lexington Police Department, alleging that it “operates within a culture of corruption and lawlessness, daily and habitually subjecting Black citizens to harassment and brutality, in violation of their civil rights.”

“We are just asking the court to restrain them from targeting, harassing, assaulting Black citizens and violating their constitutional rights in other ways,” Jill Collen Jefferson told the Mississippi Free Press last year. “It’s at a breaking point—it’s actually beyond a breaking point.”

Carr said Jefferson’s court date is set for July 13 at the Lexington Municipal Court.

Lexington is 86% Black and 13% white, but has a deeply racist past. At the dedication of a Confederate monument there in 1908, Confederate veteran Wiley N. Nash said that “these Confederate monuments, these sacred memorials, tells in silent but potent language, that the white people of the South shall rule and govern the Southern states forever.”


-This Article was originally authored by Ashton Pittman for the Mississippi Free Press

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NOT GUILTY ARMED ROBBERY! NOT GUILTY AGGRAVATED ASSAULT!

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Last week in Coahoma County, I defended a young man charged with Armed Robbery, Aggravated Assault, and Kidnapping. He was facing a max sentence of double life by jury plus 25 years. After a three day trial, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on armed robbery, not guilty on the aggravated assault with a firearm, but did find him guilty on Kidnapping. The sentencing judge - correctly recognizing my client’s very minimal role in the event, the much greater role of his codefendants, and the fact that this young man had zero criminal history, had three children, and had maintained steady employment his whole life - gave him a sentence of 5 years Probation on his conviction.

The charges were extremely serious, but the District Attorney’s Office charged everybody with the same charges, despite the clearly different levels of involvement. In our opinion, this is “group punishment” and lazy prosecution. A prosecutor has a duty to charge each individual based on the facts, not based on the actions of a group. 

I am proud that Tyrekius Allen maintained his innocence and exercised his constitutional right to trial. And I’m also very thankful he trusted our firm to uncover the truth.