For much of Mississippi’s past, Republican Jase Dalrymple acknowledges, old-guard district attorneys lived by the mantra, “Go out and win.”
District 16, from 1989 to 2016, had a DA like that in Forrest Allgood, Dalrymple said, noting the former prosecutor’s “drive and zeal” to get convictions and max sentences sometimes led to innocent people being incarcerated for years — something a 2020 Netflix documentary by the Innocence Project bore out.
There was “not a lot of common sense” involved with that old-style prosecution method, he said, but he believes Allgood’s successor, incumbent DA Scott Colom, has gone too far the other direction. Dalrymple sees himself as a “bridge” between the two extremes.
Soft plea deals, too heavy a reliance on pretrial diversion and a seeming unwillingness to present certain cases fully to grand juries, has defined Colom’s two-term administration, Dalrymple said, and served to make the district’s four counties — Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Clay and Noxubee — less safe.
“Something’s broken, and (Colom’s) had eight years to fix it,” Dalrymple said. “… The crime rate is at an all-time high here, and it’s only gotten worse. … And the violent crime rate has gotten significantly worse. We’ve got a lot of economic development coming in, and crime affects economics, but it also affects the community as a whole. … People are going to come in and take these jobs, but they aren’t going to live here. … Nobody wants to live in a community where they don’t feel safe.
“I know Scott really prides himself on making the right decision,” he added. “His whole deal was, ‘Do Good. Do what’s right.’ But I think there’s a huge gap with where we went with Forrest and where we are with Scott. I’m certainly somewhere in the middle.”
Tougher plea deals
Dalrymple, a native of Columbus, lives in Oktibbeha County and serves as a public defender in the district.
As DA, his goal would be simple: making communities in the district safer. That comes with taking good cases and moving them correctly through the system, he said, starting with presenting them fully to a grand jury for possible indictment.
In 2020, Dalrymple claims, roughly 30% of cases presented to grand juries in Lowndes County, alone, have been no-billed — meaning the grand jury chose not to indict.
“A district attorney has the ability and sole discretion to present cases to the grand jury. And he also has the ability to cherry pick … whatever specific evidence he does or doesn’t want to present to that grand jury,” he said. “I don’t think cops are out here arresting people with no evidence.
“… We’re having an issue now where these cops think they have a good case, and it’s not unconstitutional, and (the DA’s office is) either presenting part of the evidence to the grand jury in an effort to get it no-billed or they’re not presenting it at all.”
Dalrymple also thinks too many cases are being dismissed, or pleaded down to unreasonably low penalties, in an effort to clear the circuit court’s backlogged docket.
“This 85% conviction rate he’s touting, well, guilty pleas are convictions too,” Dalrymple said of his opponent. “In my capacity as a criminal defense attorney right now, a lot of my clients are willing to jump on the first plea offer he offers because they know what parole eligibility requirements are — most are 50 or 60%, and some are 25% — so four years is really a year in jail, maybe two. Again, these are felonies. These are not traffic tickets.”
Looking at rehab options case-by-case
Still, Dalrymple believes his tenure as a public defender will help him understand how to balance justice for the victim and the defendant — whether that’s a trial seeking a long prison term, pre-trial diversion or making other efforts to offer offenders a second chance.
“I know when I’m fighting for a guy I think deserves a second chance or a guy I think is probably not going to commit the crime again,” he said. “I don’t want to see him go to jail for 30 years or 20 years.”
He wants to continue to support efforts like drug court, which allows nonviolent drug offenders pretrial diversion. But that shouldn’t apply to dealers.
When it comes to rehabilitation opportunities, generally, he believes the line is violence.
“I think we’ve gone too far toward the rehabilitative effort, and that’s where you can start to get lost in the gray area of who we’re putting first. … Are you putting the good and possibility of rehabilitation of one convicted felon ahead of public safety for your law-abiding citizens?”
Where drug addiction, particularly, is concerned, it’s crucial to sit down with the defendant and try to determine whether that person is a danger to the public.
“I think there’s a meth issue, and meth makes you do stupid things. I’ve had several clients who have broken into a church to steal some food because they were high on meth,” noting that as a case where he would consider rehabilitation options before prison. “… I obviously think addiction is a huge problem in our country. It’s not solvable overnight, and I’m not sure the district attorney’s office is the one whose sole duty is to fix a crisis. I think you should be conscious of the crisis.”
Investigations
A DA can’t do the job without good investigators. While Dalrymple has faith in area law enforcement agencies and the many seasoned officers still around, he acknowledged high turnover among officers and investigators hampers cases.
“The younger or more inexperienced your staff, that’s going to be a sloppier investigation most of the time,” he said. “The sloppier your investigation, the less solid your case is, the more likely a jury is to say ‘not guilty’ at the end of the day. Or you don’t have anything to indict them with.”
Low pay and the “political climate” that scrutinizes police work exacerbate the shortage, he said. As DA, he wants to work closely with departments to make the best of the situation.
“We can work hand-in-hand with them and say, ‘Look, guys, this is what happened and this is what should have happened,” he said.
“That might be a job in itself because, talking about the turnover, if you’ve got 10 new officers every six months, then you’ve got to do it every six months.”
A public face
Dalrymple believes the DA should not be confined to the courtroom. Instead, he wants to be seen in the media, in the schools and in communities.
While he vowed he would try his share of cases, he believes involvement with youth courts and a presence in area schools will help intervene with at-risk youth. The way to curb crime, he said, is to be “ever-present.”
The addition of a new ADA position, which will add to the office’s attorney force, should offer him that leeway.
“I’m here to be a guiding force for younger generations and make an impact on youth,” he said. “Gang-related violence is ever present and growing, and it starts in our schools. … There’s a ton of youths, with guns in their hands, hanging with the wrong crowd and committing violent felonies. I think if you can change a generation, it starts with the kids.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 45 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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