If you’re a frequent guest of Lowndes County Adult Detention Center, Sheriff Eddie Hawkins plans to put your business on the streets, even as his deputies take you off of them.
Since Hawkins first took office in 2020, it’s become common practice for the sheriff’s office to arrest someone for a felony, then include the suspect’s previous rap sheet in press releases and social media posts.
In late July, Hawkins’ deputies nabbed a burglary suspect who had been arrested 10 previous times in Lowndes County on 29 charges, 14 of which were felonies. A month earlier, a drug bust collected a suspect with 14 previous arrests — seven of them felonies, ranging from aggravated assault to weapons charges.
In May, a man arrested for stealing a car had previously been charged with an eye-popping 71 offenses — 20 of them felonies, ranging from kidnapping and aggravated assault to allegedly stealing two other vehicles.
These typically don’t include offenses in other counties, just bookings in Lowndes, Hawkins said.
District Attorney Scott Colom has sent Hawkins several emails in recent months asking him to stop disseminating that information after arrests, citing a rule for criminal procedure he believes prohibits its release until a case is adjudicated.
“I didn’t respond to his emails at all,” Hawkins told The Dispatch, flatly. “I’m the custodian of the records, and these are public records. … I’m trying to be as transparent as I can to the public. When we’ve got a bad guy who is out here committing offenses over and over again, I believe the public has a right to know how bad this guy is and how big of a problem this guy is to our community.
“If I’m being too transparent,” he added, “well, I’ve never heard of that. … I don’t see how I’m in the wrong here.”
What is Rule 18.9?
Colom has noticed prior arrest information becoming more frequent in Lowndes sheriff’s office press releases, and he said he jumped into the fray after Public Defender Donna Smith asked him to intervene.
For Smith, the sheriff’s lack of response is duly noted.
“Hasn’t made a bit of difference,” she told The Dispatch.
Both Colom and Smith are worried about tainting the jury pool against a defendant by speaking publicly about that person’s criminal history before the current charge can be resolved — either through dismissal, guilty plea or jury trial.
They point to Rule 18.9 of the Mississippi Rules of Criminal Procedure, set by the Supreme Court, which lists six “prohibited disclosures” for attorneys, law enforcement and court officers “prior to the conclusion of a trial.” The first of these prohibitions on public dissemination covers statements about the defendant’s prior criminal record, reputation or character.
“There are regular posts that mention the prior criminal history once they’re arrested, and there’s a rule that says they can’t do it — that I can’t do it, judges can’t do it and that law enforcement can’t do it,” Colom said. “… If somebody goes to trial, you’ve got to make sure there’s a jury pool that doesn’t have a preconceived notion of the person’s guilt.”
Circuit Judge Jim Kitchens, the senior judge for the 16th Circuit who has served on the bench 21 years, said Colom and Smith are misinterpreting the scope and intent of the rule. He believes such restrictions only apply to the courtroom during the period between jury selection and the end of the verdict phase of a trial. Rule 18, as a whole, deals specifically with issues related to the selection of and instructions for jurors, as well as the prohibited disclosures.
Even if the rule is meant to be broader, Kitchens said, the judicial system, as a separate co-equal branch of government, doesn’t have the right to tell the executive or legislative branches what to do.
“I don’t think I have the authority to order them, at the time of arrest, not to (say) how many times this person’s been arrested and what they’ve been arrested for,” Kitchens said. “That’s a prior restraint of free speech. … The constitution protects truthful free speech.”
During jury selection for any criminal trial, attorneys and judges ask prospective jurors what they know or have seen about the case, and whether that information will prejudice their view of the defendant.
Kitchens noted trials come months, even years, after an arrest, so it’s uncommon for jurors to remember specific details of what they read or saw.
It’s more of a problem in high-profile cases that media outlets preview a day or two before jury selection because the details are fresher on jurors’ minds. Even then, Kitchens told The Dispatch, “I would fight for your ability to do that with my dying breath.”
Change of venue
When publicity about a case does taint a jury pool, a change of venue — trying the case in front of a jury from another circuit court district — is the remedy, Kitchens said.
Hawkins said, as far as Colom’s and Smith’s complaint is concerned, that’s where the rubber meets the road.
“Cite me (an instance) where my posts have jeopardized a case going to trial and we’ve had a change of venue because of my posts,” Hawkins said. “Show me that.”
The Lowndes County Circuit Clerk’s Office confirmed to The Dispatch only two cases in the county have been granted change of venue over the last four years. In one, the defendant pleaded guilty before a trial was necessary. The other was a death penalty case Kitchens said he moved “out of an abundance of caution” because of its nature.
Changing venues, Colom said, is costly to the county, and if everyone doesn’t start following the rule appropriately, those motions may become more common.
“(Defense attorneys) don’t want to because they know it’s costly,” Colom said “… They haven’t had to file any yet, but what they are telling me is, ‘If this case goes to trial, and we can’t negotiate it or plea it out, then I have in my back pocket that I can file for a change of venue. I don’t know if it will be granted, … but I have an argument because we have this rule.’”
Colom believes fingers will point to him if cases start having to leave the area for fair trials.
“They’re going to hold me accountable to it, because they’re going to say, ‘You’re the DA. You need to make sure these rules aren’t violated,’” he said.
Beyond that, Smith said publicizing prior arrests without the full context is inherently prejudicial no matter when you do it. An arrest can end in dismissal or acquittal.
“Forty-seven arrests do not equate to 47 convictions,” she said. “Innocent people are arrested every day. … For me, it goes to the presumption of innocence.”
Political motivations?
Hawkins said he’s been releasing this information since shortly after taking office. Why Colom is bringing this up now, he believes, is no accident.
Kitchens agrees.
“What’s happening in November?” Kitchens asked rhetorically.
Colom, a Democrat seeking his third term as DA, has a Republican challenger in Jase Dalrymple who has cited some of Hawkins’ posts about rearrested felons on the campaign trail.
For his part, Colom has noted that while some of those previous arrests being cited happened during his tenure, many predate it. Colom declined to comment for this report when asked about the politics of the issue.
Hawkins, a Republican, also has a November opponent in Democrat Willie Jones.
“What’s bringing it up is apparently talking about this at some of these (campaign) events, and it’s causing people to get aggravated,” Kitchens said. “… The court always ought to be mindful when it’s being asked to step into something that is a political issue.”
Despite the “political” nature of the “controversy” surrounding the criminal procedure rule, Hawkins said he has never made negative statements about Colom or his office in his posts or press releases.
“I’m just trying to let the public know we’ve arrested this guy for this charge,” he said. “And oh, by the way, he has also had this many previous arrests and this many felonies and this many misdemeanor arrests, and he’s still out here committing crimes.”
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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