Columbus City Council hired local attorney Nicole Clinkscales as its new city prosecutor, according to Mayor Keith Gaskin, and today is her first day on the job.
The council voted 4-2 in executive session last week to hire Clinkscales, a former municipal judge, over four other candidates. Human Resources Director Pat Mitchell, who keeps the minutes for the council meetings, said Ethel Stewart of Ward 1, Joseph Mickens of Ward 2, Pierre Beard of Ward 4, and Stephen Jones of Ward 5, all voted for the hire. Ward 3’s Rusty Greene and Ward 6’s Jacqueline DiCicco both opposed.
Former prosecutor Dennis Harmon retired from the post in November, Gaskin said, and Josh Clemons was appointed as interim until a full-time replacement could be found.
Clemons, along with Robin Brown, William Starks and Stephanie Woodard, also applied for the permanent post, Chief Operating Officer Jammie Garrett told The Dispatch.
Clinkscales served as a municipal judge from 2010-15, stepping down from the bench in an unsuccessful run for state representative. In 2016, she was publicly reprimanded for multiple acts of judicial misconduct.
The Commission on Judicial Performance recommended a public reprimand after it found she violated the Mississippi Code of Judicial Conduct when she endorsed a political candidate on Facebook; made racially biased posts on social media; and exhibited poor demeanor in court. The commission also found she ordered some individuals, including her nephew, into the city’s voluntary drug court program.
City Attorney Jeff Turnage told The Dispatch the reprimand did not disqualify her from being city prosecutor.
Stewart, when reached by The Dispatch on Wednesday, said she supported Clinkscales due to her experience and her dedication to finding ways to help people who came before the court.
“She is very experienced, but she’s also interested in doing something to help rehab some of these repeat offenders,” she said. “When you are in law enforcement and you keep seeing the same people coming before you again and again, is it because that person is really bad or is it because they need help?”
Stewart said Clinkscales’ past didn’t come up during the executive session discussion before her hire. When asked if it was important with her now being put back into a city position, she said no.
“When you look at people in law enforcement, you will always pretty much find issues and problems,” she said. “So do you take that and hold it against a person, or do you try to find a way to move on and not let a person’s past block them from moving forward and advancing in their life?”
Greene, who voted against hiring Clinkscales, said he voted no solely because he supported another candidate.
“I was in favor of someone else, and I don’t have anything else to say about that,” he said. “I don’t have anything personal against her. We had a lot of good candidates, and I thought one of the others was better.”
Jones cited Clinkscales’ experience and connection to the community as motivating his vote.
“She’s experienced and she definitely cares about the community,” he said. “She definitely has a passion for the community and she’ll represent the community well.”
Jones, like Stewart, said everyone deserves a second chance.
“We live in a world of second chances,” he said. “Christ gave us a second chance. If people don’t have second chances, then where are we?”
Mickens, Beard and DiCicco did not respond to requests for comment by press time, nor did Clinkscales.
Clinkscales represented Beard in his defense against a misdemeanor domestic violence charge in November 2021. The charge was dismissed in Lowndes County Justice Court.
Garrett said Chuck Easley, who ran unsuccessfully for circuit judge against incumbent Jim Kitchens last year, also put in an application for city prosecutor, but later withdrew it.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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