Two Lowndes County men, one facing charges for child pornography and the other for sexual battery, are on the Monday docket for the May term of Lowndes County Circuit Court.
The trial of the State versus Benjamin Lee Shelton, of 924 Third Ave. N., a former Sunday school teacher and part-time youth leader, who is charged with three counts of sexual battery, is scheduled to begin Monday with Judge Lee Howard presiding. Shelton is represented by Columbus attorney Rodney Ray.
Shelton, an owner of Stewart’s Antiques and Appraisals at 925 Third Ave. N. in Columbus, was arrested Jan. 22, 2009 by Lowndes County sheriff’s deputies after investigators learned he may have sexually abused a 17-year-old boy at a church camp setting while he was a church youth leader.
Robert W. Triplett, charged with possession of child pornography, is represented by Corinth attorney Robert Laher. Triplett’s case is scheduled as a “call,” meaning his case will be called by Coleman. It does not mean trial proceedings will begin May 14.
Triplett, of 181 Golding Road, was 56 when he was arrested in October 2010 after investigators found explicit photos of minor children on a computer obtained from his home during an investigation into the disappearance of his stepdaughter, Kaila Morris, who has been missing since September 17, 2009.
Triplett was on non-adjudicated probation at the time of his arrest from 2003 charges of attempted sexual battery in Jackson County. His probation was revoked after his 2009 arrest. He was also found guilty of forcible rape by a Covington, La. jury in 1997 but the charge was later remanded for a hearing and Triplett pled to simple batter for which he served six months in the St. Tammany Parish jail and was ordered to pay a $50,000 settlement.
He pled guilty to federal child pornography possession charges in August 2010 and began serving a 10 year prison sentence in federal prison in April 2011.
Triplett was never charged in connection with the disappearance of Morris.
Cases also to slated for call Monday include four Columbus men arrested and charged with the 2011 death of a Columbus man are also scheduled to begin Monday. Derrick Bankhead, 33, of 901 11th St. S, Omar Beard, of 815 13th St. N, Cortez Williams, 26, of 515 18th St. N and Michael Ross, 21, of 152 Robin St., were all arrested separately and charged with capital murder in connection with the shooting death of Eddie Terrell Bankhead at his 2018 1/2 College St. home July 11, 2011. He was the cousin of Derrick Bankhead.
Bankhead is represented by Columbus attorney Gary Goodwin; Beard is represented by Columbus attorney William Starks; Ross is represented by Columbus attorney Carrie Jourdan and Williams, who investigators believe is the “trigger man,” is presented by Columbus attorney Steve Wallace.
The depraved heart murder case of Rennie Gibbs is scheduled Monday, as well. Gibbs, of 300 S. Lehmberg Road in Columbus, No. 25, was 15 when she got pregnant. The baby died in 2006 when Gibbs was 36 weeks pregnant, but prosecutors discovered Gibbs had a cocaine habit. She faces a murder charge under the state’s rarely used depraved-heart murder law, for the stillbirth of her child due to cocaine overdose. She is represented by Jourdan.
Other cases on the docket for the May Circuit Court term include:
Although these cases are scheduled for the May term of Lowndes County Circuit Court, it does not guarantee when or if the trials, hearings or sentences will occur during the May term.
Jeff Clark was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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