A prosecutor found in contempt of municipal court will not have to spend a day in jail as part of her sentence after all.
Municipal Judge Gary Goodwin entered an order Thursday deleting the requirement for City Prosecutor Nicole Clinkscales to serve one day in Lowndes County Adult Detention Center as part of her contempt sentence. The contempt order, and the $100 fine that came with it, still stand.
Goodwin recessed court during the afternoon session July 24 after Clinkscales and defense attorney Rod Ray got into an argument over whether to proceed with a driving under the influence case on the docket. Goodwin intervened, according to the contempt order, telling them to stop interrupting each other and ordering them both to apologize to the court.
Ray complied, but Goodwin wrote that Clinkscales refused. Instead she exhibited “an attitude of intentional challenge to the court’s authority.”
When Goodwin asked Clinkscales if she was going to apologize, Goodwin wrote that the prosecutor turned her back to the judge, faced the gallery and loudly said, “No.”
When court reconvened July 31, Goodwin entered the contempt order and sentenced Clinkscales to the fine and day in jail, which she was scheduled to serve Sept. 3.
In an email Clinkscales sent to The Dispatch after press time Aug. 4, she refutes that Goodwin gave her an appropriate opportunity to apologize during the argument. She also claims she has endured “months of bullying” from Goodwin during court sessions.
Further, Clinkscales wrote she plans to file a complaint on Goodwin with The Commission on Judicial Performance.
Clinkscales did not return a call and message for comment by press time Monday. When The Dispatch reached Goodwin on Monday, he declined to comment.
Jammie Garrett, the city’s chief operations officer, said she was aware of Goodwin modifying Clinkscales’ sentence. But she said city administration did not direct him to do it or intervene in the case in any way.
“He did it of his own volition,” Garrett said, adding the city’s judiciary is “independent.”
Clinkscales, a former municipal judge, has applied to return to the bench. Municipal court has two judge’s seats, and the city is advertising to fill the one left vacant when Rhonda Hays Ellis retired in March.
Serving from 2010-2015, Clinkscales surrendered her judgeship to launch an unsuccessful write-in campaign for District 41 state representative.
In 2016, Clinkscales was reprimanded for multiple judicial misconduct violations dating back to her time as municipal judge and drug court judge.
The Commission on Judicial Performance recommended the 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.
Part of her reprimand also found she gave a misleading statement in a 2011 interview with The Dispatch, saying she expected to be cleared of any charges from her 2009 misdemeanor arrest for disobeying a police officer. She later pleaded no contest to the charge.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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