Jackson Free Press

Attorney General Jim Hood confirmed Monday that State Auditor Phil Bryant had interrupted investigative efforts to obtain evidence against beef-plant owners. Hood's written statement to the media came after lieutenant governor candidate Jamie Franks, who is running against Bryant, announced at a press conference that Bryant had "recklessly" interfered with the beef-plant investigation.

In response to media questions, Hood confirmed that Bryant's January 2007 announcement of an investigation halted efforts by his office to wire an informant to produce evidence that might have resulted in the convictions of more than one plant owner, in addition to Richard Hall Jr.

Hall, serving eight years in federal prison, pled guilty in January 2006 to state mail-fraud charges and federal money-laundering charges. His is the only conviction so far regarding the $55 million beef plant fiasco, which has become a political football this election cycle.

"n all my years as a prosecutor, the Beef Plant case is the first I have seen where an investigator issues a press release that he is investigating a case the day before I am set to wire up the target to try to flip him against others. The confidential informant was burned at that point. It is hard to slip up on a criminal when a law enforcement agency announces an investigation in the newspaper," Hood said in the statement.

"Had we been able to record conversations with the confidential informant and other potential targets of the investigation, we may have been able to uncover others who may have been involved in the case. Unfortunately, due to the untimely press release, we will never know."

Standing on the steps of the Capitol Monday, Franks, D-Mooreville, criticized Bryant's role in the investigation of the Mississippi Beef Processing plant, which closed after only three months of operation in 2004.

"When it became certain that criminal activity had taken place, Bryant recklessly announced his investigation before the media, without alerting or cooperating with the other investigative authorities," Franks said. "In so doing he demolished the potential for a criminal case that would have punished everyone responsible for the debacle and recovered millions in damages for the state."

The office of Phil Bryant did not return calls to the Jackson Free Press. Bryant pointed out to The Clarion-Ledger that legislators like Jamie Franks had voted to approve funding for the beef plant.

"If I was Mr. Franks and had voted to fund the beef plant on three different occasions, I think I would just leave this issue alone," Bryant told The Clarion-Ledger.

Bryant's Republican nemesis in the August primary, Sen. Charlie Ross, R-Brandon, followed Bryant's advice and left the issue alone. Ross never voluntarily broached the beef-plant subject in JFP interviews. To date, Bryant has refused offers for a JFP cover interview, as both Franks and Ross did prior to the primary.

Franks is more dogged, however, admitting that he did vote to fund the plant, but adding that he had also voted to give the state auditor's office an extra $50,000 specifically to scrutinize the plant.

House Bill 1593 designated $50,000 for Bryant's office to monitor the plant and some other projects approved by the Land, Water and Timber Resources Board. Members of the House Ways and Means Committee questioned Bryant in February 2005 about what he had done with the $50,000. Bryant told them that only $10,000 of the money had been put to use.

"The Legislature appropriated his office $50,000 to make sure that everything was up to snuff on this," said Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, who caught hell for being one of the legislators to first devise the idea of the plant.

"It's very rare that the Legislature appropriates extra money like that, because the auditor normally does that kind of thing during his normal course of business, but the Legislature felt like we wanted to make sure the thing was up to snuff. To my knowledge we never heard from Phil Bryant until the thing went ker-plunk."

Previous Comments

ID

95979

Comment

If the state auditor screwed up the AG's alleged investigation, why does it take nine months for the AG to announce this to the media? Oh, that's right, the election is just a few weeks away. Never mind.

Author

xxgreg

Date

2007-10-02T16:05:37-06:00

ID

95980

Comment

How about clearing up the facts and allegations made by two warring factions?

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2007-10-02T16:27:25-06:00

ID

95981

Comment

This isn't my story, but my impression is that Franks announced it, and then media badgered Hood into a statement on it. We've all seen that he has a tendency not to come out swinging in many cases until he has to. Some would consider that gentlemanly. Personally, I think he should have exposed this then as well. But I don't think he answered now because the election is a few weeks away. It came up because the election is close, but blaming that on Hood doesn't make a lot of sense in this case.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2007-10-02T17:54:36-06:00

ID

95982

Comment

Metal detectors might have kept this even from happening in the Baptist Hospital milieu; however, without an intervention, it was going to happen. It there was any chance of having a survivor in this case, the hospital was the place for an attempt at life-saving. My heart goes out for the care-giver who felt so helpless and without options.

Author

justjess

Date

2007-10-03T08:51:26-06:00

ID

95983

Comment

I thought I was on the Murder Suicide at Baptist Hospital link. I'm sorry.

Author

justjess

Date

2007-10-03T08:53:18-06:00