Jackson Free Press

Even as Hinds County District Attorney Robert Smith is alleging racism in the Hinds County Justice system, his African American predecessor says that it was her job to find a way to work within the parameters set by judges.

Smith alleged last week in a three-page Jan. 16 letter that he has "witnessed a pattern of conduct, among some white legal practitioners, that are ultimately harmful to the representation of criminal defendants in Hinds County."

"Some white practitioners, under the guise of vigorously defending their clients, engage in a pattern of devising tactics that are procedurally improper, and that are designed to undermine the representation by the state of Mississippi by its African-American District Attorney," Smith wrote.

The district attorney alleged in his letter that Hinds County Court Judge William Barnett worked with county defense attorneys to move up a Jan. 20 preliminary hearing for 16-year-old murder suspect Bruce Wade to Jan. 15 without notifying the district attorney's office nor the Jackson Police Department in time to prepare a proper argument.

"Although there was a county prosecutor available to argue if necessary," Smith wrote, his office was notified that the hearing "was being held at that moment."

The "impromptu hearing," he said, "gave the appearance that this was set in order to give credence to the assumption that the State of Mississippi was unprepared to represent the victim in this case."

News teams had already been alerted of the hearing, and according to Smith, were waiting around to witness and "assign fault to the Hinds County District Attorney's office for the second release of confessed murderers into the community of Hinds County."

This second release would follow Wade's Jan. 1 release, after Smith's office failed to indict Wade for the murder of Ridgeland mother Rebecca Bolton-Mack. Barnett told reporters that he would continue to set release dates for Wade and other accused killers if they're not indicted by a certain date, telling The Clarion-Ledger that "any delays won't be on my watch."

Barnett began threatening release dates in an attempt to speed up grand jury hearings and keep unconvicted detainees from lingering in Hinds County jail for many months, sometimes years, while awaiting trial. Barnett had set Wade's release for Jan. 1 in October, though Smith's office pressed the Jackson Police Department to issue a second arrest warrant on Wade for conspiracy to commit armed robbery arising out of the Bolton-Mack murder.

Smith claimed at the Jan. 15 hearing that he had no forewarning on the matter, although county defense attorney William LaBarr gave Barnett printouts of e-mail delivery receipt notices from Smith's secretary and Assistant District Attorney Frank Jones, showing both had received notification e-mails from the office of public defense.

Acknowledging Smith's ill-preparedness, the judge rescheduled the hearing for Jan. 20. That Tuesday, Barnett set Wade's bond at $25,000, with an April 1 released on his own recognizance date. The district attorney's office did not object to Barnett's indict-or-release date.

Smith disputes the judge's right to enact "time-triggered release" of suspects, pointing out that the defendants had only been in jail for three months, and that the issue of triggered releases had been a contentious argument between the public defender's office and Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Swan Yerger in 2008.

Barnett said he believes county judges have jurisdiction through the preliminary hearing, but that anything following the preliminary hearing is an issue for the circuit court.

Mississippi College School of Law professor Matt Steffey told the Jackson Free Press that Smith's office likely had the power to file motions with circuit court to quash release dates in anticipation of release.

"A circuit judge could certainly modify the conditions of release. There may be some overlap in that period between arrest and first charge and indictment, where it's not clear to me that there's a sharp break in jurisdiction, but as far as I know, he does have the authority to go in to circuit court and ask for a change in the conditions of bond," Steffey said.

Former Hinds County District Attorney Faye Peterson, whom Smith unseated in a contentious 2007 Democratic run-off election with his wide support in the white community, said any racism she encountered in the county courts never manifested in court proceedings.

"If there were rulings that I did not agree with, my function was to find a way to work within the procedures that they wanted to follow. If the judge says he wanted trials to begin on Tuesday, then it was not my place to challenge that," said Peterson, who now works as a private attorney.

"I had to deal with the same issue that Mr. Smith is dealing with, but I found ways around them."

Smith did not return calls for comment.

Previous Comments

ID

143030

Comment

So if I understand what Mr. Smith is saying, He thinks that white defense attorneys in defending their African American defendants vigorously are being racist because they are making him look bad? I think the fact that Mr. Smith has failed to indict a "confessed killer" in three months is making him look bad. How long should a defendant be denied their freedom before they are indicted? Either make a case that they have committed a crime or let them go. We all have a right to a speedy and fair trial. This whining letter makes him look even worse to me. It makes the District Attorney seem inept and instead of taking responsibility for mis-steps, delays and lost messages it seems to me he wants to use race to say they are picking on him. I am not an attorney but I thought a judge had to issue an arrest warrant? Not the J.P.D. Is that wrong?

Author

WMartin

Date

2009-01-22T09:35:28-06:00

ID

143033

Comment

Let's be honest about this situation. What Smith is attesting to is more of the same that Peterson faced. She just found other ways of dealing with racism. I think that Smith's honeymoon in the white community is over and if he does not do/say what "they" want, when "they" want and how "they" want, there is resentment. Don't worry, "they" will find someone to run against him come re-election season. The money flowed like a river from the "they" to melton as he told all of the lies to unseat Johnson. What goes around a horses back, buckles under his belly.

Author

justjess

Date

2009-01-22T10:02:09-06:00

ID

143050

Comment

I would like to see the letter, because it's not clear to me even what the content of the racism charge may be. Is the DA arguing that various judges are trying to embarrass him because they are racists? I do not doubt that there are many, many, many racists in Mississippi's legal system. Get a couple drinks in half the attorneys from MC and wait for the filth to spill out. I am also confident that Smith's white supporters will turn on him. There seems to be a pattern in Hinds County politics. White support--read northeast Jackson--goes to a black figure such as Melton who pledges to serve that interest in some way. In Melton's case, it was conducting military operations against the inner city. It would have been very hard for a white man to do the same. Then, after their candidate has failed to resolve Jackson's endemic problems, they can throw their arms up and declare, "These black politicians can't do anything right! We need to build that containment wall, I tell ya!" Racism aside, Smith has an obligation to indict suspects in a timely manner.

Author

Brian C Johnson

Date

2009-01-23T11:33:52-06:00

ID

143058

Comment

I have read the "letter", and after doing so I sincerely hope that the cases that Mr. Smith presents to juries are better prepared than his letter. It appears that Smith is making Mt. Everest out of an ant hill. The letter was included in a PDF file attached to this article earlier this week. Donna, maybe you can re-attach the letter so Brian and others can read it. I saw where Peterson commented that rather than make allegations of racist conduct she chose to work within the system. Maybe Mr. Smith should follow her advice. It seems to me that Mr. Smith is tearing a page out of the Melton book of politics. He is attempting to blame his lack of success on ANYONE other than himself. Frank blamed it on the city council for not giving him carte blanche to employ his crime fighting techniques (Why don't they just let Frank do his job). It appears that Smith is attempting to blame his problems on "The Man". Whatever the case may be, Mr. Smith has a very high profile case on the horizon (Sherrod Moore)in which he has repeatedly told the media about the mountains of evidence that he has against Moore. Cases are argued to juries, not white lawyers or judges. And I seriously doubt that the jury will be predominantly white. Ergo, Mr. Smith is running out of excuses.

Author

clarkkent

Date

2009-01-24T12:21:29-06:00

ID

143083

Comment

He is terrible, ill prepared and completely out of his league. Racism is a red herring. He used one example of a white attorney and white judge; I'd love to see him argue that the same doesn't happen with black attorneys and black judges. Being ill-prepared is being ill-prepared.

Author

QB

Date

2009-01-26T19:36:26-06:00

ID

143101

Comment

People need to make their minds. When Faye was running few wanted to come out and support her and KEEP THIS GENTLEMAN out of that seat. Now, it's "well faye this, and well ms. peterson that"... Many didn't want Faye P. in office because she didn't kiss Frank's ass and Robert did. Now he's there...with NO FRANK....and you see what you have to deal with. I say just stop complaining and VOTE FOR THE RIGHT PERSON in the first place. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see through the new DA, yet, Faye Petterson lost. Actually, I agree with justjess on this, "I think that Smith's honeymoon in the white community is over and if he does not do/say what "they" want, when "they" want and how "they" want, there is resentment." ....first time for everything i guess. LOL

Author

Queen601

Date

2009-01-27T16:23:27-06:00

ID

143102

Comment

Thanks for saying that, Queen. I don't know why so many people in this community don't want to pay attention to the actual facts. Regardless of what is true about Smith now—and I am refraining from judgement on that—Peterson was clearly the far superior D.A. choice of the three running, as we pointed out repeatedly in detailed stories, investigations, endorsements—that just in turn got us personally attacked, just as when we covered Melton (and from the same bunch). It was similar to Melton in every way: people didn't seem to give a damn about actual facts. I really am getting tired of saying, "we told you so." The thrill of that wears off quickly, considering the damage that can be done to the city by our residents repeatedly falling for hype and lies that are easily discounted. Of course, people turned their heads away from realities about Ed Peters et al for many years. So this is a long-standing habit, but clearly a bad one. Remember all the scumbags coming on this site and trying to spread trash about her, and talk disgusting about her because she was a black woman (of course, Melton started it)? They seem to be feasting on their words now. Pray this year's city elections will be different. There are some encouraging signs so far, but give 'em time.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-01-27T17:28:49-06:00

ID

143103

Comment

BTW, after saying all that, I must add that I believe there are very, very serious problems in our judicial system here that the media have helped cover up (at least by refusing to cover) for years now. And there is racism in there. Again, that passes no judgment on Smith's letter, or anything else about him, at this point. We did not support him, but I have tried to give him a chance to prove himself one way or the other.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-01-27T17:30:35-06:00

ID

143104

Comment

clarkkent, you're right. We should post the letter; thought we had. But in the Best of Jackson madness, all bets are off. ;-) I'll try to get it up shortly.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-01-27T17:32:29-06:00

ID

143107

Comment

My entire problem with Smith's letter is that he wasted three pages of text and only gave one example, albeit flimsy, of racist behavior. The example that he gave was nothing more than a defense attorney trying to get his client out of jail by scheduling an expedited hearing. I'm sure that Mr. Smith has tried to do something similar in his past career as a defense attorney. What I can't understand is how an email that was sent at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday to three people (Smith, Smith's secretary and ADA Frank Jones) was not seen prior to a hearing that was scheduled for Tuesday morning of the following week. Who is steering the DA office ship? And is someone asleep at the wheel? Rather than the honeymoon being over, I think Smith is finding that the job of being DA is much more complex than his handlers led him to believe. There is more to being DA than making catchy one liners, yet another Melton tactic. He has yet to realize that defense attorneys only owe an obligation to their clients. Queen, both you and Donna are correct in that Peterson was in fact the most qualified person for the job and had done a commendable job during her tenure. But the masses did not know this because of the negativity that was begun by Melton and irresponsibly spread by the CL. I thank you and the JFP for attempting to spread the truth but as you said saying "I told you so" gets old real fast. By the time the CL figured out that Peterson was the best candidate, the cancer that had spread through the Hinds county electorate had gone too far to be reversed. Maybe the citizens of Jackson will figure it out in the upcoming municipal elections.

Author

clarkkent

Date

2009-01-27T22:26:34-06:00

ID

143109

Comment

I wonder would Peterson attempt to run for the DA seat again in two years. I'd like to see her do it unless someone even better runs.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2009-01-27T22:30:56-06:00

ID

143110

Comment

Her character was so assassinated by fools, golden, that I doubt she would consider it. Thus, the only decent D.A. this city had had in years was probably run out of public office. Nice going, Jacktown.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-01-27T22:55:10-06:00

ID

143111

Comment

Thanks, ClarkKent. Sadly, this city has been addicted to sensationalism and fooled by dishonest and incomplete journalism for so long that it's going to take a while to change. We're in for the long haul, though.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-01-27T22:56:45-06:00