Jackson Jambalaya

Rankin County attorney Mike Brown* is back in jail again after Rankin County Chancellor Dan Fairly found him in contempt of court. He ordered Mr. Brown held without bond until he repaid $37,190 to the estate of Nick Ray, Sr. Mr. Brown is currently free on bond from a similar charge in Hinds County. Mr. Brown is currently suspended by the Mississippi Bar after Hinds County Chancellor Dewayne Thomas ruled he embezzled in the McClinton guardianship.

Charla Ray, the daughter of Mr. Ray, filed a petition with the Rankin County Chancery Court in 2001 seeking appointment as a conservator of her father after he started suffering from dementia. The court appointed her to be the conservator. Mike Brown represented Ms. Ray before the court. The file shows the annual accounting of the estate required by law was repeatedly filed more than a year late with the court and only then after the court sent notice of the past due status. Mr. Ray lives at the Veteran's Home in Kosciusko.

Chancery Clerk Larry Swales filed a notice of past due accounting on January 9, 2012. The notice stated the acccounting was two years past due. Chancellor Fairly removed Mike Brown as the attorney of record on February 2, 2012 and ordered Ms. Ray to hire a new attorney. The Chancellor also appointed John Dongieux as Guardian Ad Litem and ordered him to investigate the estate and report his findings to the court. Judge Fairly ordered Mr. Brown to deliver all documents concerning the estate to attorneys Joshua McRory or Adrian Mills.

Mr. Dongieux submitted a report on May 23 that was rather damning in nature to Mr. Brown and Ms. Ray. No notice wass given to family members when the conservatorship was established as required by law. There was no inventory of the estate. No accounting was filed in 2001 or 2002. The guardian said the pair spent money without approval of the court. Numerous checks ($10,470) were written to cash (Sounds familiar). Ms. Ray wrote checks totaling $51,523 to herself. Ms. Ray sold a parcel of her father's land in 2010 and wrote a check to herself for $21,000. She claimed it was repayment of a loan she made to her father right before she was appointed conservator. The loan was never disclosed to the court. The guardian said since it was made right before the conservatorship was established, Mr. Ray may not have been mentally competent to make the loan.

The guardian said Ms. Ray wrote more checks and claimed more loans. Loans that were not disclosed to the court and took place in 2001 and 2002- when there was no accounting. The "loans" were $25,000 and $8,,500. Mr. Dongieux called them "disturbing" and said she had a "conflict of interest". The guardian also said she opened and closed a savings account for the conservatorship and disbursed $20,000. However, the guardian said it could not be determined why the account was opened or where the money was spent.

Then there is our old friend, Mr. Brown. Ms. Ray wrote several checks to Mike Brown. One check for $16,500 was written at the closing of the sale of the parcel mentioned earlier. Mr. Brown said it was for money owed to him. The guardian said he never filed his claim with the court and it is invaid. He also pointed out the rules of professional conduct prohibit certain business "transactions" between lawyer and client. Mr. Ray issued Mike Brown a deed of trust on his land right before the conservatorship was established.

Judge Fairly had enough and scheduled a hearing for May 26 for the conservatorship. Mike Brown's attorney, Clayton Lockhart, filed a request for a continuance with the court. He claimed he was due in Hind County Chancery Court at the same time. However, this correspondent attending the hearing in Hinds County. The hearing was a contempt of court hearing for Thomas McClinton. However, the hearing was continued. The only parties who appeared were Mr. McClinton and his lawyer. This correspondent heard Judge Dewayne Thomas say Precious Martin told him the previous Friday he had a conflict and could not be in court. Judge Thomas postponed the hearing until July.

Judge Fairly held the hearing anyway and ordered both Mike Brown and Charla Ray incarcerated in the Rankin County jail until thy purge themselves of the contempt of court charge. Ms. Ray must repay $60,804 and Mr. Brown must repay $37,190 and transfer "the entire file" for the conservatorhip to the guardian. Mr. Brown is still in custody.



*Michael J. Brown. Do not confuse him with other attorneys in town named Mike Brown.