Jackson Jambalaya

Almost as lenient as Judge Bill Gowan of Hinds County is on child molesters. A child molester can actually plead guilty to 5 felony counts of molesting children and Judge Gowan believes that it's acceptable to suspend all of the jail time so not one day is served in jail. See the Langworthy case from a few weeks ago. Please let's not be insulted by any campaign advertising in the next election from either of these judges stating that they are "tough on crime".

Not to belittle the point of the post - cause it's damn serious and needs attention, but no mention of the DA or an ADA? Did I miss that important reference? wtf?

In Langworthy, Judge Gowan ignored the law and refused to dismiss a case that should have been dismissed based on the statute of limitations. That's why he hid behind Robert Shuler Smith's recommendation and why they were both eager to see the case go away.

This is extremely disturbing and disgusting.

If Redden succeeds in killing his wife the judge should be charged as an accessory!

I strongly suspect Judge Coleman's wife is abused and wouldn't be surprised if his mother had been as well.His attitude usually comes from a legacy of abuse.

Langworth got his deal because the case would have been overturned on appeal. He got no jail, but the State got convictions and he's on probation and a high risk to violate and get revoked and go to jail.

Lee Coleman was the long-time attorney for the Clay County BOS and in PERS as a part time contributor. He ran for judge to get a 4 year high as his basis for retirement. He's not evil, he's not really bright though, and shouldn't be on any bench. I suspect he's just naive. There was no plea bargain involved in this case, the DA office is pretty pissed off about the sentence.

The shocking part of all of this is the location of it. It's not often that you hear of "lenient" sentences coming from the 16th Circuit Court District, which is Forrest Allgood's turf (i.e. the last place where you want to get charged with anything). I guarantee that the DA's office is pissed about this, but I would bet you that there is more to this than has been reported.

9:35 and 10:39 -

Langworthy was found guilty pursuant to his own plea. Once he did that, the Court had every right to treat him as the felon that he is. The Court chose not to do that. Not sure if you are an attorney or follow Miss. Supreme Court criminal cases, but take a look and see how often the Court overturns a guilty plea. While I realize that criminal defendants have many considerations in taking their please, obviously Langworthy and his attorney were not confident that they would win on an SOL issue or they would have called the DA and the Court's bluff. No sir, there was much more to this case than meets the eye. As with the case in the 16th Circuit Court District, Langworthy had some bargaining power that caused his high ranking brothers and sisters at Morrison Heights enough heartburn to call in some favors.

"Coleman's move to sentence Redden to unsupervised probation appears to be a means of circumventing a state law that prohibits anyone who has been on probation from being placed on probation again without serving jail time."

Um, if this is true, well, that's a problem.

If I were Ginger Redden or her attorney, I would be filing complaint with the Bar (which is procedural, at best, because they don't seen to give a damn) then I'd be filing lawsuit against judge. The lawsuit against the judge won't hold up in court, but it darn sure would get the info out there and expose this.

Wife beaten by husband and judge says--au, but he's really a good guy...

12:36, I am an attorney with over 30 years experience in criminal law at the trial and appellate levels. If the judge departs from the agreed plea bargain, the defendant can withdraw the plea and go to trial. Judges, at least good judges, seldom bust a plea agreement because doing so frequently stops plea bargaining and the docket becomes hopelessly un-manageable.

1:37 Judges have absolute immunity so a lawsuit filed would subject the filer to paying sanctions including attorney fees. A complaint to Judicial Performance, not the Bar, could happen but they don't get punished for being stupid, they get punished for violating the canons which did not happen here.

Robert Goza was another spineless judge. Those backroom deals worked wonders. "My bad" was all it took in his court and the offender would get a slap to the back of the hand. Good thing he has passed on.

2:08, appreciate your input.

This is what concerns me:
“Redden pleaded guilty to aggravated assault-domestic violence, a felony that carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.”

“Coleman's move to sentence Redden to unsupervised probation appears to be a means of circumventing a state law that prohibits anyone who has been on probation from being placed on probation again without serving jail time……Coleman called the abuse an "abnormality" and referenced the fact that Redden is a business owner and volunteers within the community. Ginger Redden produced medical records from other instances where she claimed Alan Redden abused her....”

“Canon 2: A Judge Shall Avoid Impropriety and the Appearance of Impropriety in All Activities. (A). A judge shall respect and comply with the law and shall act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary. Because it is not practicable to list all prohibited acts, the proscription is necessarily cast in general terms that extend to conduct by judges that is harmful although not specifically mentioned in the Code. Actual improprieties under this standard include violations of law, court rules or other specific provisions of this Code. The test for appearance of impropriety is whether, based on the conduct, the judge’s impartiality might be questioned by a reasonable person knowing all the circumstances.”

The test for appearance of impropriety is whether, based on the conduct, the judge’s impartiality might be questioned by a reasonable person knowing all the circumstances--That’s what I would want to get to----what are all the facts, would a reasonable person knowing all of the facts rule this as an “abnormality” or “abuse”.

I'd also be getting a restraining order.

4:10, Ms. Fowler is wrong about the probation issue. A prior convicted felon, such as Redden, cannot be placed on "probation", but can be placed on "post release supervision", but must serve at least one day in jail in order to qualify. I'm assuming Redden got credit for one day in jail after being taken into custody on the capias [indictment arrest warrant], so the Judge didn't violate the law although it may have some semantics issues because of his gross inexperiece in criminal law. Agg. Assault DV carries up to 20 years; thus, the Judge imposed a very, very lenient, but legal, sentence; so IMO a complaint with JP won't lie.

Political party affiliation of these reprehensible slime? Inquiring minds want to know...

2:08 Not the case. State, 5th Cir. and U.S. Supreme Court case law states that permitting withdrawal of the plea is within the discretion of the trial court after sentence is imposed. I agree that it is not common for a judge to depart from the recommendation made bythe DA but this was an exceptional case given the inappropriate deal made by the DA and it was Gowan's duty and within his power to stop it. He chose not to. I seriously doubt that Langworthy would have prevailed on appeal.

The Redden family "businessmen" in Columbus have a long history of "making offers that one can't refuse."

The most egregious example of the miscarriage of justice in Lowndes county is that of the sentences handed down by "hanging"Judge Jim Kitchens in the cases of Gil Dishogh,III and Julian Mingo.

Mingo was an octoroon music instructor hired by Heritage Academy;he was giving private voice instructions to students there and one particular student, who happened to be the son of a Lowndes county law enforcement officer, claimed that Mingo molested him in the process of placing his hands on the student's "diaphram." It took the teenage Heritage student six months to determine that he was being molested. The "case of the Heritage student being rubbed through his pants" went to trial after Mingo refused a plea deal and Mingo received three consecutive prison terms of ten- years each. He lost on appeal.

A few years later Gil Dishoghn,III was charged with the molestation--there was penetration-- of a five-year old male child of a family friend. Gil did a plea deal and was out in two-years. Gil's grandfather was a mover and shaker in the business community with contacts in high places...he owned the Valley Construction Company which was heavily involved in large US Department Defence construction and he had served with the US Army Corps of Engineers before going into the construction business. Valley Construction was the prime contractor in the re-construction of Columbus Airbase into a SAC Airbase in the 1950s.

That weird technique of feeling the diaphram.

There's a statute of limitation on child abuse/molestation?

THAT'S GOT TO BE FIXED!

9:19 - There is an SOL but it did not bar prosecuting the Langworthy case. The posts above that indicated that it did either do not know what they are talking about, are protecting Langworthy and those that let Langworthy have a pass, or both. The takeaway frome the Langworthy case is that the Hinds county DA Schuller-Smith and the "honorable" Judge William A. "Bill" Gowan let an admitted child molester walk free. Why? Langworthy went to Morrison Heights Baptist Church in Clinton. Look at who some of the members and elders of the church are. He confessed on camera in front of the church. Some of these people were going to be asked questions under oath. Did they know and not report or investigate these allegations? What did they know and when? We will not know the answers to these questions. When the truth is exposed in a trial, its not just the truth about the defendant but the truth about others can come out as well. If some of these people knew about this and did nothing, that coudl tarnish images, end careers, or perhaps lead to additional "unnecessary" prosecutions. So, in Mississippi, in order to make the public feel safe, let's jus round up and jail the usual suspects.

All right, the hijack is over. Stick to the post itself.

4:37 PM, thanks for answering my question and the information.

Could the wife get a restraining order against him?

People go through different walks of life. Man kind is more vicious game pitbull dogs fighting. You get mad and ain't no telling what's going to come out of your mouth you get mad and you tell all the secrets that you One build. She probably deserved it she probably did some fucked up shit when you walked past their old dog and you're still up on his tail when he really get tired of it he going to let your ass know

10:12. What are you babbling about? And why now?