Hinds County Circuit Judge Jeff Weill disqualified Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith from participating in any pending cases in his courtroom. Judge Weill said the order does not apply to other Hinds County prosecutors. Mr. Smith was arrested yesterday on six counts of illegally contacting defendants. One charge alleged that Mr. Smith tried to get a grand jury "to pressure a sitting judge" to drop charges against Christopher Butler. Judge Weill referred to a "sealed report" provided by Special Master Amy Whitten in his order.
The order is posted below but here is the juicy part:
Kingfish note: It is my opinion that this charge is probably the most important one of the charges filed yesterday and probably the most overlooked by the media. Stay tuned.
Based upon the extensive findings of a sealed report by Special Master Amy Whitten and a sealed order of Senior Circuit Judge Tomie Green, the district attorney has been engaged in improper use and abuse of the sacred grand jury process. Despite a clear ruling requiring regularity in the grand jury process, the improprieties have continued very recently, according to sealed filings submitted earlier this week. The undersigned cannot simply ignore the fact that the district attorney is taking actions consistently contrary to the sacrosanct legal purpose of the grand jury. Accordingly, the undersigned finds it necessary, under these unusually exigent circumstances, to disqualify the district attorney from all participation and knowledge in the grand jury process. This includes a prohibition from participation by proxy through directing any district attorney staff members....
Importantly, district attorney staff members are not disqualified by this order....
48 comments:
Amy Whitten is a lawyer with a well established reputation of integrity with 100% credibility. That's it for RSS. He's done. He is done. He can kiss his ass good bye.
When RSS starts talking his comments we go similar to "I am innocent. I was framed-framed I tell you" then it will lead into "the man" has had it out for me. Can a brother not get a break? Its a conspiracy! "They" made me open my mouth and talk. I didn't want to do it NO I didn't want to do it.
It is stupefying that this once proud and prosperous city has become such a shit storm.
Judge done already found RSS guilty. Gee I question whether any person is 'presumed innocent' in his court.
7:23. No, RSS has just made his guilt plain enough that it is just a matter of time before action is taken.
7:23 Judge did correct thing.
@7:23 They aren't.
6:08, Started by Kane Ditto.
Weill and the Constitution should never be mentioned in the same sentence. RSS is probably guilty but Weill doesn't get to make that call.
Interesting. Shuler Smith says he was in the process of a grand jury
investigation of AG personnel and alleges improper procedure in Weil's court. Now Weil seems determined to get Smith out of the grand jury room before he can take any action. Even though he has not been convicted or removed from office. Shouldn't take the Supreme Court as long as the last time to knock down Weil's order.
Smith has funny-looking eyebrows and a strange affect.
Hey 6:08 this city has always been a shitstorm. Just depends on who the proud and prosperous was.
NO the ONLY people presumed and found innocent or very very little consequences in Weill's courtroom are those of his choosing with money, status and /or raised in the same area (Taylortown--Brookhaven) as himself (Weill).
Come one, come all to see the battle royale: it's the Kushites vs. the Democrats with some Republicans thrown in.
Keep the phrase, "fight your enemy where they are not" in mind as you gaze upon the shitstorm that was just shoved on to the front porch.
This Summer promises to be long, hot, and very VERY interesting with a sultry plot J.G. only wishes he could concoct.
@8:15
That's not a strange affect, that's the physical manifestation of a drug problem.
I don't understand this. I presume there are facts of which I am unaware. I certainly do not condone criminal behavior, and, if proven against RSS, then he should suffer the appropriate consequences. However, how does Weill have the authority to make rulings in multiple cases (all pending criminal actions) without something being placed into dispute by one of the parties?
On another note, it appears that Weill believes the real crime committed by RSS is helping out those criminals. If he had cheated to get them into prison Weill would've probably given him a medal.
11:33: read Jeff Weill's Order. RSS has a conflict in continuing to appear before grand jury proceedings when he stands accused of misconduct in supervising those grand juries.
11:33: read Jeff Weill's Order. RSS has a conflict in continuing to appear before grand jury proceedings when he stands accused of misconduct in supervising those grand juries.
It's all going according to the plan.
Most of the opinions posted here so far seem to have a bias one way or another. I don't have a biased opinion since I don't really have an opinion of the man's guilt or abilities.
Nor do I know weill, have never seen him. But it seems popular to be attacking him as a diversion here.
But, this post appeared above and seems the only rational one I've seen so far. Makes perfect sense:
"11:33: read Jeff Weill's Order. RSS has a conflict in continuing to appear before grand jury proceedings when he stands accused of misconduct in supervising those grand juries."
It's Tylertown, not Taylortown, and Tylertown is close to McComb.
the bombshell in all of this is the "extensive findings" in the sealed reports of Special Master Whitten and Judge Tomie Green, and RSS's continued violation of whatever was determined to be illegal in those sealed reports.
at this point, those sealed reports should be removed from seal and made public. the current indictment/arrest of RSS appears to be the tip of the iceberg.
Weill and Allen joined at the hip. Allen takes care of Weill's fundraisers so Weill knows he's a crook but doesn't care. Does anyone find it suspicious that this motion was filed two days after Conway Twitty Hood dug up RSS's misdemeanors? You dumbasses who are also referred to as Ben Allen's "blog dogs" need to educate yourselves before you post dumbass comments. BTW how many times have we heard Ben Allen say "you can sue a ham sandwich?" Could that be his post earlier where the ham sandwich can be indicted?
RSS Brexit!
Disbarred. Hahahahahahahahahaha RSS!!!!
Going, GOIng, GONE!!!
KF, in the sealed cases, 16-26, 16-355, and 16-543, do you recognize any of the defendants? Meaning what ties to they have to Robert? Did he also represent them before becoming D.A.?
Kingfish, What's with all the sealed criminal case files? Is that normal? I can understand (sort of) sealing stuff related to grand jury proceedings, but once charges are filed and it's out of the grand jury's hands, isn't the public entitled to know who's been charged with what and how the cases have been disposed? It looks like the defendants in the three sealed cases cited by Judge Weill and Amy Whitten are Hammond, Essex and Beal, but that's pretty much all we can see online.
Those are sealed files. How should I know?
Some of RSS's friends are shooting their mouths off on Facebook about people he indicted yet there are no indictments for them in the clerk's office. They might want to think twice about posting any grand jury secrets on social media.
If RSS has any real friends, they'll be trying to get him into rehab. I'm betting his friends fall into two categories: 1) the people who sell him drugs and do drugs with him and 2) political cronies.
But is it normal to seal a criminal file?
Not defending RSS here, but a Circuit Court Judge has just stripped a duly-elected, constitutional office-holder of his powers based on sealed orders, sealed reports and sealed case files. We're acting on the assumption that more indictments are forthcoming which will explain everything, but what if they aren't??? God knows the FBI and AG have taken a collective yawn at some pretty obvious corruption elsewhere in this City.
And besides, the AG had full access to these secret reports, orders and files when they filed charges against RSS - but the affidavit doesn't say one thing about them. If they weren't sufficient to support criminal charges, then how can they be sufficient to support Judge Weill's order? Was RSS given any kind of notice and an opportunity to defend himself before this order was issued??? Try convincing Judge Weill to issue a temporary restraining order without notice to the other party (which is essentially what this is) and count the hoops he make you jump through. And even if he granted it, you'd have to be back in Court within ten days, with the other party present and defending himself, to make it stick.
Try putting the shoe on the other foot. Suppose we had a white D.A. and Judge Green issued a similar order based on similar "secret" findings. I wonder what the reaction here would be?
Again, not defending RSS - but the lack of due process here is pretty disturbing.
Not @10:00 AM, you aren't defending RSS because you are too busy trying to introduce and play a race card.
It is Judge Weill's assumption of supervisory authority over another elected official that bothers me. Who gave him the power to say who prosecutes in his court? The Bar? The Mississippi Constitution? It seems to me that there are processes in place to deal with ethical violations and/or criminal matters that disqualify one to practice law or to hold elected office. What's wrong with letting those processes work? Or, are those processes too slow for God Weill's liking?
I think it says a lot about God Weill that he can't follow the process in a situation like this. It explains his apparent disdain for Due Process in other contexts as well.
And if the secret documents are as bad as Judge Weill implies, then surely they'd support some kind of criminal charges more serious than than "helping a criminal defendant." Which raises the next question - did the AG intentionally "undercharge" RSS in order to force him out of office without having to go through a jury trial? Since there's no jail time involved with the charges filed, it looks like the best RSS can hope for is a bench trial conducted by a special master appointed by Phil Bryant (assuming all the Hinds County judges recuse themselves).
RSS may be rotten to the core, but do the ends really justify these means? It may be tactically brilliant, but a lot of folks who voted for RSS over Stanley Alexander are going to be justifiably pissed.
We suspend police officers pending investigations when there is an allegation of something serious. Nothing different here. He shouldn't be anywhere near a grand jury.
Police officers under investigation have a host due process protections, starting with knowing what they're being accused of.
Railroad RSS if you want to, but get used to saying "Mayor Lumumba" again. Because that's where this is headed.
Are you serious, 10:52? He's well aware of the accusations. Maybe he doesn't know the details of what is in a sealed report, just like a police officer wouldn't immediately know the factual findings regarding an investigation into an allegation of wrongdoing, but he damn sure knows he's being accused of abusing the grand jury process.
Railroad RSS if you want to, but get used to saying "Mayor Lumumba" again. Because that's where this is headed.
Dream on. Jr. is going to struggle to make the runoff after all of Chokwe's behind-the-scenes abuses of the city treasury get exposed. You ain't seen nothing yet.
It really doesn't take a genius to figure out the reason the files are sealed. It happens quite bit anytime the law wants to make some kind of deal with a criminal. It happens when the law does not have anything to show but wants the person to be forced to do what they want. For a person to be forced to do something the law wants they have to be guilty of a worse crime.
It is all smoke and mirrors. All of them are guilty. They just don't want the people to see how crooked our law system really is.
Jacksonians needs jobs! Who outsourced the new water/sewer/garbage billing system to Detroit?
Judge Weill should have issued a Show Cause order for contempt and had a hearing with both sides represented before issuing such an order as he did. Just saying, my perspective as a former Circuit Judge
Judge Weill seems to reflect the sentiment of all those who hate anything that can be associated with Jackson, whether deserved or not. That is sad. If an elected official (not a police officer) like Smith can be Ordered by judicial fiat out of his official duties by a Judge without due process, what's next? Lynching? If a "conflict of interest" with the grand jury is indeed at stake, there is a judicial process for hearing and proof which could be scheduled post haste. But it appears that the intent here is not to wait for judicial process to play out but to stop Smith from certain grand jury action adverse to this Judge's interest. Sad. If Smith has to face justice let justice be fair and impartial. Otherwise, Cut to the chase and just lynch him. This is Mississippi.
Lynching? ... Cut to the chase and just lynch him.
Hyperbole much? You are a dumbass.
Jacksonians needs jobs! Who outsourced the new water/sewer/garbage billing system to Detroit?
Good question........I haven't received a water bill in four months.
Judge Weill read the sealed documents from the federal court. He made his judgement
It's SO tiring to see the same old bloggers busy spinning more racial warfare propaganda.
Admittedly, there's too much racial injustice and hatred in Jackson (both Black and White). But, this indictment isn't about race, party politics, or social status. It simply deals with a serious allegation of public corruption. RSS will have his day in court. So, why don't let the process do what it's supposed to day, secure integrity in public officials, while also observing due process rights.
Everyone is a dumbass...........and a racist~~~!!!
Go get em Jeff! And don't let the wimps worry you about what's "legal".
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