Jackson Jambalaya

Is RSS invincible? What the F?

RSS wins on a technicality, but doesn't win much. South won the first few battles in the War of Northern Aggression, but ended up losing the Civil War and all that went with it.

RSS still has problems with (1) the pending bar complaints and (2) the existing felony indictments and (3) the fact that he has lost his marbles.

Won this battle but could lose it again if Judge Weill wanted to bring it back up and give notice. But there are bigger fish already in the frying pan - that will end up cooking his goose.

(I have no more word play analogies, so I'll leave it at this for now.)

No, he isn't. The Supreme Court correctly held that RSS wasn't provided due process rights when Judge Weill stripped him of his key job responsibilities. They simply sent it down to the special Judge, Larry Roberts, to decide the issues and give RSS an opportunity to present a defense before taking it up on appeal. RSS is going down and rightly so. I don't know if it's a substance abuse problem, pure corruption, or a combination of the two which are driving his bizarre behavior, but the man has no business being a prosecutor. He has thoroughly demonstrated that he cannot be trusted with the awesome powers of that office and, once due process runs its course, I think that he will be lucky if his only punishment is removal from office.

read the order. all nine justices agreed RSS was denied due process with Weill entering the order without notice and a hearing. child molesters get due process before they are sentenced. grow up.

The Teflon Rob. Let's hope the Teflon wears off and this guy finally gets got.

what is the source of RSS's base/power in Jackson?

2:39, and that's all they ruled. They didn't address any of RSS's real problems or his future. He can go back to pretending to be a prosecutor until his day in court (currently, mid-December) gets here. Then he will be lucky if his only contact with the jail administrator is trying to set up meetings with some of its occupants.

Such vitriol. All of you will be greatly disappointed. It is clear that you have an axe to grind regarding issues that have nothing to do with the stated complaints against RSS and most of us know it. Too many "fine, upstanding thugs" are involved and know their butts are on the line. RSS will walk.

Yes, there are several people that have an axe to grind because we have a district attorney that is more interested in protecting some of this counties drug dealers - for whatever personal reason - than doing the job that he is getting paid $100k per year to do. Watching him in action it appears that he might be spending a lot of that $100k with his friends that he is protecting.

I'll admit to the vitriol because I want these thugs prosecuted when and if law enforcement gets them off the street and into the jail. I don't want my prosecutor stumbling into a courtroom where he is not a party and trying to inject himself into the case to protect his friends and take care of his defense attorney buddies.

Ditto 4:59. And I don't think that, based upon his history of wielding the grand jury subpoenas as a weapon, he should be allowed access to such power. Prosecutors have a huge societal responsibility, and he has clearly abused that authority by subpoenaing and indicting (or trying to indict) other law enforcement officials, judges, and others and then hiding his tracks by using grand jury secrecy laws. The guy is totally out of control. In addition to being probably the single greatest reason that Hinds County's criminal docket is so backlogged, the guy is totally preoccupied with abusing his powers. Mississippi's largest county deserves better.

@2:39 - Actually, the order does not say all nine justices agreed he was denied due process. Justice Kitchens had recused himself and did not participate.

His 'weill' will not be done- so sayeth the Supreme Court -So who is abusing process now?

Thy Weill be done.

People are missing an important fact. Individuals should be concerned when an elected judge denies any person in there court due process. The denial of due process is a greater threat to democracy than people realize. However most people don't pay the evasion of constituional rights in a courtroom attention until Fox news can find a way to blame it on Obama.

5:16; Not to disagree with your point, but, Hinds is NOT Mississippi's largest county.

Hinds is Mississippi's largest rapidly shrinking county and arguably one of the most dysfunctional.

3:13 AM. Get some sleep. Yes it is. Google is your friend.

So now RSS has access again to a grand jury - at least for a while. What happens if he indicts Weill? or Stanley Alexander? or that strange green fellow hiding under his bed?

It was the right ruling. A public official should not be stripped of his duties without a hearing. It doesn't matter how much someone hates or loves the current D.A., he has a right to defend himself at a hearing. The Judge denied him that right and the Court made the right decision.

Are you saying you don't believe in the Great Gazoo? Heretic.

Well, Kingfish, a judge does have the right to tell you (or me) to get out of his courtroom and never appear in it again. And if you ask to be heard, you are escorted out, swiftly. How is that justice? Too much power is not a good thing.

Weill is such a joke. How many times does he need to get reversed on appeal before the electorate finally notices?

weill has been reversed so many times he walks backwards

I have seen judges kick people out of their court who were not dresses like the judge wanted them to dress. Even told the people they would be found guilty just for the way they were dressed.

Weills reversal rate -compared to other Hinds judges -is third of four. And compared on a percentage to judges across the state is in the middle. All you Weill haters -mostly lawyers who aren't allowed to run ruff shod in his courtroom, at least admit either to the facts or to your bias, one or the other.

Too much power blurs the vision and can't see what's right and what's yo two cents!

Mississippi Code: 25-3-35

Circuit Court Judges annual salary: $136,000
District Attorney salary: $125,900

The focus should be on the abuse of power by any judge. This isn't the first time, either.

He tried to tell the AG to take over a prosecution. Supreme Court said you can't do that.
He tried to take cases from the public defender. Supreme Court said you can't do that, either.
He tried to take power from the DA. Supreme Court said you can't do that.

Anyone noticing a trend?

Yes, I notice a trend. He's tired, like most of us, of the failed Hinds County judicial system, trying to actually see that people who are indicted actually get prosecuted and tried, trying to stop a crooked DA, and trying to fix the broken system we all complain of.

The trend is he is trying to get someone to prosecute cases in our courts. The public defender didn't want to; the DA didn't want to. The DA tried to drop a case against his supplier and he required the DA to provide his reasoning in writing (oh, damn! what a ridiculous requirement!) Which, of course the DA couldn't or wouldn't do. That's where a lot of this started - with RSS trying to drop the prosecution of Butler.

Yes - I see a trend. A good one. And amazingly it appears that two other Hinds County Judges see a similar problem with our DA

Weill is pandering to the people who think like 3:34. This is what you get when judges are elected. You get the justice that is popular, not the justice that is just.

4:58 = loser attorney. Weill rocks.

4:58 - this is 3:34 here. Just to tell you that not only are you stupid, and your assumptions and generalizations are wrong. Yes, I wrote the comments about our out of control judicial system because of our 'elected' prosecutor.

But - you will not find a soul in Hinds County, and very few in the state, that has fought, talked, preached, bitched, and everything else possible about the problems of our elected judiciary. I will put what I have done in the last year against all that you have done in your lifetime - or, assuming that you favor it, anyone that you choose to name - in promoting the concept of an apointed judiciary.

I'm not looking for 'justice' that is popular, but I am looking for justice. Hard to get that when the prosecutor doesn't want to prosecute 'certain' accused. Hard to get justice when the prosecutor has interests that protect the electorate - or its family members - to insure his/her position. Hard to get justice when the efforts of the prosecutor are spent on getting his political 'enemies' out of his way so that his former clients can continue their good work for the community.

Come back again when you have a better argument.

All of this babble aside, is there an answer to the dilemma Shuler Smith presents? What is that answer and when will it come? It's hard to believe he has out-smarted everybody involved; but, at every turn in this corn-field-maze, Smith seems to be moving toward his own favorable outcome. Do we look for him to be the mayor of Jackson in a few years?

Still say that RSS sucks AND Weill sucks. Both need to go.

The problem we have is simple. We have too many crooks. Crooks on both sides. It is very hard for the honest person to keep up with the conniving, scheming, and lies put out by both sides.

3:35 (and 10:57), I'm back with what I think is a better argument. Your original comment suggests that public defenders prosecute criminal cases. And because of their failure to prosecute properly, coupled with the failures of the District Attorney, then the judge is left with no other choice but to prosecute these criminals. I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding about the roles of the various actors. Judges are the "umpires" of the judicial system. They are supposed to be neutral. The prosecutor tries to put people in prison. The public defenders try to STOP people from going to prison. My remarks were designed to highlight your misunderstanding of those roles demonstrated by your comment.

I have a suggestion for all of you people on your knees worshiping Weill: if he wants to be a prosecutor, urge him to stand for election for that position. To be perfectly honest, I think Hinds County would be better off, and he would be much happier legitimately arguing to put people in prison instead of pretending to be neutral.

Your new argument is better, but I'M still flawed. In the case at bar the accused was not being prosecuted by the DA

You note that the DAs role is to try to put him in jail. RSS was trying to keep him out of jail and put the AG in jail. The judge (umpire) called the balls and strikesand told the prosecutor/defender to put his argument in writing -not an unreasonable request. Rather, a very proper one which of course RSS did not do.

The public defender role is as you call it as well -but still there are courtroom protocols that they -like everybody else - are to follow.

Rule 1, just like in your analogy, don't argue with the umpire over his ball/strike calling. Particularly don't do it after having been admonished. On the field you get ejected. Same in a courtroom. That argument should be settled outside the courtroom and a particular case.

Lawyers trying to out-talk and out-posture each other.

Back to the only question of importance. Can anything be done to keep Smith out of the courthouse and banished from public employment?

7:59 a.m.

No.

7:59 - not a lawyer, and don't really care about out-posturing anyone. But more importantly, yes - I think a lot will be done to 'get' Smith out of the courthouse. But like most corruption, it never moves as fast as those that are against corruption would like to see it. Don't know whether the December trial date will stay set or if Smith gets it delayed, but once this gets to trial and facts, rather than lawyer posturing, becomes the controlling factor he will be out.

What should be happening, though, is that the bar should be taking action on the many filed complaints. But knowing that the bar has such a stellar reputation for taking action on out of control attorneys, I'm not holding my breath for that to happen.

8:01 - One doesn't need much sleep to debate you.

Mississippi. Largest county (2014); Yazoo, 920 sq mi.

I believe Bolivar may be 2nd. Words have meaning. Large means size.