Jackson Jambalaya

Ridgeland juries are going the way of Jackson's. Prayers for the victim's family, as always.

Did the DA prosecute, or someone from Ridgeland?

Michael Guest what in the world happen?

Composition of the jury???

@9:02

This was NOT a "RIDGELAND" jury. It was a Madison County jury. All of the jurors could have been from Canton or Camden or Flora or Madison. Get the point?

what in the world?!

Clear example of the DA’s Office thinking it was an open and shut case with mediocre preparation. Tom Fortner just went beast mode as usual.

why a county jury for a crime comitted in the city of Ridgeland, a city with it's own police force and courts?

10:50. Because. That is the way the government of laws works. The crime was a state law, not violation of a city ordinance. Cities are "allowed" by state law, counties are created as a part of the state. Violation of a STATE statute are prosecuted and tried by a function of the state - i.e. a District Attorney and a county jury. Because it was committed in the COUNTY of Madison, with its own law enforcement and COUNTY COURTS, is why it is prosecuted by MADISON COUNTY in MADISON COUNTY. Go back to the 0th grade civics class and see if you can pass this time.

city courts have jurisdiction over misdemeanors and traffic offenses only. they only handle preliminary hearings on felonies.

circuit court has exclusive jurisdiction over felony offenses and its juries are drawn at random county wide.

11:23, you could use a refresher course yourself.

I remember a stand up bit Lewis Grizzard did years ago about not being able to find 12 people in Louisiana who thought stealing was a crime...
Looks like the Madison jury pool has reached that step.... dad.

Not having been in the courtroom, I can only assume poor preparation and presentation are at hand. Somebody needs 'a refresher course' alright.

By the time they get it right he will get out on time served. He's been in almost 5 years already.

1) There are some pretty ignorant people commenting on this blog; 2) The only people who could post an intelligent comment on this hung jury are people who heard all of the evidence and the jury instructions. All others are rank speculation.

all you monday morning quarterbacks and legal experts need to understand that by definition, a felony criminal jury trial is not a rigged proceeding with a predetermined outcome. a lot of things can happen in a courtroom, both good and bad for either side.

Mississippi will continue to be a vast wasteland with a few islands that are worth living on. The island around Jackson is getting smaller each day.

IMPOSSIBLE. Only Hinds County does that. We all know that Hinds County never convicts anybody, especially if they are Black. This must be some kind of Black conspiracy to infiltrate Madison County juries. We won't sit still for this.
Back in the good ole days we would get a bunch of the good ole boys together and go down to the jail and ...

An innocent man was killed. Doesn't that matter to people in Madison?
Has Madison became an extension of Jackson? Not a lot of difference in Madison and Jackson if you are a law abiding citizen.

Huh. Crime caught on video. Accused walks free. Who could imagine such a thing happening in these here United States of America? I. Am. Shocked!

Has Madison became an extension of Jackson?

Madison County has become an extension of Hinds County.

Apparently we don't all understand that a mistrial is not an acquittal.

8:37 I know you are joking, but there are some of these bloggers who might condone that kind of action even in 2017. I wish they could understand that a functioning justice system means that even the most heinous perp among us has the right to a fair trial and the benefits and faults of the jury system. This mistrial only verifies the fact that juries in Madison County are not already programmed to convict without due consideration and the state must prove it's case. If the state can do that, they should simply retry this guy and do a better job. Justice is served.

I have personally sat on two juries in the last 10 years. One being last year in the same Madison County court as this mistrial. I was floored that once all evidence was presented the jury room vote was racially divided. The Madison District attorneys office did an excellent job presenting case. Composition of jury is spot on..

You need look no further than who tried it for the State to know it wasn't a slam dunk case. If it had been, Guest would have been trying it. He didn't.

I sat on a jury too... It wasn't the man's race that caused us to acquit him. It was the fact that DA didn't prove their case.

Or, the evidence wasn't sufficient to reach a conviction. It's the government's burden of proof. Don't put this on the jury.

I'll be interested to see how this became a mistrial. Guest got Archie's accomplice to flip and confess. That, combined with all the other elements of the case, should've resulted in life. The accomplice got 45 years:
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2014/02/45-years-in-party-city-murder.html?m=1.

Tom Fortner must be a beast in the courtroom. I think he's representing one of Kingston Frazier's murderers. They better get their stuff air right before that trial begins. Too similar of a situation.

As a practicing attorney, I am amazed that people think if a mistrial happened, it's because the blacks voted not guilty. Contrary to popular belief, blacks vote guilty in all the time in Hinds, Madison, Rankin and every other county there is.

Sometimes, the DA doesn't meet there burden. It's often interesting in a high profile case when the DA doesn't try the case. That often means that dont want to be sitting at the table if a not guilty verdict comes down.

Proving someone guilty is the highest burden and it is sometimes difficult to mean, even when everyone knows the person is guilty.

Lastly, I hear Tom Fortner tried the case. He is a great attorney. Good attorney sometimes mean the difference between a guilty verdict and a mistrial. This is why you see plea deals that the DA doesnt really like but it means the victims family does have to keep reliving what happened and taxpayers dont keep paying for trials that dont produce a resolution.

You better bring your A game if Fortner is the attorney. Go watch those prelims for the Kingston Frazier accused killers and compare him to the other two defense lawyers.

I hope Bill Dees will cut me some slack. At least I did say 'Having not been in the courtroom, I can only assume.....'. That doesn't exactly rise to his bar of ignorance and rank speculation.

PS: Who the fuck does Bill Dees think he is? Anyway?

Does Michael Guest have an A game?

@12:17 - I agree with you there. I also sat on a jury for a case Guest prosecuted, and it was a pretty slipshod investigation and case. Black man acquitted by a mostly white jury in Rankin. It does happen.

On this blog we periodically get to see pleadings and certain other papers sent to the court by attorneys. Most of them are very poorly structured, sloppy in detail, contain misspellings and generally represent mediocre work. I believe the 'practicing attorney' at 2:05 is a good example of that.

15+ years ago an old circuit court judge (now deceased) told me that Fortner was the most skilled criminal defense attorney that routinely practiced in his court. Fortner has only gotten better since then.

Is Joshua Archie's uncle David Archie, that was interviewed on TV, the same David Archie who is the uncle of little Kingston Frazier that was killed a few months ago?

'taint no 2:07PM on here. Try again.

Thanks!
@2:47 PM: I'm a former lawyer with 40+ years of trial experience. I tried to verdict more than 120 jury trials. You?

Has the DA's office announced whether or not they are going to retry him?