Two State Auditor employees can now live without the cloud of indictments hanging over their heads. Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith withdrew the indictments against Dave Huggins and Karei McDonald in December. Mr. Smith obtained a grand jury indictment against them in March 2016 for allegedly trying to obstruct the investigation of former Downtown Jackson Partners President Ben Allen.
A Hinds County grand jury indicted David Huggins and Karei McDonald for "first degree hindering prosecution by obstruction" on February 26, 2016. Mr. Huggins is the Deputy State Auditor and Mr. McDonald is an investigator for the Office of the State Auditor. The indictment alleges Huggins tried to prevent the "results of the investigation of Ben Allen from being conveyed" to the District Attorney. The McDonald indictment makes the same allegations as well. Questions were raised about Mr. Allen's spending as Executive Director of Downtown Jackson Partners two years ago by a part-time employee, Linda Brune, who claimed to be a whistle-blower.
A grand jury indicted Mr. Allen on ten counts of embezzlement. The jury only convicted him of one count. The Court of Appeals threw out the conviction and declared Mr. Allen to be a free man.
The D.A.'s motion to withdraw the indictment states:
2. Subsequent to the issuance of the indictment in the within Cause, the prosecution of Benjamin Wade Allen, III, was successfully tried and a Hinds County Petit Jury returned a guilty verdict against Benjamin Wade Allen, III, for the offense of embezzlement on February 7, 2017.Circuit Judge Tomie Green approved the motion presented by Assistant District Attorney Jamie McBride.
3. In light of the Benjamin Wade Allen, III, conviction, the State is of the opinion that it is both proper and in the interest of justice that the State seek an order of Nolle Pros in the within Cause.
WHEREFORE, the State request this Court to accept this it's motion for a Nolle Pros and enter an order Nol Prosing the within Cause.
Kingfish note: A bullshit case presented by an out of control District Attorney. Indictments should have never happened.
16 comments:
"Nol prosing?" Seriously? You can't add "ing" to a Latin legal term and make it a verb.
I agree with your assessment 100%. Total bullshit. I would only add that they - the law enforcement officers - were indicted for hindering the prosecution of their own case. They told RSS that it was at worst a civil case and he subpoenaed their investigative file. When they wouldn't turn over their investigative file because they were still investigating, he indicted them. This was all within days of his antics with Judge Priester. He was either really on or really off his meds around that time.
8:23, might as well be pig Latin
Robert Shuler Smith is a complete psychopath. His actions completely destroyed any possibility of successful prosecution of Ben Allen or recovery of any funds on behalf of the property owners in Jackson. His response to the Auditor's Office attempting to convince him the file was not completed, was to (lie) mislead a grand jury into wrongful actions which later led to the case completely falling apart during trial and on appeal. Thank god he will not continue as District Attorney in Hinds County and hopefully will never hold a position of power in any government office in the future. Let him return to defending scumbag drug dealers, murderers, and sex offenders. This is exactly where he belongs.
Wasn't it McBride who was indicted with Smith by the AG, then made a deal with them and now he is dismissing two indictments against State employees? Hmmm. And why put in the Motion they are being dismissed because Allen's case resulted in a conviction? Seems to me it should have been based on higher court throwing out Allen conviction. If basing the Motion on his being convicted, seems like they would instead go forward and try these indictments because there were in facts crimes committed by Allen and these two withheld potential evidence .
Smith just needs to find a cave and disappear.
RSS POS
Hard to believe the FBI never pursued charges. They had someone present during his trial.
I refer to the trial of Robert Smith when I said the FBI was present during his trial
Jamie might wish to be "nol prosed" for the entire sentence, "WHEREFORE, the State request [sic] this Court to accept this it's [sic] motion for a Nolle Pros [sic] and enter an order Nol Prosing [sic] the within [sic] Cause." C'mon, Mississippi lawyers...I know it is just Mississippi courts and law but would a little proofreading be all that difficult?
Come on, @11:41, don't condemn all of we Mississippi lawyers for this assistant D.A.'s bad grammar!
December?
One Old Lawyer said...
"Come on, @11:41, don't condemn all of we Mississippi lawyers for this assistant D.A.'s bad grammar!"
I've met Jamie and from the little bit I know, he seems a decent guy. I'm mostly razzing. OTOH, I hate to see lawyers make stupid mistakes because it either supports the jokes or offers support to stereotypes. Sure, everyone makes mistakes but I would suggest that lawyers have an obligation to be de minismising them....just for them thar quasiesque Latin fans out there.
Kingfish hit the nail on the head. BS and never should have happened.
9:38. What are you talking about? There were no funds to recover. Nothing was ever taken or stolen. How can you recover something that was never there in the first place? The rest of your post is spot on.
RSS got his comeuppance. I wonder if the other vehicle involved was the Karma Bus. She is a very powerful and unforgiving force. Good riddance.
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