Jackson Jambalaya

Why did it take 15 months to charge him? Justice delayed...

@5:30 Because we have this silly little thing called the Fifth Amendment which says in pertinent part:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury,

In state court we do not have a grand jury just sitting there waiting but rather only convenes several times each year. It takes time to investigate and properly present a case and for all you know it took more than one stab at it in this case.

Of course we'd be better off if we could just stone the guy to death the day it happened. There's an old Iranian "blue law" that allows for that but then we'd have to adopt Sharia criminal procedure.

Many lives ruined, damaged, and hurt. What a tragedy all the way around. This case should be followed by every school in the area and the students should understand exactly what happened, what is happening now, and be interested in the outcome. Real life examples go further to impress than all the warnings ever written.

That little phone will be the death of many unsuspecting souls.

DUI- but under the influence of what? Alcohol, pills, dope, ect. ?

Unfortunately most of us can't point a finger, but can only say "There but for the grace of God, go I". 7:05 you are correct this is a lesson for all of us to learn from. Don't know the young man or his family, but I bet if he could say something he would say the glance at that phone wasn't worth it.

To the last comment, no not really. You dont know that "young man". Because that "young man" posted a selfie of himself driving down the road not 6 months later. I'd like to think that he'd learn his lesson by now, but that unfortunately does not seem to be the case.

Hopefully the time it took is directly related to how airtight this case against him will. He took sons, fathers, husbands, brothers, and friends from a lot of people.

I'm constantly wondering why our state legislature does not do what's right and pass a meaningful 'cellphone or handheld device' law. We all constantly see people driving and texting and yucking it up, distracted, on their phones, running off the road, veering into the opposing lane, often slowing to a speed that makes us think they're smoking weed. Yet we have a $25 fine that has been enforced 10 times in four years. Such a law may have had no impact on this tragedy, but it could keep a hundred others from happening.

Mississippi bans all texting by all drivers already. Blaming the Legislature for this is idiotic.

NPR: “Policymakers who have become increasingly concerned about drivers using cell phones now have a new worry: According to a study of four jurisdictions that have banned the use of hand-held devices while driving, the laws have not reduced accident rates.

“It found that month-to-month fluctuations in collision accident claims didn't change before and after cell phone bans took effect. Nor did accident patterns change compared with those in nearby states without cell phone bans”

And you'd think NPR would be on the ban side. But the science isn't showing an appreciable effect.

But, hey, pass another pointless feel good law or amendment. Name it for folks riding motorcycles who have 21 times the death rate of car drivers, so it sounds good.

Do some Resolutions. Organized a Geezer Harley parade!!! Feel good. Change nothing.

Mississippi's law says only certain behavior is against the law: text messaging, emailing, instant messages, posting to social media.

GPS navigation, answering phone calls and opening Spotify is legal, because the law is narrowly tailored.

It's also very difficult to prove. An officer who claims a driver is texting would have to subpoena phone records to be able to issue the citation. What law enforcement tries to do now is get them on another charge -- reckless driving, running a stop sign -- that happens as a result of texting or using the phone.

Another caveat: texting while driving is a civil penalty, filed through justice court. Imagine officers having to drive all the way to justice court to file the affidavits and leave their jurisdiction.

Bottom line: it's a weak law that doesn't even impact their driving record.

I can't even count the number of troll comments I've submitted doing 80mph on I-55 heading home to Gluckstadt.

The law needs to enforce hands free phone use, and the penalties need to be stiff -- approaching DUI offense levels. At least the drunks and druggies are looking at the road.

7:00 - Good answer. I thought it might have been to give trolls and bitchers like 5:30 something to jump onto blogs about if they didn't have anything else to complain about.

Whoever said something about the Fifth Amendment and Grand Jury...the grand jury clause is not incorporated against the states. So state law requires a grand jury for “nonpetty” crimes, but the Fifth Amendment doesn’t have anything to do with this. Just FYI.

I trust the Judge took away his cell phone.

"Mississippi bans all texting by all drivers already. Blaming the Legislature for this is idiotic."

Remember the year Mississippi finally put a seat belt law in place? $25 ticket. Same with texting while driving (which can't be proven). And YOU call me an IDIOT for bring this to your attention.

"Mississippi Bans...", my ass!