Jackson Jambalaya

A Madison County child molester will have to sit in prison for the rest of his life after the Mississippi Supreme Court denied his appeal in April.

Samuel Young was convicted of sexual battery in 2016.  Madison-Rankin District Attorney Michael Guest stated in a press release:

Madison and Rankin Counties’ District Attorney Michael Guest announced today that Samuel Terrail Young, Jr. was sentenced to life in the custody of the Department of Corrections without the possibility of parole after being found guilty, through a two-day trial, by a Madison County jury for sexual battery.

            On June 28, 2015, the Ridgeland Police Department received a 911 call from a woman who had been sexually assaulted at her Rice Road apartment in Ridgeland.  Police responded and spoke with the victim who told officers that shortly after 10:00 p.m. she was in her apartment and went into her bedroom where she was confronted by an unknown male.  He demanded money from her and when she failed to turn over any money he began physically assaulting her.

The intruder ordered her to remove her clothes and he sexually assaulted her in her bedroom and living room.  During the attack he repeatedly told her that he would kill her if she screamed or called the police.  He also ordered her not to look at him during the assault in an attempt to prevent her from later identifying him. 

After speaking with law enforcement, the victim was taken to a local hospital where a sexual assault kit was completed by medical personnel and turned over to investigators.  The sexual assault kit was then submitted to the Mississippi State Crime Laboratory in an attempt to develop the DNA profile of the rapist.  The kit contained seminal fluid and the crime lab was able to obtain a DNA profile for the unidentified suspect.  The profile was run through the national DNA database, CODIS, and was matched to the DNA on file for Samuel Terrail Young, Jr. 

It was determined that Young was currently on federal probation for bank robbery and a weapons violation.  The Ridgeland Police Department issued a warrant for Young’s arrest and he was taken into custody with the assistance of the Federal Probation Office.  A search warrant was later issued to obtain a DNA swab of the defendant’s person and that sample was matched to the DNA profile obtained from the sexual assault kit.

            Guest stated, “Young is violent and dangerous habitual offender who had been out of jail for one week before committing this heinous crime.  He has shown that he will not abide by the laws that govern our society and will now have to spend the rest of his life in prison.  This conviction and sentence removes another violent criminal from Madison County streets forever.”                                             

            Guest concluded, “The victim in case was extremely courageous to report the crime committed and to later tell a jury what occurred.  Her testimony, combined with the evidence produced by the Ridgeland Police Department and the Mississippi State Crime Laboratory, gave the Madison County jury the evidence needed to find Young guilty.  This conviction is an example of how the justice system can work when the police, prosecutors, the judge and jury, come together to hold accountable those who break our laws.”

            Young has numerous prior felony convictions.  He was previously convicted of Aggravated Assault in Madison County in 2008, Bank Robbery and a Felon in Possession of a Firearm in United States District Court in 2011, and Automobile Theft in Hinds County in 2012. 

           

            District Attorney Michael Guest was sworn into office in January 2008 and represents the Twentieth Judicial District, Madison and Rankin Counties.  For more information regarding the District Attorney’s office, please download our app @ daguest, follow us on Facebook and visit www.daguest.com,  

Defendant:

Name:                          Samuel Terrail Young, Jr.         

Address:                       159 Wheatley Place, Ridgeland 

Date of Birth:               December 14, 1987

Justice Dawn Bream wrote the order.