The Justice Department issued the following statement.
Tommy Joe Harvey, the former Chancery Clerk of Simpson County, was sentenced to 2 years’ probation and a $5,000 fine for depriving a person of their civil rights under color of law, announced U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca and Special Agent in Charge Jermicha Fomby of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Jackson Field Office.
Tommy Joe Harvey, 74, was the Simpson County Chancery Clerk from 2004 through May 31, 2022. According to court documents, on April 28, 2017, A.R. was in court for a child custody hearing. During the hearing, A.R. became upset and left the courtroom before the hearing was over. A.R. was ordered back to the courtroom. Tommy Joe Harvey overheard the disruption. Moments later, Harvey found A.R. in her vehicle which was parked across the street. Harvey told one of his employees to bring him a can of pepper spray from inside his office. Harvey told A.R. to compose herself and not drive away or she would be pepper sprayed. Harvey pepper sprayed her while she was trying to drive away. Harvey then told two Simpson County Sheriff’s Deputies to handcuff A.R. After she was handcuffed, and while being escorted to the courthouse by the deputies, Harvey pepper sprayed A.R. several more times.
Harvey pled guilty on February 23, 2022, to deprivation of civil rights under color of law.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jessica Terrill and Deputy Criminal Chief Erin Chalk.
27 comments:
Does anyone know what happened to "Idiot of the day" from November, where it was a murder for hire. It said sentencing May 16th, but there have been no follow from the media.
The deputies took orders from a clerk? WTF? This guy is a bully.
That old dude needs to be serving some jail time.
With all the serious, deadly, violent, crimes occurring all over the country, this is what the FBI and DOJ spend 5 years of their time and my tax dollars investigating and prosecuting?
The invocation of the phrase “Deprivation of Civil Rights” tells me this old white boy thought it was still 1962 in Mississippi instead of 2022. Notice to all white boys: You can be expeditiously prosecuted and sentenced to Federal Prison for being a racist in the current year.
Ole Tommy Joe just didn't know any better. Back in the day nobody would dare question the authority of Mr. Tommy Joe or any other old white man around the court house. He was only tryin' to keep order. Times they are a changin'.
a thug chancery clerk?
now thats not something you see everyday.
My eyes and ears must be deceiving me, all the crime in the metro area must be cleaned up when the FBI and the DOJ have time to investigate this heinous pepper spray case, in Simpson County. I think I’ll go to downtown Jackson tonight and take my family, surely it’s safe.
@2:17 PM - Give that a try, and be sure to drive there in your F-150 and leave the keys inside, along with a couple of handguns and an AR-15. What could possibly go wrong? Set an example of how safe Jackistan is, right?
//sarcasm mode off//
Had he been a much younger man, he would’ve received a far longer sentence. I doubt this conviction will affect the remainder of his career or stop him from collecting his PERS.
I understand that there is very serious crime occurring, but this needed to be prosecuted. I cannot believe that a Chancery Clerk pepper-sprayed a woman who was in handcuffs. Insanity.
My source indicates that he has been a bully since 2004.
She’s disobeyed the judge. She disobeyed the chancery clerk. And she disobeyed the police.
He is white. She is black. That’s all this is about.
@4:12 - he knew the law and broke it. Lock the thug up.
Catch and release. Squawk! Probation, how fitting.
There’s a reason no one respects police and the justice system in general. This piece of trash clerk and the judge who slapped him on the wrist just gave them more reasons. Hopefully his sorry ass had to pay out the civil awards personally instead of the taxpayers.
4:12 So if she had been a white woman he could have pepper sprayed her and maybe even beat the hell out of her and everything would have been alright huh?
We white folks are soooooo persecuted.
So the Feds under guidance of Herr Mike Hurst, tried to prosecute Tommy under the color of law which didn’t apply to him. Then they tried to prosecute him saying that that mace was a deadly weapon. Everytime they were preparing to go to court the US Attorney office would delay. They money whipped him till he had to cop a plea cause they had no case against him. This lady was a meth head who had her children taken away. There was no bailiffs in the court so Tommy did all he could do.
"She’s disobeyed the judge. She disobeyed the chancery clerk. And she disobeyed the police."
It's OK to not be OK...and the person who posted that quote, above, is NOT OK. Other than supervision of his staff, a chancery clerk HAS no AUTHORITY to tell anybody to 'obey' him.
Surely the woman he pepper-sprayed (numerous times) will sue him in his personal and professional capacity. Chancery Clerks are the highest paid, do-nothings in the entire gamut of public employment.
According to the arrest report, posted above, in a few days, this case would have been FOUR YEARS old. Why would an assault case, handled by the feds, languish for four damned years?
To all of you folks who think this is not a big deal, imagine if this had happened to your wife, daughter, sister or mama. In one of those cases I am not sure the clerk would have been around for sentencing. Just think about that again.
What is appalling besides what this guy did is that he was giving orders to LE that were being followed. He was just a clerk, mind you.
Finally, I am surprised he wasn’t arrested for assault and battery on the spot. Well, maybe I am not surprised.
I’m spending the day saying her name and taking a knee.
Like 4:12 Tommy Joe had one of those 1960 flashbacks. Maybe somebody was humming Dixie and he just forgot...
June 17 @ 1:47: Being racist isn't a crime. I'm not defending it, just saying that the state can't prosecute someone for being a racist. People have a right to be wrong, as long as they don't break any laws.
That said, this guy should have been prosecuted under state law, not by the feds. He was clearly acting as a law enforcement officer, which is outside of the scope of his employment, and he assaulted this woman. He could have and should have been prosecuted for assault at the state level, in my opinion.
I wonder if she even made a report to the local authorities, or just ran to the feds claiming her civil rights were violated.
11:27 Um, with all due respect, this guy is a longtime Simpson County good ole boy. An elected official. Simpson County. You're going to go to the Simpson County, Mississippi prosecutor to have him charged and arrested? DUH.
A chicken goes to Col. Sanders for justice. That's smart. This may not be 1960 but some things make sense and some things don't.
The victim isn’t African American. Sadly, the idiots that assumed the race of the victim are voters and potential jurors.
4:44: "Chancery Clerks are the highest paid, do-nothings in the entire gamut of public employment."
Uhh...I'm pretty sure Community College Presidents have them beat.
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