U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate dismissed Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike Randolph from the NAACP's federal lawsuit challenging HB #1020 - but not before he said a few things about Jackson crime:
Jackson’ s crime problem is sweltering, undisputed and suffocating. The FBI crime statistics tell the sorrowful story: In 2020, Jackson reported 130 homicides—a record number at that time. In 2021, Jackson surpassed that record with at least 155 reported homicides—“the highest per capita murder rate in the nation . . . . [h]igher than Birmingham, Atlanta, Detroit, and even Chicago.” [Docket no. 34-4 at 3]. In 2022, even with a 14% decline in homicides, Jackson reported 138 homicides that year, and Jackson’s “homicide rate still managed to surpass every other major city in the U.S. for the second straight year.” Id. at 20. Homicides may be the headline grabber, but Jackson’s other violent crime categories battle for equal condemnation: Rape, Robbery, Aggravated Assault, Sexual Assault, and Burglary rates continue to be among the highest nationwide, per capita. Caught in this “race to the grave” are the most innocent- young children whose still developing lungs had barely tasted the nutritious air which was their birthright. On the other end of this “killfest”, are the senior citizens hoping to spend their golden years in retired harmony with family and friends, instead of outfitting their homes as fortresses, fearing any strange noise around their houses and dreading the prospect of having to arm themselves. Jackson street gangs, who successfully recruit the impressed baby-minded school dropouts who “wannabe gangsters” when they grow up, figure prominently in this story of a City coming apart and in search of enduring glue to hold it together."These “facts of Jackson” have cripped the criminal justice system, especially with a police presence which is crying for reinforcement. Once this proud City boasted a force of approximately 400 sworn police officers, with applicants aplenty vying for the occasional vacancy which occurred. Now, the situation is markedly different. Jackson now has a police force of approximately 258 sworn officers, with hardly any applicants. Many welcome recruits take the oath, undergo free police certification in a 28-week regimen 7, then take the earned certification, valid anywhere else in the nation, to another State/City where the pay is much higher, and the job danger is much lower. Jackson points to its fiscal dilemmas as the source of its plight-- fiscal concerns rooted in, inter alia, downgrading of the City’s bond rating, urban blight, growing vagrancy, a dysfunctional city government, and a poverty-stricken citizenry. Regardless, Jackson has a crime cancer.
The Mississippi Legislature has taken notes, but not in the manner Jackson desires. Jackson laments that it is in dire need of state funds for its endeavors, for its police force, and for courts and its personnel. The State Legislature, nervous about sending money to Jackson for its courts, passed H.B. 1020. As above-mentioned, H.B. 1020, §1 aims to bring additional judicial resources to bear on the problem of reducing the ongoing strain on Hinds County’s overburdened criminal-court system8. The Plaintiffs herein, though, cry foul and accuse the Legislature of accelerating the process of “taking over Jackson” by whites. The Chief Justice is white. Most of his temporary appointments in Hinds County have been white, while most of Hinds County, as a whole, is mostly African American9. Smelling a conspiracy in the making, Plaintiffs manifest that H.B. 1020 is but a piece of this “takeover hijacking” by the State, which recently has seen the squabble over the control of the Jackson Municipal Airport; access to federal transportation funds; access and control of federal funds "to assist with Jackson’s drinking water systems; and allocation of the sales tax revenue collected in Jackson.
Judge Wingate pointed out Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens said there were over 2,600 cases on the Hinds County Circuit Court docket in 2021. There were another 600 cases where the defendant had not yet appeared before a judge.
After opining on crime cancer, Judge Wingate moved on to the issue of whether the Chief Justice should be dismissed from the lawsuit. The jurist reviewed several Supreme Court cases and said judges enjoy absolute immunity for judicial acts. The plaintiffs argued Justice Randolph's appointment of the HB #1020 judge was not a judicial act and thus is subject to suit. The bill allows the Chief Justice to "pack" the Hinds County Circuit Courts with unelected judges that do not represent the population. Chief Justice Randolph posited the appointment of said judges is a judicial act and thus grants him judicial immunity.
Judge Wingate said the NAACP focused on process while ignoring the crime problems of Jackson:
The criminal justice system in Hinds County is in crisis. The Capitol City of Jackson has led the nation in homicides per capita. The Hinds County District Attorney’s docket is overwhelming.
Plaintiffs herein do not address the crime problem and whether four (4) additional temporary special circuit judges could assist in alleviating the burgeoning crime problem. Plaintiffs focus, instead, on: the Chief Justice’s independence; the non-requirement of Hinds County residence; the “appointment” versus the “elective” process; that the number of special judges (4) to be appointed was not based on Hinds County population nor the number of pending Hinds County cases. Plaintiffs also argue that H.B. 1020, in its text, does not justify the need for additional special judges due to an overcrowded docket. Plaintiffs, thus, focus on the effect of the appointment process.
Citing Mississippi case law*, Judge Wingate held the appointment of special judges under the much-maligned HB #1020 is a judicial act. The plaintiff's arguments against the appointments are better suited to a discussion of whether the bill is constitutional instead of whether the Chief Justice enjoys immunity from this lawsuit. If the Court determines HB #1020 is unconstitutional, the Chief Justice's power to appoint Hinds County circuit judges under the bill will be nullified.
Kingfish note: Hmmm..... this opinion seemed to escape the attention of Mississippi Today even though it employed a "crime" reporter and two political reporters. Heaven knows HB #1020 has received more than its share of coverage at the publication.
* Vinson v. Prather (So. 2d 1053 (Miss. Ct. App. 2004)
62 comments:
Sounds like the judge has a better grasp on what's going on in Jackson, than the current administration........
Cliff lives in Water Valley. He good.
I am certainly willing to be corrected, but at the very least it appears the University of Missisippi Law School is paying Cliff in his quest to get HB 1020 declared unconstitutional .
It's like someone is in the water drowning and I'm standing on shore with a life preserver. I yell, here catch this and they say "where are you from". I say "Madison" and they say "I don't want a damn thing from Madison". So they drown.----I can't wrap my mind around the fact that some people would rather have high crime and chaos. I guess it's like the old adage, I'd rather be captain of a sinking ship than to relinquish any control to someone who might save it. I can't understand why the average person in Jackson isn't marching in the streets to oppose those that are pushing this nonsense. Don't they understand these people aren't having to deal with Jackson's problems. Hell, most of them are from out of state.
Jackson leaders don't care.
And the minions will defend those same leaders while their home is actively being robbed and blame it on white people.
You cannot fix people who assign blame to the wrong culprit.
"The bill allows the Chief Justice to "pack" the Hinds County Circuit Courts with unelected judges that do not represent the population."
Kind of like federally appointed judges?
"Cliff lives in Water Valley. He good (sic)."
He also aware. On his drive to Jackson, he never considers locking his car doors until he reaches Canton, southbound. Then they're locked for the duration.
Okay. Jackson has a crime problem. You know. I know it. Everyone knows it. We get it. How is this news? Oh, wait…. It’s not news. It’s clickbait for confederate flag waiving yahoos to get on here to suggest building a wall around the city and to propose that every car with a hinds tag get pulled over and arrested.
That’s about right, isn’t it? What point does this story serve? Your readers want the city to burn just as much as any gangbanger. You are feeding the trolls (which seems to be an pattern) and are doing the rest of the area a disservice while doing it.
The Barksdalers aren't going to spend even a minute being truthful about the stewardship of Jackson. Honest coverage of Democrats is simply a bridge they will not cross. JJ publishes and presents more diversity of opinion than you will ever find available there.
Looks like it is time to spray for the piss ants again KF.
11:44 translated:
We get it. The house (Jackson) is on fire.
We don't need your fire trucks or your mean words.
We like our fire.
Just shut up and send cash as your white guilt compels you to.
another ballon release will fix all of jacksons crime problems....relax.
The NAACP is not serving blacks at all! They are contributing to the crime wave.
11:26AM, crime is a Democrat tactic. It’s how Democrats gain control and keep control of cities for decades while failing miserably.
If the crime went away the Chokwe chumps of America would have to find another job since folks that don’t vote Democrat would move back in.
It’s really very simple.
12:26 translated - "Jackson may be a sack of dung, but it's our sack of dung".
11:51....please elaborate on what you mean by a "Barksdaler". I don't get it.
Most all the black people I talk to in Jackson don't care who arrests someone as long as they are arrested and put in jail. Judge Wingate needs to help take over the city this is ridiculous. What is left of money in the capitol will move out and that will be it. Look at the downtown business that has left. When my lease is up next Summer you will have another empty building near Highland Village. Now that school is out watch the Summer numbers climb with the 16 year old's stealing things.
The quicker y'all realize that their goal is to watch it burn, then the quicker you can move on. They(they being those elected and in charge) have no desire to actually fix the problem. It is all planned and calculated. It's out of the Rules for Radicals playbook. It's an actual published book by Saul Alinsky and the people that fawn over Chokwe and his ilk use them like pawns to create and harbor destruction and chaos. Just like we've seen in San Francisco, Seattle, New York, the border crisis, Missouri, Chicago, etc. Every city that elects radical officials have the exact same result when they convince the ill informed elect these type people.
Thank you KF. I haven't heard a peep about this elsewhere.
WLBT covered it as did Magpul Tribune
WLBT did as well as Magpul Tribune
11:44, I guess you missed the part of the article that talked about "Mr. Johnson's argument that Jackson's crime problem is "no worse" than anywhere else as he told Chancellor Dwayne Thomas."
So, not only is the Lumumba administration pushing the narrative that crime in Jackson really isn't that bad, its attorneys make that argument on the record in open court. Plus, none of the city leaders acknowledge the gang problem.
Lumumba stopped releasing crime statistics six years ago so that he can maintain plausible deniability and lie about it.
So yes, these findings of fact by a federal judge are important because they definitively resolve what has been a debate about whether Jackson does, in fact, have an outstanding crime problem.
No different here in Jxn than any other shithole city with massive fatherless households. “Households” may be too kind.
1:30, there is no “debate.” We all acknowledge it. Are you really too dense to realize that? Or are you just so eager to jump on the screw Jackson train that you are willing to ignore the obvious to defend kicking Jackson while it’s down.
This is a non-story meant to generate clicks for Kingfish while doing not a thing for the public good. Kingfish should do better, but I’m sure that he won’t.
I am glad that his honor didn't mention gangs in Jackistan, because Chowke has been emphatic about there not being any gangs, none, nada, niente. Right?
11:44, this IS news. Not the kind of news that pleases a social justice warrior like you, but news nonetheless.
1:57pm: "Public Good" has no common meaning, it is wholly subjective or 1020 would not be challenged.
Ah yes, 1:57.
The old, don't talk about the crime and horrors because we all already know about it.
That bass fisherman who was killed while visiting, would probably disagree with your sweep-it-under-the-rug tactic if he were alive.
Talking about crime is bad. But the only thing your elected leaders do about anything is, talk.
And you are ok with them talking?
1:57, a federal judge making comments like that, contradicting a mayor who refuses to address or even acknowledge the problem, is certainly news. Will it also generate clicks for this blog? Of course it will, but that does not make it “clickbait”.
Thanks, for reporting on this interesting news, Kingfish.
This is a non-story meant to generate clicks for Kingfish while doing not a thing for the public good. Kingfish should do better, but I’m sure that he won’t.
You're an anonymous stalker of this business and calling for the owner to do better? That's rich.
Start your own gig. But you won't. You lack the stones.
2:08, is calling 11:44 is liberal really the best that you’ve got? Quite underwhelming…
I'm just curious. When WLBT and Magpul reported the same information, did you go say the same thing on their Facebook pages where they were posted?
Remember when JJ uncovered the emergency EPA order about the water system in spring 2022 and a reader said the reporting was much ado about nothing? Probably the same guy.
I’m gonna need to hear from a Jackson “Thought Leader” before I have an opinion.
Still don't understand why anything out of the city of Jackson is news. This news and any news out of of Jackson should not shock anyone. These incompetent bunch of dumbasses can't even keep an air conditioner running in a library. But its " about the kids" right? The reason you can't get the AC fixed is the contractor is probably scared of being shot or having all of his tools stolen and probably doesn't want to wait 6 months or longer to get paid.
“Jackson has a crime cancer”
Water is wet.
Fire is hot.
This WILL NOT change. Why are we even giving Jackson any of our time? It’s a distraction at this point and, like a tiger, cannot change its stripes.
Avoid Jackson. Let it fail. They get what they deserve.
11:44
No one wants Jackson to fail. I would love to see it succeed. I would love to be able to go eat at one of the fine restaurants in Jackson without being strapped. However good that meal might be it’s not worth having to shoot it out with some dumbass wanna be gangster. I would love to go to New Stage without having to worry my vehicle won’t be there when I return to it. The sad, sad, sad situation is that Jackson is burning and the current crop of “leaders” think it’s a damn weiner roast! Get your house in order.
"You are feeding the trolls (which seems to be an pattern) and are doing the rest of the area a disservice while doing it.
June 12, 2023 at 11:44 AM"
That post baffles the sensibilities and intelligence of normal folks. Of course we can debate 'normal.
So, posting news is feeding trolls? Reporting reality is doing a 'disservice'? How's that?
What would this clown at 11:44 prefer? Don't talk about this shit and it will all eventually go away,right? That, like the city not reporting crime statistics, will equal 'doing a service', correct?
If we don't know it, it's all cool.
Wingate
He has hundreds active cases on his docket many from decades ago.
He was so far behind the 5th circuit removed him as chief judge.
It looks like he has a new found interest in resolving cases though…and it may be good for Jackson
11:44 ad 1:57, you say that everyone is acknowledging that Jackson has a crime problem ? Not true, not true at all. The Mayor denies it, and Cliff Johnson, who is fighting HB1020, just told Judge Thomas that Jackson's crime problem is no worse than anywhere else...which isn't true either. As Judge Wingate noted, in 2021, Jackson had the highest murder rate in the country per capita, as it did in 2022. Your position is we shouldn't talk about it and should just ignore it and hope it will go away ?!? You gotta be kidding me. No, the way you force politicians like the Mayor to do something about it is to keep talking about it and put pressure on them to stop denying it and finally do something about it. What has the Mayor done to hire more JPD officer and try to slow the crime in the city ? Name one thing. I'll wait.
I know you don't like facts, but ignoring this fact doesn't make things better; it only makes them worse. Sticking your head in the sand and hoping it goes away doesn't work.
Kingfish, the answer to your first question is yes. The answer to your second (implied) question is no.
Nice try though. Again, do better.
It must irritate the mayor to no end that federal Judge Wingate is black - & that he's not towing the city's progressive, socialist, racist line.
1:57, Who is "we," as in "We all acknowledge it"? Certainly not Mayor Lumumba, or his attorneys, or his Chief of Staff Omari, or . . . .
Is cliff johnson a bolshevick or just soft on crime ?
Wing ate was the first black Hinds County assistant district attorney under DA Ed Peters.
Not everyone makes such assumptions based on color, 5:45.
Here are the rules for radicals by Saul Alinsky, interesting
The Rules
"Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have."
"Never go outside the expertise of your people."
"Whenever possible go outside the expertise of the enemy."
"Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules."
"Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. There is no defense. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage."
"A good tactic is one your people enjoy."
"A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag."
"Keep the pressure on."
"The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself."
"The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition."
"If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside; this is based on the principle that every positive has its negative."
"The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative."
"Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."
I like the Judge's cancer analogy. There is no cure, only treatments. Sooner or later the city will die; the treatments only increase the odds of death by something else other than the cancer over the course of time they buy the city.
Fatherless children?
As Jon Lovitz would say, "yeah, that's the ticket."
Why does no one bring up this fact?
11:44 and 1:57, is that you, mayor?
11:44
Bless your heart.
Nobody brings up the 'fatherless children' fact because Kingfish usually doesn't that reality through the radar.
Look, you people out there, black people will never trust white people no matter what white people say or do. That's exactly why they don't trust the appointed judge proposition.
They demand to elect black judges. Why? Because they're black and they demand black judges.
They would vote for a black person with a ninth grade education before they'd vote for a white jurist who is graduated from the finest law school in the country (of their choosing).
Nothing will reverse this reality other than the passage of two more centuries of time. And DEI, reverse apartheid plus teaching social justice in elementary schools will only prolong the process.
11:44/1:57 same person
If you had lost a loved one to crime and violence in Jackson you would also want to talk about it.
If you had watched your business investment lose all value you would want to talk about it.
And if you knew your home was worth pennies on the dollar compared to what you purchased it for when decent people still ran the city, you would want to talk about it.
But you renters who collect government checks don't have any skin in the game. So you bloviate and attempt to protect your moronic leader. You are useless.
Someone help me out here. When did law and order become associated with “confederate flag waiving”? I mean really??
Surely changing the state flag, and taking down Confederate statues has improved the racial situation.
I suppose the next thing we will hear is law, and order is based in white supremacy.
The last two posters are 100% spot on. (8:23 & 8:44)
Sad but so true... the divide is widening.
8:23, KF frequently comments on unwed pregnancy and fatherless children, as do multiple commenters. I know this because they are published on this blog.
The Lumumba administration is founded on a platform of Black Nationalism. His father's organization, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, represents a tiny sub-set of black people. You might try using a smaller brush when you paint pictures.
9:48: The North won. Please move on.
If you still live in Jackson, it’s too late to sell. Hunker down, arm yourselves, learn jiu-jitsu, set Rambo-like booby traps on your property. Harder times are coming. If it were me, I’d leave, even it meant dropping the keys off at the bank and doing a foreclosure. Alive without credit is better than becoming a victim in Jackson trying to do the right thing financially. Your city is not lost, it’s dead and not coming back.
If you still live in Jackson, it’s too late to sell.
Those who lose the most are those who think it is too late to sell.
It is never to late to sell.
1:34 ...or I won't get any commission. Truth.
Ok 11:44am… just what in the flying 17 do u think should be done to
help Jackson? I’ll hang up and listen…
6:47 (who likes to talk in code), I'm not 11:44 a.m., but I have an answer to your question. Here 'tis...HB1020. What's yours?
Did you see what I did, there?
As a witness to seeing Randolph practice law before being appointed to the Supreme Court, he is the best litigator that I have ever witnessed. I can assure you that he did not take the supreme court job for the money! He is a strong Christian man that is doing this to serve the people which is what are country is lacking! He is one of the most honest and humble person that I have ever met. We are very luck to have someone with his expertise at the top of our court system.
Post a Comment