Sunday, July 9, 2023

The Kitchens Curveball

A showdown over HB #1020 took place at the Mississippi Supreme Court Thursday.  The oral arguments were following their predictable paths when Justice Kitchens decided to throw a curveball at Solicitor General Scott Stewart as he defended the bill.

 

HB #1020 creates a special CCID court to handle misdemeanor arrests, initial appearances, and preliminary hearings for Capitol Police arrests made within the district.  The bill's creation of such a court  drew the ire of the former District Attorney from Copiah County. 

Doing his best impersonation of an outraged country judge, Kitchens thundered at the Solicitor General that  HB #1020 required the CCID Court to send those convicted of misdemeanor  crimes to serve their sentences at the MDOC prison in Rankin County instead of a Hinds County jail. The mere thought of a misdemeanor prisoner going to the "state prison" outraged him to no end: 

 Have you ever heard of a state court in Mississippi sending someone to state prison for a misdemeanor? 

"Have you ever heard of such a thing? You would rise up as solicitor general of the state against that, wouldn't you?

Mr. Stewart said nothing in the Mississippi Constitution "required" misdemeanor prisoners to serve their time in a county detention center. However, his defense merely pushed the justice's outrage meter up to 11:

There is not a municipal court in Mississippi that can put someone in a state prison for a misdemeanor ,s there, sir? 

The attorney replied none did so "until this one" as the Justice cut him off: 

This is not a municipal court.  The statute doesn't say it's a municipal court.

Isn't it true if a person is convicted of a misdemeanor in this CCID court, and if sentenced to serve some time, even if its just one day or thirty days or whatever it is, that defendant goes to the state prison over in Rankin County?

 

It would have been nice if Mr. Stewart had actually studied HB #1020 because he could have put Justice Kitchens in his place if he had done so.  Section 4(b) of HB #1020 states: 

Any person convicted in the CCID inferior court may be placed in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, Central Mississippi facility.  

Read that sentence again.  The law states the court "may" send someone to the Rankin County facility to serve his misdemeanor conviction, "May does not mean "shall" or "will" unless one is using the Cliff Johnson dictionary. The jurist probably knew this when he claimed the law required the CCID court to use the state prison but fortunately for him, General Stewart had not bothered to bone up on that part of the law and got caught flat-footed, allowing the justice to get away with his little bit of oral sleight of hand.

The CCID court can still send prisoners to the Raymond Detention Center.  Left unsaid was a comparison of the two facilities.  Few will dispute the Rankin County facility is safer for prisoners than the Raymond Detention Center.  How many murders have taken place at RDC over the last five years? Stabbings? Assaults?  The jail has not been able to pass muster under the federal consent decree and won't be doing so for quite some time, if ever. The Rankin County prison will probably be much safer for CCID prisoners until the new Hinds County detention center opens for business in a few years.

The Rankin County facility security classifications range from minimum to maximum.  The offense will determine the classification.  Thus shoplifting or DUI convicts won't be placed with the carjackers and killers as has happened repeatedly at Raymond.  Justice Kitchens probably knew this as well but why let such facts get in the way of a good tirade when some demagoguery is needed to advance the cause. 

Simply put, there is no state prison requirement.  It is nothing more than a red herring conjured up by HB #1020 opponents who are trying every possible argument to block the law, no matter how weak the argument just as a certain group did during the days of desegregation.  Such tricks didn't work then and probably will not work now and that, my friends, is the bottom line.


48 comments:

Anonymous said...

Given your in-depth analysis and clever sleuthing, Kingfish, the word *MAY* still places in the law something that has never been done and is not done by any other municipal court, whether may or shall.

*May*, in this case, is just as awkward and dangerous as *will* and both are departures.

Anonymous said...

A left handed batter can see the spin on the ball with relative ease. If the curve ball isn't curving on a particular pitch, the lefty will swing for the fences.

Anonymous said...

Wouldn’t most people rather go to Rankin than Raymond? I’m no jail expert but my initial reaction is I would.

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't it be nice if the Supreme Court Justices Quoted law and understood what it meant? Either Judge Kitchens is an ignorant dummy, or a judicial asshole.

Shame on me. I think he is the second. Maybe he will avoid such characterization by publicly telling the citizens he serves that he isn't an asshole, just an ignorant dummy.

Anonymous said...

Kitchens doesn’t live in Jackson. Hard to miss that the loudest opponents of 1020 don’t live in Jackson. The vast majority of people who live in Jackson will take all the help they can get and don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water. I’ve heard that some public figures who live in Jackson publicly oppose 1020 but privately support it. I believe it.

Anonymous said...

Most know Kitchens is a libo & buffoon. Sorry for the redundancy.

Anonymous said...

@5:58 please provide actual examples and not just your opinion. I don’t agree with Kitchens a lot of the time, but a buffoon he certainly is not.

Anonymous said...

Very enlightening, this reminds me of the reason Mississippi is ranked 50th educationally and sophisticatedly in the 50 states in this country. Thank goodness Puerto Rico, which is not a state, is owned by the USA.

Anonymous said...

There are several issues here with the "honorable" Justice's outrage: first, his role is to determine the constitutionality of HB#1020 and as Stewart pointed out quite well, there is nothing in the Mississippi constitution regarding municipal courts, much less where those arrested or convicted may be placed. Those issues have been established by statute - laws passed by the legislature, just as this statute was done. If the legislature chooses to send prisoners to a state facility, a half-way house, a homeless shelter, wherever, that's up to the legislature, not the buffoon that likes to entertain himself and his klan. Second, if the 'honorable' Justice has been paying any attention at all lately, those arrested by JPD are not sent anywhere except home because there is not a facility capable of holding those arrested/convicted of a misdemeanor in Hinds County.This of course is due to the total ineptness of the so-called leadership of Jackson and Hinds County - the county cannot run a jail facility and the city cannot (or willnot) fix up the facility the county ahs offered to them for this purpose.

Noting all the issues you raise KF about the accommodations at Raymond - where one's choice would certainly be to go to Central Mississippi both for their personal safety and for their comfort. But the overall issue, as HB1020 is trying to address, is that there is no room in the inn at Raymond because our sitting Hinds County Judges will not bring cases to trial. Defense attorneys have this down pat with constant requests for continuences for their quilty clients that have little to argue in their defense. Many don't want to go to trial also because it would break up their business operations within the pokey at Raymond. WIth this symbiotic relationship, Tyree has no rooms to rent - so where would Kitchens have those arrested sent (even though, as noted, that is not up to him; that's the other branch of government's decision.)

So Kitchens, what is the constitutional issue that you find in this inferior court's ability to house those convicted in a facility not located in Hinds County? I have trouble finding anything about this in our venerable document.

Anonymous said...

If Kitchens sees the flaws and overreach, Tater and his minnows will have to go back to the drawing board. They probably need to build their own jail. Does anyone really think that Hinds county will accommodate them .

Anonymous said...

Kingfish talks a big game behind his keyboard. Would love to see him argue a case before the MSSC.

Anonymous said...

Kitchens IS an asshole. Been around him in and out of the courthouse.

Make no mistake he is an asshole.

Anonymous said...

Oral arguments are a dog and pony show. The judges know what they’re going to do. Oral argument never moves the needle. They’re a waste of time.

Anonymous said...

Attn 7:33PM Build a jail? Have you been to downtown Jackson in the last Ten Years? It is a jail!!!!! I have wealthy friends who have not been able to move from their offices in downtown Jackson who drive 15 year old cars to work and park them with the doors unlocked to prevent bursted windshields

Anonymous said...

The entire comment section minus one comment in particular speaks of a lack of intelligence on behalf of the blog's readers.

Anonymous said...

The entire comment section minus one comment in particular speaks of a lack of intelligence on behalf of the blog's readers.

One thing is certain. That one sole intelligent comment to which you refer is absolutely not your own.

Anonymous said...

@8:44pm - Welcome to Mississippi, where the general population has an average IQ of about room temperature. The ones on here are a few points higher since they can somewhat read and figure out how to type up and submit their ramblings, but not by much.

Anonymous said...

@8:25PM
You know, I'm thinking you could've combined your sentences to lessen the Dr. Suess-like, elementary composition. For example: Oral arguments, dog and pony shows, never move the needle. They're a waste of time as judges stick to the script.

Anonymous said...

Scott Stewart came to Mississippi for one reason, and one reason only. Now that the Dobbs case is over, it's time for him to move on to some place where people equate fast-talking and incredulous reactions with intelligence.

And Scott, when a judge or a justice starts talking, you stop and wait for him to finish, then you respond. Plus, it's just plain rude to talk over someone.

Anonymous said...

I was honesty expecting Justice Kitchens to ask the Solicitor General :

" What is a yute ? "

Anonymous said...

Most titled positions are statutory. There is no such thing as Mississippi solicitor general. Lynn just made up a job to do her job

Anonymous said...

The C-L said the HB 1020 has no provision to appeal a decision?

Is this correct?

Anonymous said...

Whether Kitchens is a liberal asshole or not, he brought up a valid point - and arrogant Stewart's tap dance was fun to watch. Lawyers only tap dance if/when they're nervous, frustrated, or just plain busted on an issue because they're wrong.

Stewart wasn't "trading blows" with the judge either, he was taking them.

Anonymous said...

5:48 PM, Kitchens really doesn’t live in Jackson??? Please don’t tell us he’s another leftist Democrat hypocrite that lives in a safe Republican controlled area, maybe even in a gated subdivision, and sends his children to private schools?

7:01 PM, Mississippi is ranked 50th because it’s a welfare state full of Democrats.

8:44 PM, we all couldn’t help but notice you had nothing at all to offer, other than the clear message that you don’t enjoy reality.

P:58 PM, let us know when we can get your IQ test rolling to see who it is exactly with the room temp IQ’s – to simplify and save time, how about just testing those in the legislature and in congress?

Anonymous said...

Mississippi has had its share of bad election outcomes. But, when Kitchens beat Smith for his first term on the court, that was among the worst.

Anonymous said...

Kitchens to author dissenting opinion-

Anonymous said...

Kitchens was grandstanding.

Anonymous said...

The C-L said the HB 1020 has no provision to appeal a decision?

Is this correct?

July 10, 2023 at 1:46 AM

--------------------

If you listen to and watch the video, you'll hear that exactly.

Don Drane said...

What the heck is a Mississippi Solicitor General?

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile the cities of Madison, Ridgeland, Gluckstadt, Brandon and Flowood are wearing out their printers printing new building permits. Their infrastructure is tested every day to capacity with Jackson shoppers afraid to shop in their own town and more retail outlets give up on Jackson.

Anonymous said...

July 9, 2023 at 7:01 PM, what's enlightening is that you think deception is a good thing.

Anonymous said...

Yes its an overreach but its hail Mary time. Is there was ever a time that a cities leadership could use a little help. especially Out State Capital this is it. Fake outrage all you want Kitchens but this is only trying to help.

Anonymous said...

July 9, 2023 at 5:04 PM, so, trying something new when the old thing isn't working is a bad thing?

Kingfish said...

There is a right of appeal for the CCID. 1020 doesn't state it but there is a right of appeal. Just smoke by Cliff Johnson and friends.

Anonymous said...

It isn't Kitchens's fault MSGOP legislators are no longer competent to fulfill their primary function, which is drafting legislation. Why these holes weren't plugged before this thing was sent to the governor, I don't know.

Apparently, they got used to someone else doing their homework for them, and now they know longer know how to do it for themselves.

Kingfish said...

Several staff attorneys left or retired from the legislature is my understanding. Used to be the legislators could use the AG lawyers if they didn't trust the leg lawyers to do a good job BUT you know who fired them all at the AG's office.

Anonymous said...

Kingfish, you're missing the point. Stewart has to accept the premise that someone can be sent to the MDOC facility in Rankin County. Kitchens never says it's required, but it's an undeniable fact they can end up there so Stewart responded to the question correctly. I don't understand your point.

Kingfish said...

"that defendant goes to the state prison over in Rankin County?"

yes, he did.

Anonymous said...

Since the AG said it is a municipal court, where is the appeal - to a circuit judge?

Anonymous said...

When did states start being ranked for sophistication?

Anonymous said...

Scott Stewart:

When a pregnant, undocumented 17-year-old staying in a federal refugee shelter in Texas sought an abortion in 2017, it was the job of Scott Stewart, then a DOJ, to defend the ultimatum issued by the Trump administration: go through with the pregnancy — or leave the country.

The girl obtained a court order allowing her to have the procedure, but the government forbade her from leaving the shelter for a Dr. appointment.

That decision, Mr. Stewart argued, did not create an undue burden on the minor. “She can get relief with voluntary departure,” he argued.

The federal judge, declaring herself “astounded” by Stewart's argument, ordered the government to allow the minor to go through with the abortion.

Stewart graduated from Princeton Univ and law at Stanford.

He clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court.



Anonymous said...

Tea Leaves: Kitchens gets beat in next year's election.

Anonymous said...

Oh man All I hear is we want to keep our crime. People do not seem to understand many already avoid Jackson and if this fails may result in many others avoiding Jackson. Its our capital. The Current mayor has shown he can do nothing right except make his friends rich with lawsuits. Loss of 1020 will signal we don't care

Anonymous said...

Cap cities are, for the most part, important but, as far as cap cities go, Jackson isn't all that important to Mississippi. Jackson's well earned bad reputation is no myth. The whole state has learned how to bypass Jackson.

Anonymous said...

@ 3:24...Good Lord, Kitchens is still actively on the bench down there. The man appears to be 94.

Picture Lieutenant Tragg 50 years after Perry Mason.

Anonymous said...

Jim Kitchens is a fine man and lawyer. We have differences politically and philosophically but make no mistake, Jim is beneficial to our judiciary.
RMQ

Anonymous said...

Where is Chuck McRae when we need the sound of a Harley?

Anonymous said...

Kitchens challengers: Jack Wilson and Cynthia Brewer.


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