The owner of the run-down Hotel 0 on I-55N in Jackson just might catch a break in Hinds County Court after the city of Jackson ordered him to demolish the eyesore last month.
Hinds County property records state Noah Muthana has owned Hotel O on 4639 I-55 N frontage road in Jackson for two years. JJ reported on March 19:
Jackson Municipal Court Judge Jeff Reynolds ordered the demolition of the Hotel O on I-55 N frontage road Friday.
Jackson cited Muthana for six code violations in June 2022. Jackson Municipal Court Judge Jeff Reynolds adjudicated the case on December 16. He said the hotel had unsafe electrical wiring, the roof was in a serious state of disrepair, defective plumbing, pervasive mold, and structural weaknesses. Residency-challenged individuals occupied the building even though there was no power. However, one should never underestimate human ingenuity, even among the residency-challenged. The squatters simply ran extension cords to outlets on adjacent properties. The Court said some cords were in contact with water. A detective testified Muthana had three employees who lived on the property.
The Court said Muthana made no effort to improve the property. If anything, the property was "worse today than it was in November 2021, when the city first began investigating the property."
Muthana faced the wrath of Reynolds and went to jail after the Court found Muthana made no effort to improve the property. If anything, the property was "worse today than it was in November 2021, when the city first began investigating the property. Apparently, Muthana's financial backer was more than happy to let him sit in jail.
The defendant sat in jail for a few days before Judge Reynolds released him. Judge Reynolds ordered JPD to evict all "tenants" from the premises and Code Enforcement to ensure a secure fence surrounded the pool. Judge Reyonlds ordered Muthana to post a $275,000 secured appearance bond and $2,500 cost bond.
Muthana appealed to Hinds County Court. He argued the bonds violated the Eighth Amendment. The defendant paid the cost bond but not the appearance bond.
Judge Reynolds ruled July 26 Muthana did not post an appearance bond nor file an affidavit of indigency (Mississippi Code 99-35-7). Thus the appeal was defective on its face. The Court said Mississippi Rule of Criminal Procedure 29.4(a) "leaves the amount of the appearance bond up to the trial judge's discretion." Judge Reynolds said the rule trumps the statute.
The defendant claimed he could not afford the $275,000 appearance bond but Judge Reynolds said he could have filed an affidavit of indigency. Judge Reynolds also pointed out Muthana retained four lawyers, thus limiting any claim of indigency.
Jackson Municipal Court Judge Jeffrey Reynolds condemned the building July 26 and gave the owner to ten days to clear everyone and everything out of the hotel.
However, Hinds County Court Judge Johnny McDaniels had other ideas about the case and blocked it all, ruling on August 8 he had "exclusive jurisdiction of the case:
6. That the lower court did not have any Jurisdiction over the parties or subject matter herein after April 17, 2023, and all actions, findings and Order(s) entered by the lower court after April 17, 2023, are hereby declared void and of no legal force or affect. That the Appellee, City of Jackson, is hereby prohibited from taking any action to enforce any Judgments and/or Orders of the lower court until further order of this court.
Judge McDaniels scheduled a hearing on the appeal bond tomorrow at 9:30 AM in Hinds County Court. A hearing on the merits of the case is scheduled for Spetember 6.
17 comments:
Ensconce Judge McDaniels in the flop house for a week.
Continue to believe that the unusual Lumumba administration interest and eagerness to condemn and demolish properties on the west frontage is suspicious. Where else in this city filled with properties in the exact same circumstances and standing is Lumumba, et al. moving with such haste?
Homeless are openly living in the units facing frontage road right now.
Looks like the fix is in!!
Needs to live there just like the movie The Super with Joe Pesci.
We get what we vote for.
palm grease-
I was just thinking this morning on the drive to work how nothing had been done on Hotel O or the Meadowbrook building.
Take a short drive down the streets of south Jackson. You will see places in much worse shape for many more years that that one. What makes them so much safer and nicer to live in that that one? Could it be that someone has their eye on the piece of property?
2:37 stole my thunder! Exactly. Anybody who can hire four lawyers knows how to grease palms.
A mere 50K sounds sufficient.
Hwy 80 thru Pearl, the older part, is much nicer than I-55 North thru Jackson.
WTF has happened? Its a disgrace. It looks like a bomb went off. When I moved here in 1987 Jackson was actually a pretty nice and fun place to be.
@4:30 - Like sand through an hourglass...such is the passage of 36 years.
I'm pretty sure that filing a notice of appeal and posting a cost bond are required to perfect an appeal to a higher court, in this case from municipal court to county court, where the appellant would have a right to trial de novo. If an "appearance" bond is also required but not posted the county court would not have jurisdiction; otherwise, the county court does have exclusive jurisdiction.
Damn shame that people traveling thru on I-55 have to look at boarded up property! Tear it down!
@4:30
Within 4 years after your arrival it was getting dangerous to visit MetroCenter and decent people were avoiding being downtown after sunset. I remember as a kid we only went to Waterland USA once due to the pools being filthy and also the violence. Soon it shut down and Rapids on the Rez was starting to become intolerable. Eventually the water there also became filthy and diseased and decent folks just stopped paying to visit. We don’t have a water park anymore. We literally can’t have anything nice.
7:04 - The water park threads are elsewhere on this blog. Do a search for sewage-water, shit-ditch and Pearl Discharge.
4:30. The trash and uncut grass along I-55 is horrible. If I lived in the nasty Jackson, I would be so pissed. As soon as you cross into Madison County, voila! Trash gone. Grass cut. What is the difference?
Post a Comment