Hinds County Circuit Judge Winston Kidd declared a mistral in the trial of Beth Ann White. Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens issued the following statement:
We are disappointed that the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict in the trial of Beth Ann White. In our opinion, the evidence presented at trial overwhelmingly demonstrated that White was grossly intoxicated and that her reckless and unlawful actions led to the tragic death of Allison Conaway and her six-month-old son and the maiming of two other children.
While we are disappointed, we are proud of the hard work of the trial team and appreciate the witnesses who, not only took time out of their livest o participate in the trial process, but many of whom were also good Samaritans on the day of the accident. We thank the jurors for their service, the majority of whom, sided with the State. We look forward to trying the case again.
50 comments:
Called it. See what happens on the next one. Bond to get a guilty one day.
A Jury of her peers it appears.
What's the opposite of jury nullification?
A lot of mistrials lately. Must be something in the water.
It's is our culture... people are scared to death to do the "wrong" thing or say the "wrong" thing.
Kevin Camp is an all-star defense attorney.
@ 3:07 PM, it is called "Jury stupification."
Maybe there should be a minimum/mandatory deliberation period before this is allowed?
If you wanna win, put Kevin In!
From another thread which caught my attention:
"If you were even paying ....attention to the related threads on this blog, you would know (according to sources) she did not cause the death if the deceased ran through the red light at a high rate of speed, being chased by her own husband. That obviously came to the attention of her attorney. Is she guilty of a fourth DUI? Yes. Did she cause the death of the deceased? Let's wait a bit and hear the evidence."
I want to hear more about this. Not saying she isn't guilty of another DUI. But I want to hear the evidence relating to running thru red light, etc.
This is more validation for due diligence before one invests in a community. School quality and judicial systems are at the top of the vetting list.
You do know that the rankin county sheriff makes more than the governor don’t you? $140,000.00 a year.
The judge is a pussy. Send the jury back. If no verdict after 16 hours of deliberations then consider a mistrial.
Did she get bond?
Appears Kevin Camp, atty for defense, presented arguments relevant to one or more jurors for consideration. Mr. Camp, to the extent that I know him, would likely prefer MS. White never drive again, even if his expertise keeps her out of prison.
Kingfish, were you in the courtroom for the trial? If so, I'd like to hear your opinion as to why the jury was unable to agree on a verdict. Was there a lone holdout? Is Camp a master at selecting jurors? Or do we live in an era of stupidity?
Probly cuz of that blogger bragging it's time to get drunk.
I would say it is in the attitude and intelligence of the average Hinds County resident who re-elects those with corrupted intentions... and become the ones who serve jury duty...
Did y’all see that shit show of a press conference Camp gave?! Lol Wtf was he mumbling about? Then he asked for some “still photos” Bahahahaha!! Good for him on the mistrial but jeez man!!
Due to the poor quality of the video/audio (did the judge ever manage to get his shit together and stop farting around with his papers, after the break?) I could not hear Mr. Camp's closing argument, but I suspect that was key.
She was NOT being tried for DUI. She was tried for being the proximate cause of death of two people.
Why are people celebrating this?
A grossly, negligently drunk woman murdered two human beings, including a precious young child.
So much pain all across the board.
Per Jury Foreman, it was 11:1 to convict (reported by WAPT). It only takes one bleeding heart.
Tying 3:38's inquiry to 4:56's post: Bingo.
In an aggravated DUI trial, a negligent act on the part of the defendant that was the proximate cause of the accident, must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Here, the State obviously made a prima facie case of that, for it go to to the jury. (I.E., any directed verdict motions by Camp were denied.)
Now, according to the media reports, there was testimony about her erratic driving before the crash. But the State had to prove that there was a negligent act from the defendant, that proximately caused the crash, at the time it caused it. Just because a crash happened and one of the drivers was impaired, does not automatically result in a guilty verdict to the impaired person in a case like this one,
As for this other information about the victim supposedly fleeing from something bad, and that the victim was the one who, as a result, caused the accident - this poster does not know anything about. Did not attend or watch any of the trial to know whether this information was offered or not.
As a former Hinds juror who spent HOURS trying to get an absolute idiot to understand that "I jus' don't think he did it" was not reasonable doubt, my advice is do not commit a crime or ever need a jury to decide your fate.
And every time you brag about getting out of jury duty, remember that these idiots could be deciding the fate of the criminal that affected your own family and loved ones.
There are a lot of really dumb people walking around. And sadly, they do not try to get of jury duty.
I also sat on a jury a few years ago. We had one holdout, a real bleeding heart who was predisposed to find the defendant innocent. We finally turned her around and she voted guilty on all but one count.
We didn't give up after two hours.
In this case it would appear that the judge didn't want to tie up his court room waiting for a verdict. Next case.
Two mistrial for two cases that should be slam dunks.
Put the Goon Squad on her.
To 5:28 PM, that’s EXACTLY what reasonable doubt is. It’s ok if you don’t understand the law.
A partial acquittal
Is Beth Ann White from a prominent family? What’s the deal with her being wealthy?
@9:51 PM - She may hold a lot of Jack Daniels stock.
"Put the Goon Squad on her."
November 30, 2023 at 7:05 PM
Maybe they already have been, which might explain how she was still running around loose.
I thought it was proven Beth Ann was driving at a high rate of speed by the witnesses testimony not the victim. Also was the victim wearing a seatbelt? With the photos of the car even with a seatbelt on victims injuries would have been so significant that she and her children’s health & lives would be internal injuries that are irreparable! Pray she gets no bond and remains in jail so she cannot hurt anyone else, If Beth White chose to BREAK the law driving under any influence she would DRIVE again Without a license if given a chance. NO BOND FOR BETH ANN WHITE I PRAY!
2)(a) A person is guilty of aggravated assault if he or she (i) attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another, or causes such injury purposely, knowingly or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life; (ii) attempts to cause or purposely or knowingly causes bodily ...This. Definition alone should have been read to the jury before the judge gave instructions.
The people in this discussion who are appalled at the mistrial decision and want to see the defendant hung are guilty of the crime of emotion.
"I hate drunks", "She needs to spend life in a cell", "I had a friend who...", "I don't drink", and "She's guilty of murder"...those are emotional reactions which totally ignore the admonitions laid on the jury before they deliberated.
Again, the trial was about whether her actions were the proximate cause of the impact of the two vehicles. She was not on trial for DUI.
I suspect in the next trial there will be two or three who will not vote for conviction, due simply to reasonable doubt.
I'm not expecting you emotional decision makers to understand this post or buy into it. Emotional decision makers do not reason or consider possibilities. Their gut is simply emotion and they're limited by that.
Emotional decisions are driven by 'what you think' without regard to 'what did you see and hear and did you analyze those things'.
Everyone needs to read 5:28 pm post carefully. It’s on the mark. Not only are there a lot of stupid people out there, in the age of social media they have a lot more confidence in their idiotic views than idiots did 30 years ago.
"she did not cause the death if the deceased ran through the red light at a high rate of speed, being chased by her own husband. "
First I have heard this but I haven't followed that closely. But question for the attorneys here. Is it incumbent upon the prosecution to prove that this could have been avoided had White not been impaired or is it incumbent upon the defense to show the accident had nothing to with with the impaired White? I have always thought any accident involving an impaired driver regardless of fault fell to the impaired driver. No?
@9:51 PM Maybe her family owns Smirnoff.
When you get called for jury duty and you do everything you can to get out of that duty, this shit happens based on what's left from the bottom of the barrel.
7:08 allow me to clarify. Juror: I agree the evidence is there and shows he did it, but he seems like a nice kid and I just dont think he did it."
A juror's perception of the kid being "nice" while said juror also is admitting the factual evidence presented to us in the courtroom proves he did commit the crime is not reasonable doubt.
Reasonable doubt should probably be...I don't know. Reasonable.
3:15 am
"Again, the trial was about whether her actions were the proximate cause of the impact of the two vehicles. She was not on trial for DUI."
2)(a) A person is guilty of aggravated assault if he or she (i) attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another, or causes such injury purposely, knowingly or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life;
Emotions have nothing to do with it. The facts are clear. The moment this person illegally drove a car while extremely impaired demonstrates recklessness and extreme indifference to human life.
Another L for Jody. Four years was evidently not enough on the job training for him.
Looks like someone got paid under the table for this bullshit. This is so ludicrous. Two human being was killed. I p
ray for the victims family Legislation need to change the laws.
Only in Hinds County could a clear case like this be stalled by someone who wondered if the circumstances were different... What happened, happened... a million other things could have happened but they did not... I am reminded of the statement, "If a monkey had no tail they could be human... in a different world." Two people were killed -- that is the fact not a possibility...
I still do not know who ran the red light. The one who did run the light is the person who caused the wreck. I can understand a hung jury if they were never told who ran the red light.
Thank you, 4:09 pm. That was one of the problems. The jury asked the judge several questions. Some he answered and some he told the jury to look back at their directions. Most on this thread are acting like the goon squad and the security at JSU who had the wrong guy. Nobody wants to look at facts. The poster at November 30, 2023 at 5:17 PM makes EXCELLENT points.
Its a horrible case involving death. That automatically brings emotion. But that emotion has to be set aside and a case has to be decided on the facts alone. Unless I missed something during testimony, nobody knows who ran the red light.
@10:31 am - swing and a miss.
If Ms. Conaway was speeding; then why did the expert not bring this up with respect to the black boxes. Witnesses said it was Beth Ann White that they saw driving erratic & speeding. End of story!
She was charged with aggravated DUI, not aggravated assault. That’s 63-11-30(5)(a). The state had to prove causation.
Damn people, at least get the right law if you’re going to read it to the rest of us and claim the case is a slam dunk, while crapping on the jury.
"5:17 PM makes EXCELLENT points."
5:17 only summarized the posts of others.
But, alas, 5:50 has come on here to say "End of Story". I assume that means he is nullifying the decisions of the judge.
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