Jackson Jambalaya

Convicted by a jury of his peers of sexual battery to a child, sentenced (illegally?) to three years’ house arrest, under a sealed record?

I hope the DA is appealing the sentence, too.

But yes, we need some DeSoto sunshine for sure.

I'd like to read the response by the defense before forming an opinion on this one.

I do agree that the sentencing in this was absurdly lenient but Barton is a pandering doofus, not to mention wildly incompetent at his job. Ask any attorney or judge in Desoto County. He’s doing whatever he can to keep getting on supertalk.

Agreed! Talk about something hard to defend....this is going to make the story have even more legs.

Is there a difference between a witness offering sworn testimony in the court vs someone submitting a mitigation statement to the court?

You have absolutely no idea what the fuck you're talking about. Matthew Barton is a guy that's kicking ass and taking names. Why?... because he actually
intends on doing the job that he was elected to do. DeSoto County is behind you Matt....keep going.

Most elected MS "officals" top to bottom are worthless pieces of shit, and terrified that they won't get re-elected, so they go along with all the other elected useless idiots and don't "make waves" attempting to "be nice". Mississippians statewide are sick of its "old guard" men and women that do NOT care about them, or its children or its famlies. They're nothing but simpleton,
impotent do-nothings.

Following the mandate of your constituent voters is called courage fueled leadership......not pandering. Mike Hurst is another one such leader - as a frame of reference - who it was once said would "prosecute his mother" if need be....well look at him now.

Trying to work in Trump comments on this post? Not happening.

Just think, if she went to prison for this no one would be talking about it. She deserves jail time for what she did. It’s good someone is calling this stuff out.

Seems like the DA failed to do their job and convince the judge to sentence this person to prison and now wants to shift the blame to everyone else.

I read that the good Christian’s at the victim church did not come to support her and most came out to court to support the perp plus written statements in the perps defense. When something is really wrong I call on the name Jesus!

That's because people are tired to "accepting" bullshit judges' rulings.....they're corrupt as hell, and the people are sick of it.

They used to tar/feather em' for rulings like this.

To the DA you must be doing your job when you have constituents calling you bad names.
It’s really hard to do what is legal and right in a county with bigots! Good job DA, keep kicking ass as long as it’s not me! Wink wink.

Scorn the victim and bless the perp with house arrest, like the perp ain’t smart enough to groom more young victims to her house.

I live in Desoto County. Barton is terrible. He is going after people who wrote statements and who committed no cime. You can agree or disagree or whether they should have. However, they committed no crime. Barton does anything to get on the news. There is a reason the sheriff and others can't stand him. He is just a bad person.

After reading 5:11’s rantings I thought I had accidentally stumbled into another Todd Mardis thread.

Your honor, I tender to the court a motion to fix. (See you at the poker game Friday night. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.)

Isn’t everything his fault?

The judge didn’t follow the law in sentencing the guilty perpetrator. It will be a shock if he isn’t instructed to redo the sentence based on the law.

Two timing questions:

When was the motion to seal filed by the defense?

When did the judge grant the defense motion to seal?

IE: Did those people filing statements for the sentencing believe they would be sealed before they filed them?

Also a critique of the DA, in my opinion he has no business calling out anyone for filing these statements.

IMO statements of mitigation for the defense at sentencing shouldn't be filed under seal, victim impact statements for a minor victim of a sex crime should be under seal.

That's because he's expecting them to to their job as well, and they don't like it.

The judge failed to do his job Einstein, otherwise no one would have heard a thing about this case.

Filed October 3, Order October 13

@2:05am.... You contradict yourself by your own reasoning. You say yourself that the statements shouldn not be filed under seal, but then you "critique" the DA for attempting to rectify the wrong you admit is in fact wrong. Why the double standard?

2:05 here-

1. In my opinion the courts business should not be done under seal (or sealed after a decision) as a general rule. The founding fathers never contemplated courts doing their business in secret. How is the public to trust what is done in secret?

2. In my opinion the people filing pre sentencing statements with the court in support of the defendant have the right to be as offensive and wrong as they want to be. These statements should not be sealed, let the filers say it in public and the public may see what has been said.

That said, the DA has no role in criticizing the individual content of statements submitted to the court, or the people submitting the DA does not like. Once the statement is on the record it is the judges role to decide what weight to give them. The DA has advocated for an elected official to resign or be removed from office simply because the DA did not like the content of the statement submitted to the court.

Just to be clear, if I lived in that school district I would be mad as hell knowing a school board member submitted a statement supporting the defendant when the defendant committed a sex crime using their power and influence on the victim as this offender did.

The same goes for any school administrator or educator who supported the defendant.

2:05 again-

Further clarification:

The DA's proper role with respect to the sattements filed is to advbocate their unsealing.

Nothing should be under seal except for the victim's statements, medical records etc.

So, 2:05 - You still seem quite confused. The DA also has a right to criticize anyone he/she believes is subverting the law, and has a moral imperative to do so - including a buffoon judge, via appeal of course. Like most of America's founding laws - moral imperative is based on Biblical scripture. You seem to want to sit on the fence about this subject...not knowing that Satan owns the fence.

You can't have it both ways Counselor, and your word salad "opinion" exposes your own lack of conviction regarding the morality of the matter.

What if the “light” exposes that the “victim” was known to the community as a very experienced manipulator and that the “criminal” was a very innocent young adult woman who fell victim to the honey trap of a street-wise, but still underage seductress? What if Mississippians weren’t such illiterate and poorly educated rubes who often suffer from prejudice and logical fallacies?

Is that why the convict threw a blanket over the victim's lap and fingered her on a church bus during a church trip with other people on the bus?

I should have known I was arguing with a talibangelical.

No doubt you think the DA has a moral imperative to criticize the judge as well. You should help him draft that filing!

Is the Todd Mardis fanclub back?

My only problem with this is that the D.A. is more than just criticizing the people who submitted the statements. In one instance, he called for the termination of the person who submitted the statement. That is a blatant violation of the First Amendment. Now, don't get me wrong, I would be pissed if I lived in her school district, but the remedy is to vote her out, not illegally terminate her. And yes, I believe Judge Howorth got it wrong here. Hopefully he will grant the D.A.'s motion and re-sentence her to some really hard time. The problem is that the law says a circuit judge cannot alter a sentence after the term of court has ended, so hopefully it has not.

Just need more people to come out in Hinds County when judges give career criminals break after break after break after break!

"What if Mississippians weren’t such illiterate and poorly educated rubes who often suffer from prejudice and logical fallacies", you are so right, but it could be so much worse, they could be you.

The person he's advocating to be terminated would have been tarred and feathered in days of old. The world is sick and tired of the same old, same old - and wants action when injustice happens. Yes, she has the right to Freedom of Speech....and she will also face the consequences of that free speech as the word gets out more and more. She may not be able to go out in public without hearing "SHAME!" for quite a while.

She said she chose to write a letter supporting a convicted child rapist "because her daughter asked her to". WTF? Michele Henley is not a serious person, and has been exposed. DeSoto County deserves an adult in that chair.