May 29 came and went yet no one pleaded guilty in U.S.A. v. Owens et al.
The public corruption trial for Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens, former Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, and former Jackson City Councilman Aaron Banks is scheduled to begin on July 13.
U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan, III set yesterday as the deadline for accepting plea offers. The defendants can still plead guilty but the prosecution will no longer have a say in the sentence.
It appears all three men want to go for broke.

23 comments:
Let the "trial of the century" (at least in the 'sip) begin. a) no head butts; b) no rabbit punches; c) no kidney punches; d) no hitting below the belt
They're not going for broke...they're expecting a jury of their peers.
Not a bad play if you think about it for a hot minute.
Let the games begin!
Perhaps plea offers from Feds will get juicier for 2 of the three just before trial, as pressure for all grows.
Anybody laid eyes on 'em lately?
Throw those brash, ignorant, self-absorbed douchbags in prison.
I don't know how they managed to keep Banks for pleading. That's a huge gamble for him to take.
Were none of them watching the Rudy Warnock case unfold? He was sure he could manage it, all the way up until the gavel fell. Then he tried to commit suicide.
No more offers. They can plead in open court, but the judge will pass sentence without regard to prior negotiations.
Ol' "part-time DA" Jody doesn't need to plea. He has been working on influencing the federal jury pool one press release at a time. By the time the trial starts the jurors will be eating out of his hand.
On the money. Owens won’t be convicted. SDMS will lose…again. The lawyers will say it was all because of his wonderful legal representation. Owens will remain DA after some opponent raises his head next year. Owens will go on to claim it was all set up by Bennie Thompson and he will take his swing at the king in the next 3 years. Meet the new boss, the same as the old boss.
If the Feds can’t get a conviction of the obviously guilty Teddy Dibiase I’m not confident that a conviction will be possible for any of these criminals. I think I would take my chances too.
You guys don’t know anything about SD Miss juries if you think these guys have a prayer.
The Dibiase case is not comparable at all. This case is much simpler and it’s a case DOJ has tried many times. These guys are all going down.
Except that it’s a federal jury drawn from a much different composition of potential jurors.
I think that Judge Jordan can handle jury selection as well as any district court judge in the region. If Judge Jordan cannot impose the seriousness of the process, and following the law and evidence, upon the jury, then no one can.
The federal jury pool only draws from registered voters. That makes a significant difference vs. pulling from motor vehicle registration.
This entire case will revolve around race. Not grift. Not criminal activity. Not lack of any self control. Race.
The blackest city in the blackest state will cry that their “black leaders” are be subjected to racist “Jim Crow” laws and racism.
This is all a scam. A joke.
4:55
I admit I don’t. Please give us the brief 5th grade level explanation.
I've never heard of a jury in this state being selected from a pool composed of those with registered vehicles. Where the hell did that come from?
6:06, It’s the federal judge’s responsibility to keep that from happening, and he will take it seriously.
I assure you this is no joke.
4:15 - Don't forget Bill McHenry's first trial. The feds really blew that one too
DiBiase was a weak case. It's hard to snag vendors on these with the evidence they had to work with.
I hope the Bureau of Prisons is keeping beds warm for Banks, Owens, and Chokwe.
@2:06 Ditto for Favre and Bryant.
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