Jackson Jambalaya

 Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens issued the following statement. 

Hinds County District Attorney Jody E. Owens, II, announces the guilty verdict convicting Ray Anthony Beasley of statutory rape. Beasley was convicted following a two-day trial, in the Circuit Court of Hinds County.

On February 1, 2021, the Jackson Police Department’s Juvenile/Special Victim’s Unit received a report from the Department of Human Services (DHS) in reference to a 15-year-old girl having a sexual relationship with a 41-year-old man. Detectives opened an investigation which revealed that the 15-year-old had given birth to a child at UMMC in December 2020 and that UMMC reported the case to DHS. Further investigation led detectives to believe that Beasley, 41, had engaged in sexual contact with the victim. The investigation further revealed that the victim and Beasley’s daughter had been friends since second grade.

Beasley was questioned by detectives with JPD’s Juvenile/Special Victim’s Unit. During the interview, Beasley claimed that he met the victim in 2019 when he picked his own daughter up from school and gave the victim a ride home. Beasly admitted to having sexual intercourse with victim on multiple occasions but claimed that the victim told him she was “old enough” despite the fact that he claimed he met the victim at his own child’s middle school.

The trial court sentenced Beasley to thirty 30 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) with 8 years suspended and 22 years to serve. Pursuant to Mississippi law, Beasley will serve every day of the 22-year sentence without the possibility of reduction or parole.

“As a father, I find cases such as this one to be particularly troubling,” DA Owens said following the verdict. “The protection of our children has been, and will continue to be, a top priority for this office.”