Correction: This post erroneously reported Judge Gibbs did not appear with other Hinds County judges opposing HB #1020 at a press conference earlier this year. Judge Gibbs was at the press conference. Apologies.
Hinds County Circuit Judge Debra Gibbs might just be the poster child for HB #1020 as she has held no criminal trials since she took her seat on the bench in January. You read that correctly. Judge Gibbs has held no criminal trials. Nada. Zero. Zilch. Period.
Check out the scoreboard posted below. JJ obtained the records through a public records request.
Ironically, Judge Gibbs bragged when she ran for the job last year:
I hereby announce my candidacy for Hinds County Circuit Court Judge, Subdistrict 2. As a lifelong public servant, wife, mother, and resident of Hinds County, I care about the well-being and safety of our community. With crime running rampant in our county and state, we need a judge who has the integrity and the work ethic to ensure that our judicial system is fair and impartial for all citizens.I have many years of judicial experience, which include my time serving as the Commissioner of The Mississippi Worker’s Compensation Commission. I have also presided over 120 bench hearings per year and 3,000 settlements per year for injured workers in Mississippi. As the current state representative of District 72, I make swift confident decisions that affect the lives of Mississippians. For the last 6 years, I have helped draft and enact laws on the Judiciary A committee, which enacts civil laws, and the Judiciary B committee, which enacts criminal laws.As your next judge, I will ensure a strong partnership with law enforcement agencies to keep our communities safe, reduce the rate of repeat offenders, work with drug and youth offenders to reduce recidivism, and expeditiously move the current court docket to ensure a fair and expedient trials for all.I am excited about the opportunity to continue to serve you to make positive change and ask that you would join me in this endeavor. On November 8, vote for and elect Debra Gibbs as your next Hinds County Circuit Court Judge, Subdistrict 2.
Rankin-Madison County Circuit Judges Dewey Arthur and Brad Mills started hearing cases and holding trials almost immediately after they assumed office. Jeff Well said he held his first trial a month after he assumed office and 27 in his first year on the bench.
A culture of sloth apparently infects the Hinds County courthouse as Special Circuit Judge Frank Vollor held only 3 trials in 2023. Chief Justice Mike Randolph might want to tell his boy he is not getting paid to work from home.
If the "people" don't want to lose their right to elect judges, perhaps they should start demanding their judges actually show up for work. There is no excuse for her failure to hold criminal trials for almost a year.
If Judge Gibbs can't do her damn job, she should resign and that, my friends, is the bottom line.
47 comments:
Being a lazy and worthless sponge soaking up government gravy is cultural.
This is the exact type of judicial performance the voters of Hinds County expect. Not sure why anyone would be surprised by the output. She will be re-elected by a landslide in 3 years.
Gibbs notwithstanding, the Hinds dysfunction backlog will never be cleared up, or even made manageable, with the other judges combined only holding an avg of 4.75 trials each YTD.
How much of Gibbs' avoidance was a political calculation to aid her son's House primary election effort?
Before we declare that she's not doing her job, do we have any data on why she held no trials? How many criminal cases have been assigned to her? Are parties moving for continuances for meritorious reasons? Is she accepting plea agreements at a statistically high rate? Is she inexplicably ordering sua sponte continuances? Does her chambers not make dates available for criminal trials?
Some people want the title but not the job. She’s not the only one in Mississippi in that category. But there aren’t many that I’ve encountered. In my experience, as an attorney, it’s a personality trait. For what it’s worth, the trait seems to be more common in women than men.
@10/23 Hit the nail square on the head, my fellow blogger.
Wonder is she keeps litigants waiting in her courtroom while she is having her hair did? If so, she would be in good company with at least one other female judge in Hinds County.
My favorite Tomie Green story is when she went shopping during a trial a few years ago. yup. Broke on Friday for lunch. Was gone for over three hours as she went shopping. Lawyers, witnesses, everyone there in the courtroom waiting.
@12:08pm - They’re all 10/23, you might want to be more pacific
100+ murders in Jackson alone (not counting ALL other felonies in Hinds County), and these circuit court judges are holding MAYBE one trial a month. What a freaking joke!!
@11:45am Is asking the right questions, likely those that Kindfish didn’t bother asking in his hitpiece. Are more of Judge Gibbs’ cases being pled instead of going to trial in comparison to the other judges? The number of criminal jury trials a judge holds isn’t necessarily indicative of a judge’s work ethic or whether or not cases are being resolved.
This assessment misses the critical context of what else is involved in the judicial process besides trials.
If she inherited Green’s docket she’s probably still scratching her head
Jeff Well said he held his first trial a month after he assumed office and 27 in his first year on the bench.
Yeah, but he shouldn't have. Lots of those got overturned on appeal.
Sit down, Rukia! You lost!
Only in it for the PERS, insurance and paycheck.
Worthless politician.
12:54, what Rukia got to do with this?
12:30 . . .are you missing the fact that she has not presided over even ONE single trial in over 10 months? Repeat, not ONE single trial? For your comment to be credible, every single case set for trial during the terms of court would have to plead.
What we are dealing with is someone not doing their job. That's the point of KF's post.
Did she tell Judge Tommie Green to “Hold my beer!” Before becoming even more worthless???
11:36 "How much of Gibbs' avoidance was a political calculation to aid her son's House primary election effort?"
NONE. Judge Gibbs was noticeably absent from her son's campaign activity and events.
Having worked in the law enforcement beginning in 1982 before retiring in 2015 this is how the system operated the entire time. I recall Bert Case doing a story on this very subject. I told him to go to the courthouse any day of the week at any time of day and see how many of the courtrooms were in use; the answer would likely have been zero.
Sure there was the occasional trial, but one would think with the backlog of cases and individuals being held pre-trial for years, the courtrooms would be busy every day of the week. NOT!
2:22, you may have been implying as much in your comment, but for the benefit of the unwashed who frequently traffic this blog, it needs to be stated that there is a very good reason why circuit and chancery judges "absent themselves" from partisan campaign activities and events. It's called Canon 5 of the Mississippi Code of Judicial Conduct.
@2:22 PM, avoiding holding criminal trials and being absent from or unseen during her son's campaign are two different things though I'm sure the distinction is completely lost on serial thinkers like you.
I can totally see why the residents were on the news demanding that they be allowed to vote for judges, rather than accept appointed ones via HB1020.
They have clearly proven they are very good at selecting them. (end sarc)
If they prefer to elect incompetent and ineffective judges, I say let them have 'em.
The state can't save them from their own stupidity.
@12:30 if you think the amount of trials is indicative of a Judge "doing" or not doing their job, you should stop watching judge judy
There is also a civil docket. How many of those trials does she handle? In order to draw the conclusion that she is not working, we need a little more information.
How much yall wanna bet we are having this same conversation about "Representative" Gibbs in a few months!!
Look like Faye Peterson courtroom is the court to go home. She must be playing ball with the 3rd party boys.
"I have many years of judicial experience, which include my time serving as the Commissioner of The Mississippi Worker’s Compensation Commission. I have also presided over 120 bench hearings per year and 3,000 settlements per year for injured workers in Mississippi." Why wasn't this statement challenged in the election? There can be no support for the statement since commissioners do NOT have bench hearings AT ALL, and the 3,000 settlements could not be accurate for one commissioner either - not to mention that the commissioner does not settle a claim but simply reviews a settlement.
This is the same worthless lawyer who was AWOL most of her time as a Workers' Compensation Commissioner. Much of the time, the Commission could not function because she was unavailable for "bench hearings" -- known to actual lawyers as appeals from Administrative Judges' decisions in workers' compensation cases. Hinds County had a real lawyer who campaigned for this job, but they opted for another do-nothing politician who just need "four high years" one supposes.
the rest of them ain't exactly burning the barn down either.
Get over it, Rukia. Your brother and you have been rejected by the people of Jackson and booted from the Lumumba City Payroll Scam.
EVERYONE WANTS TO BE A JUDGE.........but nobody wants to hear a case.
@4:51 sounds like a salty former candidate for judge, maybe more than once
It’s much worse than the trials. The big question is how many has she had court at all. Hint, it’s not even 10.
I do not understand why anyone is surprised at her lack of abilities. I thought this is what you all wanted. Those who were qualified, had courtroom experience were summarily rejected. Give the people what they want, idiots in office. She said on the campaign trail that her husband would be her mentor. Did you all not read between the lines, that she was saying I do not know what I am doing but I will have my husband review all your cases and let him make the decisions. To me that was a violation of trust right there, but that is just me. You say she did not campaign for her son. You must have missed her and Representative Greg Holloway at the New Hope box when he ran. She was the one making all the calls asking people to support her son. Now the canons of judicial ethics prohibit this, but hey, it didn’t apply to her because she had been a safe vote for the republicans when they needed her in the legislature. She is a safe ruling now for whatever they need her to do, that is why no one is questioning her but Kingfish. Thank you for exposing the truth.
1243 - check your stats. Weill had fewer cases overturned than any of the Hinds Circuit Judges. And he handled more than the others, when I last looked a few years ago.
Yes, criminal defense lawyers (you are probably one, based on your comment) didn't like Weill - they couldn't get continal continuances like was (and appears to be still) done in the other chambers.
Faye Peterson, what a joke
As each year goes by, there is less and less accountability for public officials in Hinds County. Soon these guys need only show up to pick up their checks.
October 23, 2023 at 8:36 PM, I appreciate you telling us she is a sleeper agent for the republicans. How could we have missed that? It perfectly explains why she has handled no cases. The mental gymnastics it took to come to this conclusion is mind-boggling.
Great work, KF!. . .another point worthy of mention is that of the 16 trials which proceeded,5 ended in mistrial or not guilty verdicts, which means this D.A. has a conviction rate of only 69% for 2023. Abysmal.
10:25 Just to be fair, DA's will calculate their conviction rate based on all convictions many of which are often plea bargains, and not on their success rate when going to trial. All DA's do that, not just Hinds County. Be fair.
What’s with Fay Peterson’s near 50% mistrial rate? At some point, that suggests a judge not in control of her/his courtroom, does it not?
@8:36 are you spreading falsehoods about a sitting judge influencing a campaign with proof? or are you upset that you or your candidate did not win the election? You know, I always wonder why one who loses handidly but claims to have more experience don’t get off their ass and actually campaign for the position and convince the people..
A judge that has never tried a case, an attorney general that has never tried a case.. WTH Mississippi?
Good to see Tomie and Synarus are well enough to troll online.
The "people" will never lose their right to elect judges in Mississippi.
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