Catching up on whatever happened with…
By By Suzanne Monk / managing editor
Feb. 2, 2003
Back in the summer of 2001, a rumor circulated that East Mississippi Drug Task Force agents had conducted a surprise search at the wrong address, forcing their way into a house, breaking things and frightening the owner and his three guests.
It was impossible to verify at the time.
The rumor became verifiable in March 2002, when the four people in the house filed suit in U.S. District Court against the task force and two of the three entities that make it up the city of Meridian and Lauderdale County.
They claimed their Fourth Amendment rights had been violated and demanded $250,000 each in actual and punitive damages.
It turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. One of the people in the house, Jimmy Dwayne Jordan, had been mistaken for another man with an identical or similar name who lived nearby.
Put simply, the complaint said the officers acting on information from a confidential informant took insufficient care to make sure they had the right address when they applied for a search warrant.
Out-of-court settlement
Things rocked on for awhile as lawyers exchanged information, took statements from the people involved and designated their expert witnesses.
The case was set to go to trial April 7, 2003.
So, I was a little surprised this week when I checked the U.S. District Court's docket and found this entry dated Nov. 22, 2002:
I called the plaintiffs' attorney, George Follett of Meridian, and asked him about the settlement. He told me he couldn't comment, not on that question or any other.
Here's how all of this translates:
1) Judge Lee dismissed the case because the two sides had reached an out-of-court financial settlement. A dismissal "with prejudice" means that it can't ever be brought up again.
2) Clearly, one or more of the defendants the task force, Meridian or Lauderdale County demanded that the four plaintiffs and their attorney sign a confidentiality agreement. This means their offer of a financial settlement was contingent on the four people in the house never talking to the press about what happened.
3) It would be pointless to ask anyone else. But, that's OK, there are other ways of figuring it out.
Quick takes
Confidential informant: One final note on the bust at Jimmy Dwayne Jordan's house. Early on, Follett had asked the court to compel the East Mississippi Drug Task Force to name its confidential informant. The settlement came less than a week after the court granted Follett's motion.
Comcast update: C.D. "Bubba" Newell has a new attorney, William Andy Sumrall of Jackson, and a new trial date, March 3.
Newell was convicted in U.S. District Court of all counts against him in a conspiracy to defraud Comcast of $2.6 million between 1994 and 1996. He was sentenced to 57 months in a federal prison. He appealed his conviction to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, claiming that his trial attorney had a conflict of interest, and won.
Since Sumrall came on board just this week, it is unlikely that the case will actually go to trial on March 3.
Meanwhile, Kim Gianakos must report to Bryan Federal Prison Camp in Texas no later than 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 18. Gianakos was acquitted of two conspiracy counts, but convicted of a single count of mail fraud. She was sentenced to 18 months.
Bomb threat: Patrick Barnett pleaded guilty this week in Lauderdale County Circuit Court to third degree arson and calling in a bomb threat to East Mississippi State Hospital. The defendant's mental health had been an issue and had caused delays. The court's order for a mental evaluation was canceled on Monday, and Barnett was sentenced to four years without the possibility of parole.
Last-minute: On Friday, there was a line all day long in the courthouse lobby stretching from Tax Collector Stanley Shannon's office to the Sixth Street door. Deputy David Stokes, one of the officers assigned to courthouse security, says it's the same every Jan. 31 as procrastinators show up to pay their property taxes.
