More than two years after Jimmie “Jay” Lee disappeared, sparking fear in Oxford’s small LGBTQ+ community, a University of Mississippi graduate will stand trial on capital murder charges this week.
Sheldon Timothy Herrington, Jr., is accused of killing Lee, a fellow Ole Miss graduate who was pursuing a master’s degree in social work, in an effort to keep their casual relationship a secret, according to arguments prosecutors made during Herrington’s preliminary hearing two years ago.
Herrington is charged with capital murder for allegedly kidnapping Lee, then killing him, according to the indictment. If convicted, Herrington faces the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The 24-year-old was indicted by a Lafayette County grand jury last year. He is being represented by state Rep. Kevin Horan. In interviews with Mississippi Today and other media outlets, members of Herrington’s family, who lead a prominent church in Grenada, have vociferously defended his innocence.
Herrington is charged with capital murder for allegedly kidnapping, then killing, Lee. If convicted, he faces the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“We’re all in shock, we’re all devastated, and we are all looking forward to proving his innocence,” Herrington’s half-brother, Tevin Coleman, said two years ago.
Dozens of people from Herrington’s hometown, including the then-superintendent and Grenada County Sheriff, have written letters to the court on his behalf before evidence was presented during 2022’s preliminary hearing.
In Oxford, Lee’s disappearance and death led his friends to organize a local movement, called Justice for Jay Lee, in an effort to remember Lee’s life. They have protested outside the Lafayette County Courthouse so loudly their chants could be heard during proceedings. They have tailgated in the Grove and tabled during local drag shows where Lee performed.
“It doesn’t feel real, especially since they haven’t found his body,” Braylyn Johnson, one of Justice for Jay Lee’s main organizers, told Mississippi Today two years ago. A fellow Ole Miss student, Johnson lived with Lee during the pandemic.
The trial will be presided over by Judge Kelly Luther. It was originally slated for earlier this fall but was postponed due to a lack of hotel availability for jurors during football season.
Anticipating the coverage, Luther ruled earlier this fall that jurors will be brought in from outside the county after denying a joint motion to seal all pre-trial filings in the case.
The jury is being selected in Forrest County, but there is nothing in the case file to indicate from which county jurors were being chosen.
Last week, Luther ordered that any public demonstrations in relation to the case will occur in the park next to City Hall. The potentially lengthy proceedings at the Lafayette County Courthouse are expected to bring significant media attention to the small north Mississippi college town.
Lafayette County District Attorney Ben Creekmore did not respond to a request for comment from Mississippi Today. A special prosecutor has been appointed to assist him.
Herrington has been out on bond since December 2022. Lee was declared legally dead earlier this month, but police have not recovered his body. The public has received little information about Lee’s potential whereabouts, or what efforts police have undertaken to find him.
Lee went missing on July 8, 2022, and Herrington was arrested a few weeks later. During the preliminary hearing, an Oxford Police Department detective testified to a plethora of evidence, including Snapchat and text messages, Google searches and video surveillance.
According to cellphone location data, Lee’s last location was in the vicinity of Herrington’s apartment on July 8.
Earlier that morning, the two exchanged messages about a fight they’d had. Herrington asked Lee to come back to his apartment, and Lee responded that he thought Herrington was “just tryna lure me over there to beat my ass or something.”
At 5:56 a.m., minutes after Lee messaged Herrington he was on his way, Herrington searched “how long does it take to strangle someone gabby petito,” then “does pre workout boost testosterone.”
Less than an hour later, video surveillance shows Herrington buying duct tape at Walmart and, later that day, retrieving a long-handle shovel and wheelbarrow from his parent’s house in Grenada and putting it in the back of a box truck that he used for a moving business.
During the police investigation, DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department “cadaver dogs” — K-9s that are trained to identify the smell of a dead body – “alerted” three times in Herrington’s bedroom, once in his living room and in his car.
During the preliminary hearing, Horan repeatedly questioned if the police had reviewed the dogs’ training or checked if the dogs had ever before correctly identified the smell of a dead body.
Last week, the prosecution agreed to withdraw evidence stemming from “the K-9s searches or purported detection of human remains” after Horan filed a motion to exclude it.
Horan has also filed a motion to dismiss the indictment on technical grounds.
Read Mississippi Today’s previous reporting on the case here.
Justice Reporter Mina Corpuz contributed to this report.
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