OXFORD — The case against a former Ole Miss student accused of killing Jimmie “Jay” Lee will remain open after a Lafayette County Circuit Court judge denied a joint motion to seal the entirety of the filings.
In a quick hearing Thursday, Judge Kelly Luther said he would consider sealing some filings on a case-by-case basis if asked to do so by the defense for Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr. But Luther added he did not think that would be necessary, since it was unlikely any motions before trial would contain evidence that could prejudice a jury.
“The way discovery is done in today’s age, I don’t anticipate getting any of those items,” Luther said before denying the motion.
Kevin Horan, Herrington’s attorney and a representative from his hometown of Grenada, said he would draft the order and circulate it among the parties. Horan had hoped the motion, which was unusually supported by District Attorney Ben Creekmore, would be successful in order to reduce further pretrial publicity, including social media. The case has attracted national media attention, particularly when Herrington was arrested shortly after Lee went missing two years ago.
“We just move forward,” Horan said.
Luther’s ruling came after Mississippi Today filed a motion to intervene in the effort to close any filings before Herrington’s case goes to trial later this year. The news organization’s motion was supported by WMC-TV, a television station based in Memphis, Tennessee and WTVA, a station based in the Tupelo-Columbus area. The Mississippi Press Association had also issued a press release urging transparency and opposing the order.
Mississippi Today’s attorney, Henry Laird, commended Luther for following the process established by the Mississippi Supreme Court for closing cases.
“This is an example to other judges that this is how you work with the people, and this is how you work with the press,” Laird said.
Creekmore said there had been “some misconception” about the extent of the sealing requested by himself and Horan. Creekmore added his goal was not to seal the whole case file but to protect any motions entered before a jury.
“It wouldn’t have been a complete sealing,” he said.
On Monday, the day Luther had originally intended to rule on the motion to seal the file, he also issued an order from the bench to keep the trial in Lafayette County but pull jurors from another area, then sequester them in a hotel for its duration.
Creekmore was chiefly concerned about a motion confirming which county jurors will be pulled from leading to a flurry of media coverage in that area. He told Mississippi Today he thought the judge’s Thursday order will protect the integrity of the jury.
“I think you have to accept that Lafayette County is already aware of a lot of the facts of the case, and it would be difficult to find somebody who isn’t aware of the case,” Creekmore said.
In his 20 years in the courtroom, Creekmore said this case has drawn more scrutiny than many others he’s worked on, but he wasn’t able to say why.
“I don’t have an answer to that,” he said. “I can answer that question once the case is resolved. I’ve got feelings on it, but I think it would be speculative on my part to try to answer for an entire community.”
Lee was a well-known member of Oxford’s LGBTQ+ community. His disappearance and death two years ago has led to protests outside the courthouse and efforts to memorialize him at local drag shows and pride events.
Herrington’s arrest also drew scrutiny in part because his family is connected in north Mississippi. A preliminary hearing setting bond detailed some of the evidence against him, including Google searches on his computer, text messages he exchanged with Lee the night Lee went missing, and K-9s that identified the smell of a dead body in his car.
But Herrington, through his attorney and family members, has maintained his innocence. As he walked down the Lafayette County Courthouse steps, Horan stated the case will go to trial.
“Certainly,” he said.
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