In the final hours of Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr.’s capital murder trial Wednesday, his defense attorney argued that too many open questions exist for a jury to convict him of killing a fellow University of Mississippi graduate who was prominent in the local LGBTQ+ community.
Kevin Horan’s closing arguments garnered objections from the prosecution, who earlier in the day argued that Herrington was the last person to see Jimmie “Jay” Lee alive before the avid social media user stopped responding to texts and calls from family and friends on July 8, 2022.
The case is now in the hands of the jury.
That Lee’s silence has continued ever since is proof enough, the prosecution argued, that he is dead. In October, a judge declared Lee legally dead at the request of his parents.
But Lee’s body has not been found and without that, the prosecution’s case rests almost entirely on circumstantial evidence, opening the door for Herrington’s defense to raise a host of doubts. During his closing arguments, Horan, who is also a state representative from Herrington’s hometown of Grenada, kept gesturing to a yellow legal notepad that he told the jury contained a list of questions the prosecution had yet to answer.
Most significantly, Horan told the jury the prosecution could not establish that Lee was dead when Herrington left his apartment in the early morning hours of July 8 to buy duct tape at Walmart.
“There’s no evidence whatsoever that Lee was not alive at that time,” Horan said. “Think about why that’s important.”
In a rebuttal, Gwen Agho, a special prosecutor from Hinds County who assisted Lafayette County District Attorney Ben Creekmore, told the jury that open questions are not the same as reasonable doubt. Anything can happen, she said, including elephants falling from the sky.
“Opposing counsel wants to talk about possibilities, but we are not here about possibilities,” Agho said. “We’re here about reasonable doubt.”
Agho tied Lee’s moment of death to that of his cellphone’s — 7:28 a.m., not long after the last time Lee’s phone ever pinged at a cell tower and right before Herrington allegedly parked Lee’s car at Molly Barr Trails, an apartment complex where neither Herrington nor Lee lived. Lee’s car was eventually towed from Molly Barr.
Lee “never let anyone borrow his car,” Agho said. “We also know when the car is found, all his things are in it, the things he would need to move on to live a life.”
Much of the prosecutions’ closing argument focused on Herrington’s alleged lies about his sexuality and relationship to Lee. Oxford Police Department detectives testified earlier in the trial that Herrington provided them conflicting information about the hours leading up to Lee’s disappearance, according to the Associated Press.
“Not only did he lie to his family and his friends about his sexuality, being on the down low … he lied to the church … then he lied to the police about everything,” Creekmore said.
Creekmore alleged that Herrington killed Lee to hide their secret relationship.
“Tim Herrington ended Jay Lee’s life to protect his own,” Creekmore said.
Herrington was arrested on July 22, 2022, two weeks after Lee went missing. Members of Herrington’s family, many of whom are involved in a prominent church in Grenada, have maintained his innocence.
Lee’s body has not been found since, and it’s unclear the extent of OPD’s efforts to find it.
After the prosecution wrapped its rebuttal, Judge Kelly Luther told the courtroom their guess is as good as his as to when, or if, the jury will reach a verdict.
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