Arrestees in one Mississippi county languish in jail awaiting indictment and lawyers, suit says
A class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday claims Mississippi’s Scott County has jailed inmates for up to a year without indicting them or appointing counsel.
The name plaintiff in the suit is Octavious Burks, who has been jailed since his Nov. 18 arrest on charges of attempted armed robbery and possession of a weapon by a felon. A judge set bail at $30,000 without an individualized hearing, the complaint (PDF) says. Though a judge approved a request for counsel, the lawyer won’t be appointed until indictment.
State law sets no time limit for indictments or for the length of time spent in jail before indictment. At the time of the court filing, Burks was still awaiting indictment.
The Clarion-Ledger and the New York Times have stories on the suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi School of Law. An ACLU press release is here.
The judge who approved counsel for Burks without formally appointing counsel is Judge Marcus Gordon, according to the suit. He told the New York Times why he waits to formally appoint the lawyer until indictment. “The reason is, that public defender would go out and spend his time and money and cost the county money in investigating the matter,” Gordon told the newspaper. “And then sometimes, the defendant is not indicted by the grand jury.”
