Lawyer Files Ethics Complaint Against Miss. AG Claiming Campaign Ad Prejudged His Client
A defense lawyer alleges in an ethics complaint that Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood “unjustly condemned” his client in a campaign ad.
Lawyer Brian Alexander filed the complaint based on a campaign ad that pictured his client, Jeremy Manieri, report the Biloxi Sun Herald, WLOX and the Associated Press.
The ad showed Manieri’s photo while a narrator said Hood’s election opponent had let a “child molester” out of jail who later “murdered a 70-year-old priest in cold blood.”
Manieri has been arrested on a charge of murdering a Louisiana priest, but he has not been tried for the crime. Hood’s opponent was a former judge who gave Manieri a two-year sentence, with one year suspended, in 2006 for molesting a child.
Alexander’s letter of complaint says Hood’s “self-serving and destructive actions have prematurely and unjustly condemned my client in the public eye, all but guaranteeing he cannot get a fair trial in this state.”
Hood’s campaign manager previously issued a statement saying the ad did not name Manieri and “merely stated facts from media reports.”
Prior coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Lawyer Says AG Campaign Ad Calling His Client a Priest-Murderer Has Tainted Jury Pool”
