Tonight on WAPT, D.A. candidate Robert Smith said of the incumbent, "She is not involved in trying cases." Is this true?

(Folks, note that we finally got Truthwatch up and running again, and as a forum. Please only post serious Truthwatch threads here, about facts you see reported and, especially, claims that politicians of all stripes make. Don't use this forum to push your candidate—do that elsewhere—but to solicit genuine help finding out facts to support candidates' claims!)

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A good use for this thread would be to list cases that Peterson has tried as district attorney, and the outcome of them if you know.

Well here is a start, Peterson tried the the Damarius Banyard capital murder case (the case where the pizza delivery-man was murdered). It was tried in August of '06. Banyard was found guilty and sentenced to life w/out possibility of parole. She also tried the Vidal Sullivan cases which Melton submitted and sabotaged. The verdict was not guilty.

I am torn.... I want to vote neither. Faye is not a good DA in so much as prosecuting and administering, but at least she stood up to Melton. Smith I do not know other than reputation. I am concerned about some of his donors, but I think he may be a better DA than Faye. The question that hangs, will he stand up to Melton.....

I am so torn


AGamma627

AGamm, I think you are basing your assertion that Peterson is not a good prosecutor or administrator on soundbites that have been generated by Melton, Purvis and Smith. The only cases that I can recall Peterson herself losing was the Vidal Sullivan case which was destroyed by Melton before it began. If you want to attribute the loss of the Melton case to her then in all fairness you must also attribute to her the numerous convictions that her staff has attained (e.g. Moffett death penalty conviction, Brunner conviction, Christmas conviction, Toice Wilson conviction, etc.) As far as being an admininstrator, since she took office she has added a Pre-Trial intervention program for non-violent offenders, the bad-check unit which under the previous administration was called a "debtors' prison" by Judge Delaughter has been cleaned up under her leadership, she has hired a court facilitator to keep the jail population down, she has instituted a workable drug court program and she has gotten the legislature to fund another assistant district attorney for Hinds County. The court docket that she inherited from the previous administration has been cut in half.

I hate to use the term "perception" but the perceptions regarding Peterson's administration are far from the truth. You must remain mindful of who is providing these perceptions as well as their motives. The citizens of Jackson fell into that trap during the mayoral election, we must be mindful not to let it happen again.

thetruth, why don't you bullet-point those cases and say a bit what each one was/involved, if you know? That might be helpful to people.

It does seem clear that, in Jackson, perceptions are often the opposite of reality.

Actually I was basing it on my experiences as an attorney and other attorney's opinions.

*The Eric Moffett case involved the sexual battery and murder of a 5 year old girl. This murder occurred in 1992 during the previous administration which chose not to indict because of a percieved lack of evidence. Peterson re-opened the case and saw to it that state-of-the-art DNA tests were conducted on the evidence. After doing so, Moffett was indicted for Capital murder tried, convicted and sentenced to death. This case was probably overlooked because it was tried the same week as the Wood Street trial. This was the first death penalty handed down in Hinds county in over a decade.

*The Brunner case involved the Armed Robbery and Assault of Loreatha Mae. Mr. Brunner was sentenced to 180 years.

*The Christmas case also involved the robbery and beating of a senior citizen. Mr. Christmas was sentenced to 140 years.

*The Toice Wilson case involved the murder of Tawana Sandifer. You may recall the 15 year old young girl whose body was found in a park on Flag Chapel Road. Apparently the case that was prepared by Peterson's office was so compelling that Mr. Wilson decided to plead guilty to murder and accept a mandatory life sentence rather than going to trial.

*Johnny Brown was tried and convicted of the murder of Violar Bracey. Her body was found in a hotel room on Hwy 80. Mr. Brown was sentenced to life as well.

*Today Rodney Mendehall was convicted of Armed Robbery, Aggravated assault and business burglary by a Hinds County jury. http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070815/NEWS/70815034 He was sentenced to a total of 45 years to serve by Judge Yerger. In July of last year, Mr. Mendenhall robbed and shot the owner of Addison Body Shop located on Gallatin Street. It was such a high profile crime that the CL did an interview with Mr. Addison about crime at his business. The CL pointed out that Mr. Addison sometimes spent the night in his business to protect it from thieves. I wonder if the CL will do an equally exhaustive story about the conviction?

*Nicholas and Rufus Brooks were convicted of manslaughter and conspiracy to commit murder. This was another high-profile case. This was the case in which the associate minister of Greater Bethlehem Temple, Rufus Brooks, Sr., was murdered at his home on Easter Sunday. Both brothers plead guilty to manslaughter and conspiracy to commit murder. Nicholas Brooks received 35 years to serve. He was represented by Tom Royals. Rufus Brooks received 25 years to serve. He was represented by Robert Smith.

*Demarius Banyard, who was 15 years old at the time of the crime, was convicted of the capital murder of a dominoe's pizza deliveryman. Peterson tried this case herself. Banyard was sentenced to life w/out the possibility of parole.

*Mary Dixon was convicted of the murder of Melcenia Bell. Everyone should remember this case because Ms. Bell's murder was so publicized. It was the first case that brought attention to crimes against the elderly. In fact, Frank Melton went to the former home of Ms. Bell and held a press conference(this was prior to his being elected mayor). You may recall an argument ensued between Ms. Bell's son and Melton. During the trial, Delaughter told the prosecutors in the courtroom that they did not have a case (the jury was not present). Lo and behold, at the conclusion of the case the jury found Dixon guilty of murder and she was sentenced life.

*Cassandra Younger was convicted of murder. This case was also tried by Peterson. This was the murder which occurred at the National Linens Plant which involved Younger murdering another woman due to an argument over a man. It too was a high profile case at the time.

*Harvey Williams was convicted of murder earlier this year. It wasn't a high profile case. I only mention it because Harvey Williams was the man that was the subject of the argument in the above case.

The list goes on and on and on. These are just a few of the cases in which Peterson's office has either obtained guilty verdicts or guilty pleas. Most of these were TRULY high profile cases. That's why I am so annoyed by the "she can't win the high profile cases" label. It is simply not true. If you or I are victims of a crime, chances are our cases will not be deemed "high profile" by the media. Does that mean that our cases don't deserve to be prosecuted as energetically? Certainly not! Peterson prosecutes each and every case as if they are high profile cases. That's the truth.

After perusing today's online version of the CL, I have found just what I expected. The Mendenhall conviction which I mentioned in my earlier post is not mentioned in today's CL. You may remember that the story was important enough to the CL to do an interview complete with a picture of Mr. Addison. However for some strange reason now that the perpetrator of the crime has been convicted, it is no longer newsworthy. Now the story is only worthy of an update in the online version of yesterday's CL (http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070815/NEWS/70815034 . WAPT reported the conviction on its newscast yesterday as well as reporting that the victim was satisfied with the sentence. What happened to the other media outlets(present company excluded)? This is exactly what fuels misconceptions about Peterson's tenure as DA and I don't believe it is coincidental on the part of the CL.

Wow, truth, thanks so much for this information! I wish there was a way more people could read all of this.

L.W., there is a way, there are many media outlets within the Hinds County area. The problem is that the major print outlet, the CL, as well as two of the television outlets (WLBT and WJTV) have their own agenda and report only those stories which support their agenda. This negligence, rather intentional deceitfulness on their part, fuels the innuendos and peceptions and misconceptions of the citizens of Hinds County. Incidentally, the Addison Body shop Robbery/shooting occurred in July of 2006, and went to trial this week. So much for the perceived backlog of cases.

thetruth makes a good point. The local media, especially The Clarion-Ledger, crawl all over crimes when they happen (it's called sensationalism in the business), but then don't follow up on the outcome. And it is just a fact that the Ledger will report very little positive about the current district attorney and her office. They just ignore whole swaths of truth if it makes her look good, or even competent

This is the same metro/state desk that has refused to report negative stuff about Melton (Ridgeway, that he was lying in the Meridian lawsuit, just to name two things in a huge line-up). Insiders there tell us that Melton has been very friendly with that desk historically.

Coincidence? You decide.

Donna, have you ever done an article on all of the cases that the DA's office has tried and won?

Not exactly, but Adam is working on an analysis of both candidate's cases for next week. So any additional info is very helpful.

Great, Donna.

Well here is another case that Peterson tried herself. State v. Sinardo Moffett. This is yet another murder case in which Peterson obtained a guilty verdict and as a consequence, Moffett was sentenced to life in prison. If I recall correctly, the CL did report it, but only said "A Hinds County jury convicted Moffett." They did not interview Peterson and only printed a quote from the victim's family. I know it's hard to believe, but there are people in Hinds county that do not realize that everytime they read "a Hinds County jury convicted....." it means that Faye Peterson's office prosecuted the case. And since we are on the subject, less than a month ago Christopher Russell plead guilty during the middle of his trial. He was being tried on Kidnapping, Gratification of Lust and 2 counts of Sexual Battery. This was an open plea before Judge Green. Green sentenced him to 25 years. WAPT did report the conviction.

I know it's hard to believe, but there are people in Hinds county that do not realize that everytime they read "a Hinds County jury convicted....." it means that Faye Peterson's office prosecuted the case.

Sadly, a good point.

It is a point that the editors at the CL know very well. These are the same editors that chose not to include the Mendenhall conviction in todays paper. Not even in the "Law Enforcement Briefs" section. Something really stinks over there at the corner of Congress and Pascagoula streets (that would be the northwest corner).

... and, specifically, at the Metro/State desk and at the edit-boyz table.

I know it's hard to believe, but there are people in Hinds county that do not realize that everytime they read "a Hinds County jury convicted....." it means that Faye Peterson's office prosecuted the case.

You read my mind, truth. I think that everyone who reads this should start emphasizing that fact to those they know, especially while reading the paper or watching TV and they say "A Hinds County jury convicted..."

Vote Faye Peterson, District Attorney.

After Melton is out of office, you will have absolutely no reason to question the integrity of Faye Peterson and the DA's office.

Here's a link to some of the violent-crime cases that Peterson has tried.