Jackson Free Press

The Mississippi State Supreme Court has denied Attorney General Jim Hood's request for an explanation of their March decision in the case of Michelle Byrom, Tom Freeland of the North Mississippi Commenter reports.

Byrom had been on a death row for participating in the murder of her abusive husband. However, evidence came to light that raised strong doubts about the extent of Byrom's participation in the crime and the state's high court declined to schedule her execution and ordered a new trial with a new judge.

Hood, a former prosecutor and the state's only statewide Democratic official, blew a gasket and demanded that justices explain their rationale.

Not only did justices not bend to Hood's request on the Byrom case, just for good measure they also threw out the death sentence of a man named Roger Lee Gillett and ordered him re-sentenced.

The Associated Press reports: "Gillett was convicted in 2007 in Forrest County on two counts of capital murder for his role in the deaths of a Hattiesburg couple and the transporting of their bodies to Kansas in a freezer. While in custody in Kansas, he attempted to escape. That crime was one of the aggravating factors prosecutors presented jurors to support the death penalty.

"The Supreme Court, in its 6-3 decision Thursday, says not every escape is considered a crime of violence under Kansas law. Therefore, wrote Justice Ann Lamar, the Kansas crime cannot be used to support a death sentence in Mississippi."

Regional picks and new releases

Mississippi may be in the midst of the nation's slimiest political contest, the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

Now, a new study purports that Mississippi is indeed the crookedest state in the union. Researchers at Indiana University and University of Hong Kong "studied more than 25,000 convictions of public officials for violation of federal corruption laws between 1976 and 2008 as well as patterns in state spending to develop a corruption index that estimates the most and least corrupt states in the union."

The full article is not publicly available, but based on the study's methods, Mississippi tops of the corruption list—surpassing even Illinois where two of the last three governors served time in federal prison on corruption charges—whose Top 10 is full of other southern state:

1. Mississippi
2. Louisiana
3. Tennessee
4. Illinois
5. Pennsylvania
6. Alabama
7. Alaska
8. South Dakota
9. Kentucky
10. Florida

It should be noted that by some other measures, Mississippi has one of the nation's lowest "corruption risks," thanks to a strong state auditor and insurance commissioner, both of whom are elected in Mississippi, unlike in some other states.

I've been asked a couple times recently by national media to comment on the Senate race between Thad Cochran and Chris McDaniel (and, oh, Travis Childers). I begged out of an MSNBC request a couple weeks ago because I just couldn't get excited to talk about it. But when The Guardian wanted to contract me this past Monday to write a column, I said OK. But my main thought was, "I just don't give a damn." I've watched election after election pass with no candidate for even moderate Mississippians to vote for. Our city and state are brimming with good people who want progress for the state, and we get stuck with the worst candidates, brimming with backward ideas, and told we HAVE to vote for the Democrat among them any way.

Meantime, we watch the Democrats lose over and over again.

I don't want "apathy," as somebody accused on Twitter. I want just the opposite: I want Mississippians to demand better from the candidates then the most reasonable one loving all over the NRA and bashing women's reproductive freedom. We need to demand, at least, that Travis Childers, the Democratic nominee not campaign against our rights, and actually address solutions to health care, povery and other vital 21st-century populist issues. If he wallows in the mud with the wingnuts, it's not ME who is encouraging apathy. It is up to him and the Democratic Party to break that apathy and be inspiring, rather than try to out-conservative the conservatives.

I don't identify with any political party (don't even really like the concept), so perhaps it's easy for me to take this stand in an international newspaper. But the response has been overwhelmingly positive, especially from southerners; my Twitter feed and Facebook post on it are filled with cheers. It's as if everyone wanted to say this, but didn't quite know how to say it out loud. But I said it. Read more here, post under The Guardian piece if you want (many great comments of various positions), and then come on back and talk about it here on southern soil.

The Mississippi primary? Frankly, my dear conservatives, I don't give a damn

If you've been itching to see Bruno Mars live, this weekend is your chance. He'll be playing the FedEx Forum in Memphis on 6/6. If that's not good enough, head down to New Orleans and catch his set at the Smoothie King Center on 6/7. Either way, you're sure to have a great time. Why not just go to both shows?

If you need to stay away from the Enormodome and just want some good rock music, check out Better Than Ezra at the Golden Nugget Casino in Biloxi on 6/7.

Tupelo pays tribute to its native son, Elvis at the Tupelo Elvis Festival at the Bancorp South Arena on 6/6.

If you just want to stay home and listen to records, then there's plenty of new stuff to keep you inside all weekend long:

Miranda Lambert - Platinum (Country)

Bob Mould - Beauty & Ruin (Noise Pop)

Fucked Up - Glass Boys (Rock)

Die Antwoord - Donker Mag (Dance)

Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal (Rock)

Meshell Ndegeocello - Comet, Come to Me (Pop/Rock)

Echo & the Bunnymen - Meteorites (Alternative)

Joe Henry - Invisible Hour (Pop/Rock)

50 Cent - Animal Ambition: An Untamed Desire to Win (Rap)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Only Run (Rock)

Camper Van Beethoven - El Camino Real (Alternative)

Dave Alvin / Phil Alvin - Common Ground: Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin Play and Sing the Songs of Big Bill Broonzy (Americana)

Devon Williams - Gilding the Lily (Pop)

Morrissey - Vauxhall & I [20th Anniversary Edition Definitive] (Alternative)

Cypress Grove / Lydia Lunch - A Fistful of Desert Blues (Punk)

Big Smo - Kuntry Livin' (Country)

Harry Dean Stanton - Partly Fiction (Americana)

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