Judicial Election Issue

With elections upcoming next week I thought it appropriate to link a story from Rankin County of a judicial candidate, Richard Redfern, who has been ordered to immediately stop running ‘misleading’ ads. This order was propounded by the Special Committee on Judicial Election Campaign Intervention which was created by the Mississippi Supreme Court for a case just like this one.

The article states Redfern uses the term “Judge Richard Redfern Chancery Judge”. Redfern is currently a Justice Court Judge in Rankin County so I do not see why there should be a lot of discussion about him using the title Judge before his name. A Justice Court Judgeship is an elected position that disposes of numerous complaints and quarrels and quite honestly handles as many cases, if not more than the more typical circuit or chancery court judges. As for the part of the statement, Chancery Judge, I believe Redfern may be in violation of what he can do here and more appropriately should have put “for Chancery Judge”. I, however, do not think Redfern’s signs are as misleading as his opponents or the articles makes it sound as the couple of signs I have actually seen around Rankin County have something to the effect of Vote Judge Richard Redfern and then below and in smaller type Chancery Judge. Also I do not know if this was even brought up before the committee but virtually every time an incumbent candidate runs for another term the words “re-elect” are plastered all over the advertisements.

For a modicum of fairness I feel like I should say that Redfern’s opponents in the race are Dan Fairly and Randy Clark, both who are quoted in the linked article and appear to also be qualified for the job. There is actually one of these signs up near my house, if it is still there when I get off work tonight I will try and swing by and take a picture of it for the blog.

*** After further investigation all of Redfern's signs near my house do say for Chancery Judge and as such seem perfectly fine to me. Additionally, both Dan Fairly's and Randy Clark's signs say "for Chancery Judge" so I am completely perplexed as to what the beef is with Redfern and why the Committee ruled the way it did. - Edited 11/1/06

Death Penalty Law in Mississippi

I thought with the execution of Bobby Glen Wilcher last week it might be appropriate to look at the death penalty in Mississippi. There was also the sad story of an Ole Miss police officer being dragged to death this past week and the driver may be facing the death penalty. There are currently, after the execution of Wilcher last Wednesday, 69 inmates on death row in Mississippi of which there are 67 males, 2 females, 32 whites, 36 blacks and 1 Asian. The oldest person currently on Mississippi’s death row is Gerald Holland who is currently 69 and the longest serving member is Richard Jordan whose entry date on his MDOC page is March 2, 1977. For information on each death row inmate see here. It is estimated that in the state’s history around 800 people have been executed.

On the legal side of the death penalty in Mississippi there are 3 things in which one can be sentenced to death.

1. Capital murder – Miss. Code Ann. 97-3-19 (2) – Murder if committed under the following circumstances;
- Killing of a peace officer if the assailant knew the person was a peace officer,
- murder by a person under a life imprisonment sentence,
- murder by bomb or explosive devise,
- murder for hire,
- murder when done while also committing rape, burglary, kidnapping, arson, robbery, sexual battery, unnatural intercourse with a child under the age of 12, nonconsensual unnatural intercourse with mankind or an attempt to commit the above offenses
- murder when done in connection with a violation of 97-5-39 which is felonious abuse or neglect of a child
- murder on educational property as defined in 97-37-17
- murder of a public official with knowledge they were a public official

2. Capital rape – Miss. Code Ann. 97-3-65 - rape of a child under age of 14. It should be noted the law is not clear whether the death penalty is available for capital rape or the sentence tops out at life imprisonment (which is also a capital sentence). Another good resource on this issue is Collins v. State, 691 So.2d 918.

3. Air piracy – Miss. Code Ann. 97-25-55 – This offense is defined as “the seizure or exercise of control, by force or violence or threat of force or violence, of any aircraft within the airspace jurisdiction of the State of Mississippi”. The two available penalties for a violation of this offense is the death penalty or life imprisonment. This statute does not appear to have been used at this point in time.

If there are any specific issues concerning the death penalty law itself one might want to discuss we (the moderators) are open to that discussion but the intent of this post is to provide a primer, of sorts, of the applicable Mississippi law.

Recap of the Second Extraordinary Session of 2006

In what some have called record time both house of the Mississippi Legislature have passed a tax cut for modular homes. For more on the session which lasted less than two hours see this Clarion Ledger article. On a side note there were 10 bills introduced in the House regarding this sales tax with the House, in the end, voting on the Sentate's language as to prevent the need for a conference committee.

For the text of the bill see here.

Second Extraordinary Session of 2006

Governor Barbour has called for a Second Special Session of 2006 to begin Thursday, October 5th at noon. In the call of this Extraordinary Session (as it is legally known) the only topic to be taken up will be reducing the tax rate on modular housing. Governor Barbour reinforced that this would be the only topic and nothing else would be added to the call on a Jackson radio program this morning.

The change that is being sought by the governor would adjust the tax rate of modular homes from 7% to the 3% rate that is currently on manufactured homes or as they are better known is Mississippi, mobile homes. For a press release from the governor’s office see here.

Here is a quick primer on the difference in modular and manufactured housing.

While there are several benefits to giving this advantage to modular homes (and therefore their builders and buyers) I worry about what will happen to all of the contractors who currently build "stick-built" homes and are taxed at the normal 7% rate. The state's response to a disaster, while appropriate, may create a windfall for the major modular home producers in the country and greatly hurt the stick house building local contractors. Hopefully the legislature will include a sunset provision in whatever legislation comes out of this special session.

Recap of the First Extraordinary Session of 2006

The “Special” session called by Haley Barbour earlier this month, principally to ensure tax incentives for the River Bend project in DeSoto County lasted only a few short days in comparison to some of Mississippi’s previous special sessions. See House Bill 25 for the bill’s language. The River Bend project is a project that has thoroughly been discussed in the local news. For more information on the project and its passage see the Commerical Appeal, Daily Journal, & Clarion Ledger.This project seems to be following a similar path of tax incentives as projects such as Nissan and SteelCorr.

However, River Bend is not the only project the Legislature addressed. Other bills also appear to have passed both houses. They include: Senate Bill 2005: an appropriation to renovate a portion of the Sillers building in downtown Jackson; Senate Bill 2010: creating special assessment areas and allowing for bonding and taxing with regards to a Byram/Clinton corridor; House Bill 1: allowing bonds to be issued for expanding the Magee General Hospital; House Bill 5: which provides grants for local governments on the Gulf Coast; House Bill 14: expanding the bonding authority for Gulfport’s Memorial Hospital. Many of these bills appear to be ready to be addressed by the governor but the Legislature’s website does not currently indicate they have been enrolled and signed to be sent to the Governor. I will research this further and post an update on this point in the comments when I find out more information.

Other bills did not get passed in this extra session. Key among these bills was Senate Bill 2003 that would reduce the sales tax on modular home units. The lack of passage for this bill is, however, rumored to be the basis for another special session.

Meth Offender Registry ???

The topic of a meth offender registry has once again surfaced in a recent Slate article, found here. According to the article at least 3 states: Tennessee, Illinois and Minnesota have already passed laws to create these registries and I would not be shocked if Mississippi were soon to follow. For a look at Tennessee’s registry click here.

I project this future registry based upon a couple of facts, 1. next year is an election year and being tough on crime is often seen as a good thing for a candidate, 2. people are obsessively scared of meth, like it is some sort of super drug (the article makes some good points about this), and want to punish it more than other illegal drugs, and 3. the Legislature has already shown a propensity to go after the Meth “element” so this would not be a first go around for legislators to think about these issues. For a most recent bill see Senate Bill 2511 of the 2006 Session.

There are two issues I am looking for with this post.

First, is to gauge public reaction to a possible meth registry, is it a good idea?, is it needed?, do you think it will work on some level?, if so how effective might it be?

Second, I am looking for people’s thoughts on registering felons in our state. Does the sex-offender registry work, if so will this registry work? Also, if we register sex offenders and meth creators/dealers why not everyone on parole or with prior convictions?

Mississippi Annexation Law

Currently if a town or city wants to annex property into a city all that needs to be done is the Municipality gives notice and files a petition for annexation in the proper Chancery Court. Typically, cities hold city council (or other type depending on the type of city government) meetings to get a feel for how those in the proposed annexation area (PAA) feel about becoming part of their city. It is at this point those in the PAA sometimes say, “O.K” but more often than not (it seems) they say “We don’t want to be part of the city that is why we moved out here”. However, in Mississippi those in the PAA do not have much of a say in the process. The municipality in their Chancery petition are supposed to address 12 factors that are “indicia” of reasonableness, under the assumption that if the Annexation request is reasonable it should happen.

There are several problems with this system. First, those getting annexed do not have a say except an uphill battle in court (Uphill because the standard begins against them since all that is required is reasonableness). Second, those getting annexed have to organize and hire attorneys by themselves to fend off the annexor; this is unlike the city which typically has a city attorney and who is paid by city taxes (and the taxes of those who live in the PAA if the city wins the annexation suit). Third, this system of annexation promotes inefficiency, which costs taxpayers in the long run. The system is basically set up to have a city act, have those who do not want to be in the city file suit, a Chancellor render an opinion, an appeal to the MS Supreme Court, and if the city does not comply with the annexation conditions (providing city services to the PAA) in a timely manner then we look at yet another suit seeking deannexation. It is this possibility of deannexation that the MS Supreme Court has said is the way those in the PAA get a say in the process (by getting annexed in and then trying to vote or sue themselves back out once they are in). How fair or efficient is this process? For more on the deannexation process giving those in the PAA a fair shake I highly recommend Justice Ed Pittman’s concurrence in 644 So.2d 1168.

This is, however, a process that may be changing in the future, hopefully. In the 2005 legislative session the following bills: House Bills 187, 216, 292, 483, 643, 761, 783, 796, 1169; House Concurrent Resolution 32; and Senate Bill 2889 all dealt with changing the MS annexation process. (I am still trying to calculate the 2006 bills). Most of these bills focus on having an election to determine if the annexation is appropriate. Different systems can have just the city vote, can have just the PAA vote, or can require both the city and the PAA to vote and both approve. The last two of these election systems seems more fair, to me, than our current annexation process.