Circuit Court Judge Kelly Luther denied a motion on Thursday, July 25, to seal all further pretrial proceedings in the case against Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr., who was indicted for the 2022 murder of Ole Miss student Jimmy “Jay” Lee.
While Luther said he didn’t think sealing the whole file was necessary, he will allow the defense and prosecution to submit individual files to be considered for sealing by the court.
District Attorney Ben Creekmore and Defense Attorney Kevin Horan jointly filed the motion on July 15, citing the amount of publicity surrounding the case as the reason to seal further pretrial proceedings.
“My interest is only to protect the potential jurors, wherever the court picks (them from), from being influenced by any information that doesn’t come in through the court,” Creekmore said in a July 24 interview with The Daily Mississippian.
After the hearing, Creekmore said that the trial – which was pushed back to Dec. 2 – would proceed as any other criminal trial.
Before denying the motion, Luther acknowledged a motion filed by Mississippi Today, WMC-TV and WTVA-TV to intervene in the motion to seal the files.
“I think the judge’s ruling today was the right one,” Mississippi Today Editor in Chief Adam Ganucheau said. “Whether it’s a high profile case or not, the public has the right to know exactly what’s in these court files and exactly what’s being argued by the prosecution and defense.”
Herrington, a UM graduate, was arrested and charged with Lee’s murder on July 22, 2022, and released on a $250,000 bond in December 2022. Lee, a 2022 UM graduate and prominent member of the Oxford queer community, was last seen on July 8, 2022, leaving his home at Campus Walk Apartments. His body has yet to be recovered.
