Sheldon “Timothy” Herrington, Jr., pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and tampering with evidence during jury selection in Canton, Miss., on Monday, Dec. 1.
Herrington is scheduled for sentencing at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 2, at the Lafayette County Courthouse in Oxford.
The jury for Herrington’s second trial on charges of murdering University of Mississippi student Jimmie “Jay” Lee was to be selected in Canton starting on Monday, after Herrington’s defense petitioned for a change in venue in May due to the extensive news coverage in Lafayette County. Herrington’s first trial on capital murder charges in Oxford ended in a mistrial due to jury deadlock in December 2024.
The cause and manner of death for Lee, who disappeared in July 2022 and was declared dead in October 2024, could not be determined by the Mississippi state medical examiner’s office due to the extensive decomposition of what were believed to be Lee’s human remains after skeletal remains were found on Feb. 1, in a wooded area in rural Carroll County.
In February, human remains and photographs of them were sent to the state crime lab in Jackson, Miss., where an analysis and autopsy were conducted.
The discovery of human remains prompted a new indictment of Herrington on charges of capital murder and tampering with evidence. The tampering with evidence charge was dropped on March 7 due to the expiration of the two-year statute of limitations.
On Oct. 28, Aafram Sellers, Herrington’s defense attorney, requested that Luther exclude photographs of the crime scene and/or Lee’s autopsy, arguing that the “gruesome” images could prejudice jurors against Herrington and are not necessary to establish Lee’s death.
Sellers also requested that Luther not include expert testimony from Melissa Ratcliff-Sorrell in the trial, a clinical social worker who has done research on behavior in LGBTQ+ communities.
Lee was a prominent figure in the Oxford-Lafayette LGBTQ+ community who graduated from UM in 2022. He was last seen on video surveillance footage at 5:58 a.m. on July 8, 2022, leaving Campus Walk Apartments. His family members realized he was missing later that day when he did not show up for a baby-formula donation drive that he had organized.
His car was towed by Bandit Towing Company from Molly Barr Apartments on July 8, 2022, and located by law enforcement three days later. After local law enforcement discovered Lee’s vehicle, the search for Lee went into full swing.
During testimony in the first trial, sexually explicit Snapchat messages between Lee and Herrington were presented to the jury.
Lafayette County District Attorney Ben Creekmore said in the prosecution’s closing statement that Herrington’s motive to murder Lee was to protect a “lie,” that being his sexuality.
“Jay Lee lived his truth. Timothy Herrington lived a lie,” Creekmore told the jury. “And what did he do to protect that lie? He had to get rid of Jay Lee, and that’s what he did.”
According to prior testimony from former Oxford Police Department Lt. Shane Fortner, Lee was going to see Herrington the morning of July 8 when he went missing.
Also according to Clarion Ledger, Herrington later went to Walmart, was seen running out of the Molly Barr Trails apartment complex, traveled to Grenada in a white box truck and was captured on a neighbor’s surveillance footage at his parents’ residence using a wheelbarrow near the box truck on the night of July 8.
The prosecution argued that a lack of financial transactions and social media transactions from Lee after July 8 was evidence of his death.
Herrington’s defense attorney, Kevin Horan, a Mississippi state representative, said in his closing statements in the original trial that the University Police Department did not properly block off the Molly Barr Trails apartment complex as a crime scene.
Horan also said that there was not enough evidence to find Herrington guilty of capital murder. The kidnapping charge in the indictment elevates the charge of murder to capital murder.
After summarizing Lee and Herrington’s Snapchat conversations on the morning of July 8, 2022, Horan said that Lee was not kidnapped because he “was the one controlling this conversation” and that Lee made the decision to go to Herrington’s apartment.
The trial was declared a mistrial by Lafayette County Circuit Court Judge Kelly Luther after the jury could not come to a consensus.
