A mistrial in the case of Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr. — who is charged with capital murder in the case of Jimmie “Jay” Lee —was declared by Lafayette County Circuit Court Judge Kelly Luther Wednesday night after the jury could not come to a consensus.
Luther received a third note from the jury stating that it was unable to reach an agreement at 8:25 p.m. When Luther asked if they could come to a consensus with further deliberation, a juror described it as “impossible” and confirmed that the jury was still split 11-1.
The jury first said that it was split 11-1 at approximately 4:20 p.m. but was instructed by Luther not to say which way the jury was divided and to continue deliberations. The deliberations which started at approximately 11 a.m., continued for over nine hours and ended at 8:22 p.m.
“I thank you for your effort,” Luther said to the jurors. Luther said that the court would meet with the defense and prosecution next week to start discussing another trial date.
Lee, 20, was a prominent figure in the Oxford-Lafayette LGBTQ+ community who graduated from the University of Mississippi in 2022. He was last seen on video surveillance footage at 5:58 a.m. on July 8, 2022, leaving Campus Walk Apartments. Although Lee’s body has yet to be recovered, Lafayette County Circuit Court Judge Grady Tollison declared Lee legally dead in October.
On July 22, 2022, Herrington was arrested by the Oxford Police Department and initially charged with Lee’s murder — however the charge was elevated to capital murder in the grand jury indictment on March 28, 2023.
The prosecution was led by Lafayette County District Attorney Ben Creekmore, who gave a comment to The Daily Mississippian after Luther declared a mistrial.
“We’re going to proceed forward with trying to get with the court to set a new trial date,” Creekmore said. “I just appreciate everybody’s hard work and accommodation by the circuit clerk’s office and the Oxford Police Department and the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department — and my heart goes out to the Lee family.”
Special Prosecutor and Hinds County Assistant District Attorney Gwen Agho joined Creekmore in leading the prosecution.
The declaration of a mistrial comes after 10 days of proceedings which began on Monday, Dec. 2 with jury selection in Hattiesburg, Miss. The decision to select the jurors from another county was made by Luther in August after Kevin Horan — Herrington’s defense attorney and a Mississippi state representative — filed for a change of venue, citing the amount of pretrial media attention the case had received.
Over the course of witness testimony, witnesses spoke about Lee’s personality, academic achievements and relationships with his friends and family; Snapchat correspondences between Lee and Herrington that indicated they were together on the morning of Lee’s July 8 disappearance; interviews that OPD conducted with Herrington; and the timeline of Herrington’s whereabouts on July 8, 2022.
