The prosecution and defense delivered their closing arguments in the trial of Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr. — who is charged with the capital murder of Jimmie “Jay” Lee — on Monday, Dec. 11, at the Lafayette County Courthouse.
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.
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.
During testimony, sexually explicit Snapchat messages between Lee and Herrington were presented to the jury.
“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.”
The prosecution summarized a timeline of events on July 8, messages exchanged between Herrington and Lee and Herrington’s whereabouts.
According to prior testimony, Lee was going to see Herrington the morning of July 8 when he went missing.
Also according to prior testimony, 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.
Although Lee’s body has yet to be recovered, Lafayette County Circuit Court Judge Grady Tollison declared Lee legally dead in October.
“How do we know Jay Lee is dead? Silence,” Creekmore said.
Special prosecutor Gwen Agho talked about the impact of Lee’s death on his family.
“July 8 has always been a special day for the Lee family – Stephanie Lee, Jay Lee’s mother,” Agho said, referencing testimony from Stephanie Lee stating that July 8 is her birthday.
“This day is now Timothy’s day. Now is the time to hold him accountable,” Agho said.
Herrington’s defense attorney, Kevin Horan, a Mississippi state representative, said in his closing statements that there were inconsistencies in the investigation. Horan said that the University Police Department processed evidence from Lee’s car in a lab in California and that this was not standard procedure.
“Why was the standard applied differently from Timothy Herrington?” Horan said.
Horan also said that the University Police Department did not properly block off the Molly Barr Trails apartment complex — where Lee’s car was found and towed from the morning of July 8 — 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 jury is currently in deliberation.
