The state will not seek the death penalty for Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr., who is charged with the capital murder of Ole Miss student Jimmie “Jay” Lee.
The decision was announced in a bond hearing for Herrington on Thursday, Feb. 27, in Lafayette County Circuit Court. Judge Kelly Luther also denied Herrington’s bond during the hearing.
Herrington has been held in jail since Feb. 11 after being arraigned for a new indictment that includes an additional charge of tampering with evidence.
The additional charge came after the discovery of Lee’s body by hunters in Carroll County on Feb. 1.
The prosecution revealed new details of the discovery in court on Thursday, stating that Lee’s body was wrapped in moving blankets and duct tape when it was found. The prosecution also said that Lee’s body was found with a silk bonnet that security videos from his apartment show him wearing when he returned from a visit to Herrington’s apartment the morning he went missing on July 8, 2022.
“Mr. Herrington is not entitled to bond. My main concern is the pressure on Mr. Herrington has gotten worse. It’s justification for him not showing up,” Luther said in court. “It’s about as high as you can get.”
A trial for the murder charge against Herrington ended in a mistrial in December.
Herrington’s Jackson-based attorney, Aafram Y. Sellers, filed a motion on Tuesday to dismiss the new charge of tampering with evidence.
Luther heard the state and prosecution’s arguments for and against the dismissal in Thursday’s bond hearing but decided he wanted to review related case law before making a ruling. He requested both sides submit relevant cases by Friday, March 7.
The prosecution argued that Herrington tampered with evidence on the premise that he hid the body to prevent it from being found.
Sellers argued the tampering charge be dismissed on the grounds that the new charge no longer meets the statute of limitations, saying neither an indictment nor arrest warrant on the tampering charge was filed before July 2024, meaning the charge is expired.
“If they were going to bring the charge, it should have been brought (in the) first go-round. But I would say because he’s presumed innocent and has maintained his innocence, I don’t think any charge should have been brought,” Sellers said.
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.
The morning of Lee’s disappearance, Herrington, also a UM graduate, and Lee had been messaging each other, and Herrington requested Lee to meet him at his apartment at Lafayette Place Apartments. Prosecutors argued in an August 2022 bond hearing that Herrington and Lee had been in a casual relationship.
Kevin Horan represented Herrington during the December court proceedings. During the Feb. 11 arraignment, Luther appointed public defender Denise Fondren as Herrington’s attorney.
Herrington was first indicted for capital murder on March 28, 2023.
A trial date is set for Oct. 13 2025, with jury selection beginning at 9 a.m. in the Lafayette courtroom, according to the Clarion Ledger.
