JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Prosecutors have dismissed charges against the co-defendant of Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith.
The Clarion-Ledger reports (https://on.thec-l.com/2hNy3wc) Judge Larry Roberts granted a motion Monday by Assistant Attorney General Marvin Sanders to drop charges against Hinds County Assistant District Attorney Jamie McBride.
McBride, like Smith, had been indicted on felony charges of conspiring to hinder prosecution of accused drug dealer Christopher Butler.
A 12-member jury and two alternates were selected as Smith’s trial opened Monday. Opening arguments are scheduled for Tuesday.
The district attorney’s September indictment came after months of closed-door maneuvering. Smith faces two felony counts of conspiring to prevent Butler’s prosecution and one misdemeanor count of illegally advising him. Smith has pleaded not guilty.
Any conviction would remove Smith as district attorney.
Smith represented Butler when Smith was a defense lawyer in private practice.
The dispute stems from Smith’s attempts to dismiss 2012 marijuana charges against Butler. Smith argued as early as January that videos from a home security system at Butler’s house that recorded a Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics search were tampered with. MBN, which investigated the case along with the Jackson Police Department, strongly denies any tampering.
As part of the dispute, Smith, at various times, tried to haul a circuit judge and two assistant attorneys general before a Hinds County grand jury. Those prosecutors, Patrick Beasley and Shawn Yurtkuran, later secured indictments against Butler on various fraud and embezzlement charges, claiming Butler stole or helped others steal furniture when he was an employee at a mattress store.
Smith argued that Attorney General Jim Hood had no legal authority to present a case to a grand jury or prosecute a case in Hinds County without authorization from the governor or Smith. However, state law authorizes the attorney general to proceed on his own in at least some cases.
Smith was on the verge of getting Beasley and Yurtkuran indicted before the attorney general’s office filed misdemeanor charges against Smith. Those charges were dropped when Smith was indicted.
Papers filed by the attorney general’s office also allege Smith took bribes from a political operative to help get people out of jail, but Smith hasn’t been indicted on those charges. Former Hinds County Assistant District Attorney Ivon Johnson pleaded guilty to a federal charge related to the bribes. Court pleadings have also shown that Jackson police and the FBI have regarded Smith as a problem for years, with an FBI agent alleging Smith was shielding drug dealers.
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Information from: The Clarion-Ledger, https://www.clarionledger.com
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