The Brookhaven Board of Aldermen fired a police detective on Tuesday after his actions led a judge to declare a mistrial against two men accused of shooting at a Black FedEx driver and to ultimately dismiss the charges.

Prosecutors charged Brandon Case and Gregory Case, who are both white, with attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy and shooting into the vehicle that D’Monterrio Gibson was driving while he was making deliveries in Brookhaven, Miss., in January 2022.

During the discovery period of the 2023 trial, Brookhaven Detective Vincent Fernando withheld from the court and defense a recorded interview that he conducted with Gibson at the police station after the incident. Lincoln County Circuit Court Judge David Strong said he improperly testified about finding guns in the home of one of the defendants and shell casings outside.

Mayor Joe Cox said the board voted to terminate Fernando’s effective immediately as a result of Strong dismissing the Cases’ charges on Jan. 6. The judge cited the detective’s “repeated intentional errors” and accused him of violating court proceedings.

“When matters are presented to prosecutors (are) not up to professional standards, we rectify those matters when made known to us,” Cox said at the Jan. 7 Board of Aldermen meeting. “Further, we have enacted policies and procedures that have been developed by law-enforcement experts along with criminal justice department leaders in our state universities. We expect and demand those to be complied with. We expect professional behavior in our police department.”

Fernando presented a letter to the board with a resignation date of Jan. 31 after a Lincoln County Circuit Court order filed a criminal investigation into Fernando, Ward 6 Alderman Andre Spiller said. Police Chief Kenny Collins then asked the detective if he would change his resignation date to earlier in the month, but Fernando declined.

The Mississippi Free Press left messages for Brookhaven Police Chief Kenneth Collins and Gibson’s lawyer, Willie Abston, asking for interviews, but did not hear back by press time.

State Reporter Heather Harrison has won more than a dozen awards for her multi-media journalism work. At Mississippi State University, she studied public relations and broadcast journalism, earning her Communication degree in 2023. For three years, Heather worked at The Reflector student newspaper: first as a staff reporter, then as the news editor and finally, as the editor-in-chief. This is where her passion for politics and government reporting began.
Heather started working at the Mississippi Free Press three days after graduation in 2023. She also worked part time for Starkville Daily News after college covering the Board of Aldermen meetings.
In her free time, Heather likes to sit on the porch, read books and listen to Taylor Swift. A native of Hazlehurst, she now lives in Brandon with her wife and their Boston Terrier, Finley, and calico cat, Ravioli.