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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
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Jackson, Mississippi – Governor Haley Barbour today announced the appointment of S. Malcolm O. Harrison, of Jackson, as Circuit Court Judge for the Seventh Judicial District, Sub-district 4, serving Hinds County. Harrison will serve the unexpired term of former Judge Bobby DeLaughter, who resigned July 30; the term ends January 3, 2011. “I am very pleased that Malcolm Harrison has accepted this important judicial position,” Governor Barbour said. “He brings extensive criminal and civil experience to the Circuit Court bench from his distinguished service as a prosecutor and as a lawyer in private practice. I appreciate his continued dedication to public service as he takes on this new role.

Harrison is expected to begin his new duties on Monday, November 2.

He has served as the Hinds County Prosecuting Attorney since 1999, when he was first elected. He is also partner in Harrison and Flowers PLLC. Previously, he served as the prosecuting attorney for Bolton and owned the Harrison Law Offices.

“I am deeply honored and humbled by Governor Barbour’s confidence in my ability to serve the citizens of Hinds County as a Circuit Court Judge,” Harrison said. “It is with a tremendous sense of duty and responsibility that I accept this appointment.”

Harrison served as president of the Magnolia Bar Association from 2008-09 and was a member of Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann’s Committee to study Business Courts and to reform limited liability corporations in Mississippi. He is a member of the Mississippi Prosecutors Association.

His community involvement includes serving as a class representative to Leadership Jackson and deacon and trustee of Farish Street Missionary Baptist Church.

Harrison earned his bachelor’s degree from Jackson State University and his law degree from Samford University in Birmingham. He and his wife, Tammiko, have two sons, Khari and Kiland.

Governor Barbour’s Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee reviewed the qualifications of more than 20 applicants in accordance with Executive Order 914 and found Harrison fully qualified to serve as Circuit Court Judge.

Founding Editor Donna Ladd is a writer, journalist and editor from Philadelphia, Miss., a graduate of Mississippi State University and later the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where she was an alumni award recipient in 2021. She writes about racism/whiteness, poverty, gender, violence, journalism and the criminal justice system. She contributes long-form features and essays to The Guardian when she has time, and was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Jackson Free Press. She co-founded the statewide nonprofit Mississippi Free Press with Kimberly Griffin in March 2020, and the Mississippi Business Journal named her one of the state's top CEOs in 2024. Read more at donnaladd.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @donnerkay and email her at donna@mississippifreepress.org.