OXFORD, Miss.—The State of Mississippi will not seek the death penalty against Timothy Herrington in his second trial for the murder of Jimmie “Jay” Lee, despite the discovery of the victim’s body since the first trial.
Herrington appeared in Lafayette County Circuit Court Judge Kelly Luther’s courtroom for his bond hearing on Thursday, where the judge denied bond and ordered him to remain in the Lafayette County jail pending his new trial for capital murder.
“If the state had, prior to trial, asked me to revoke bond I probably would have, based on the evidence. Mr. Herrington is not entitled to bond, even though he has done what he’s supposed to, based on the evidence. … In layman’s terms, pressure on Mr. Herrington has gotten worse,” he said. Luther acknowledged, however, that Herrington had already declined to flee. “Pressure on him not to show up is worse than ever, but he’s here nonetheless.”
Lafayette County District Attorney Ben Creekmore confirmed that the state was not seeking the death penalty in the trial, just as they declined to do so in Herrington’s first trial. Previously, Creekmore told the Daily Journal that the discovery of Lee’s body may have changed the state’s interest in pursuing the death penalty.
Late last year, Herrington was put on trial for the kidnapping and murder of Lee despite the fact that Lee’s body had not yet been discovered. Messages between Herrington and Lee indicated the two met shortly before Lee’s disappearance in July 2022, and prosecutors pointed to evidence that Herrington was spotted jogging out of the parking lot where Lee’s car was later found abandoned.
Prosecutors have long alleged that Herrington murdered Lee to conceal their sexual relationship. Lee, 20 at the time of his murder, was openly gay, but Herrington was not, prosecutors say.
Herrington’s first trial ended in a mistrial, with news outlets reporting that the jury had been deadlocked 11-1, with a single holdout declining to convict due to the lack of a body.
Then, on Feb. 1, deer hunters found Lee’s body in a well-known dumping ground roughly 25 miles away from Grenada, Herrington’s hometown, where law enforcement say they found video of Herrington returning home with his box truck and retrieving tools the day of Lee’s murder.
Members of Jay Lee’s family were in the front rows of the bond hearing, alongside numerous members of the Oxford Police Department and members of Timothy Herrington’s family.
Herrington is no longer represented by attorney Kevin Horan, a Republican Mississippi House lawmaker who represented him in his first trial. His new defense counsel is Aafram Sellers, a high-profile defense attorney who previously represented Rankin County “Goon Squad” deputy Brett McAlpin.
Denise Fondren and Keveon Taylor briefly represented Herrington, acting as public defenders.
Sellers began the proceedings with an attempt to dismiss a new charge of tampering with evidence, arguing that it had fallen outside the statute of limitations. Sellers said that any tampering necessarily occurred on July 8, 2022—the day of Lee’s murder. In Mississippi, the statute of limitation for most crimes is two years.
“If a surgeon leaves equipment in a body, when the equipment is found, that’s when the statute begins,” Luther explained. The judge asked Assistant District Attorney Gwen Agho if the Mississippi Supreme Court had ever determined if the statute of limitations begins when the crime is discovered or when it occurs.
Agho pointed to a case involving child sexual assault in which the assault was concealed and was still determined to have fallen within the statute of limitations. “When the defendant prevents the crime from being discovered,” she said, the statute of limitations is weakened.
Luther asked to see more Mississippi Supreme Court cases from both the defense and the prosecution on the subject of the statute of limitations before determining whether or not Herrington can be charged with evidence tampering. The judge’s decision is expected at a hearing next Friday.
If convicted of capital murder, Herrington faces up to life in prison, a maximum sentence the State has indicated it will pursue.
