Mississippi Lawyer Blog

Same sex marriage has been a hot button issue for quite some time. Last week, two major events took place on the west coast. In California, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declared that the state's ban on same sex marriages (Proposition 8) was unconstitutional. Then just one (1) day later, Washington passed a law allowing same sex couples to marry.

Prop 8 had been approved by 52% of California voters in 2008. The three judge panel declared the ban unconstitutional because it singled a specific group of individuals- in this case homosexuals- for no reason. In other words, in order to "discriminate" against a specific group of individuals, a state must have a compelling reason. The majority of the judges found California had no such reason; however, the lone dissenting judge found California's ban was constitutional because the state had an interest in the preservation of families. The judge who issued the opinion on behalf of the Ninth Circuit said the ban "serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples."

Even though the Court of Appeals declared Prop 8 unconstitutional, the same sex marriage issue is far from over in California. Opponents of the decision are already planning an appeal to the United States Supreme Court to review the decision. Additionally, Judge Vaughn Walker- the judge who initially declared the ban unconstitutional at the district level (level below the Court of Appeals) in 2010- has a conflict of interest hearing set for later this year. Critics of the decision allege the Judge should have disclosed his sexual orientation due to the decision he was being asked to render. The Ninth Circuit refused to invalidate Judge Walker's decision on that basis and held a judge's sexual orientation was not a basis that would allow the court to overturn that judicial decision.

Prior to Washington's recent law, six states and the District of Columbia allowed same sex couples to marry: Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont. The Washington House of Representatives approved the bill last week and then the Republicans and Democrats of the Washington Senate- in a 55-43 vote- approved it. Washington Governor Chris Gregoire is set to sign the bill later this week. Yet same sex couples will not be allowed to marry until ninety (90) days after Gov. Gregoire signs the legislation. Even then, Washington voters- like the California voters in 2008- will be allowed to vote to decide whether they wish to overturn the legislature and Governor's decision to allow for same sex marriages in their state.

Mississippi currently has a ban on same sex marriages. The ban was initially issued in former Governnor Kirk Fordice's executive order in 1996. This was codified in Mississippi Code Annotated § 93-1-1 ("Any marriage between persons of the same gender is prohibited and null and void from the beginning. Any marriage between persons of the same gender that is valid in another jurisdiction does not constitute a legal or valid marriage in Mississippi.") 86% of Mississippi voters amended the Mississippi Constitution in 2004 to reflect this thereby declaring the ban appropriate. However, Mississippi does allow single homosexuals to adopt a child (Miss. Code Ann. § 93-17-3(5): "Adoption by couples of the same gender is prohibited."). The individual cannot be in a relationship or be part of a couple wishing to adopt (Miss. Code Ann. § 93-17-3: "Couples of the same gender may not adopt.")

Regardless of how you feel on the subject of same sex marriage, the debate over it in our court system does not seem to have an end in sight. Perhaps the United States Supreme Court will take California's appeal during their next session and shed light on this issue.

A tragic police abuse death case which occurred In the college town of Fullerton, California caused a serious deja vu moment for me. In the Fullerton case, a young mentally ill man, Kelly Thomas, was sitting on a bus bench when he was approached by police. They were investigating a report of some cars being broken into in the area and they wanted to search his backpack. When Kelly asked what he had done wrong the police wouldn't tell him so he ran. He was after all suffering from schizophrenia.

The officers, six in all, gave chase and subdued him with tasers, baton strikes, and general roughing up which included kicks and punches. As he was being beaten, Kelly cried out for his father. Kelly was beaten so badly he was taken to the hospital and later died of these injuries. When his father viewed the body, he assumed that his son had been beaten up by a local street gang. His initial thought was to call the Fullerton police and report the crime. Little did he know that Fullerton police officers were responsible.

The City of Fullerton has become defensive. They claim that this was an isolated incident and that its officers are trained to deal with mentally ill persons. However, either the training these officers received was deficient or they need to be retrained.

Continue reading "California Police Brutality Death Case Causes Deja Vu Moment" »

The Clarion Ledger had an interesting article this morning about immunity for Mississippi police officers who are involved in automobile accidents. The article mentions one of our previous cases, Harris v. City of Jackson which you can read about here.

It is truly a shame that police officers and other state, county, and city workers have immunity for car accidents for which you and I would be held responsible. The only way to overcome this immunity is to show the Government worker caused the accident by acting with "reckless disregard" to a person's rights. In the Harris case, the officer was speeding at 100 mph and ran a red light smashing into our client's son who was turning on a green arrow. This was held to be "reckless disregard".

Continue reading "Immunity for Mississippi Police officers nvolved in crashes upsets innocent victims" »

Across the United States a new trend has developed. Teenagers have been using social media to communicate with one another on where groups will be "hanging out" during the summer nights. While this sounds like a simple way to just "spread the word" amongst teenagers, law enforcement has been eavesdropping with their own social media profiles and finding out where and when these "impromptu parties" are being held. Obviously, some residents of a particular area don't particularly like large groups of kids hanging out around their neighborhood. So they cal the cops if they aren't there already.

Well, to some cities, this isn't enough. City Council Members have banded together and have started passing city ordinances providing curfews in an effort to keep people under 18 years of age at home. Curfews are nothing new. Parents and teenagers are getting upset because some of these curfews are set as early as 6:00 p.m. The language of these ordinances are so vague that they basically allow any law enforcement officer to pull over a vehicle for no reason whatsoever other than the driver or passengers "look like they are under 18" and out past curfew.

The ACLU has had a field day with these curfews. They write letters and explain to City Officials that ordinances that seem to be protecting residents can actually be violating teenagers First Amendment Rights.

Every parent and teenager should be familiar with ordinances enacted during the summer months, regardless of where they live. If you need help understanding the ordinance of your area, give me a call and I'll be glad to help you.

Eric Brown

Many of the people I meet in Jackson, Ridgeland, Clinton, The City of Madison, and all over Mississippi have a misunderstanding about the right to vote after a felony conviction. The Mississippi Constitution lists ten (10) crimes. The specific Mississippi Constitutional Provision is as follows:

SECTION 241, MS. Constitution of 1890:
Every inhabitant of this state, except idiots and insane persons, who is a citizen of the United States of America, eighteen (18) years old and upward, who has been a resident of this state for one (1) year, and for one (1) year in the county in which he offers to vote, and for six (6) months in the election precinct or in the incorporated city or town in which he offers to vote, and who is duly registered as provided in this article, and who has never been convicted of murder, rape, bribery, theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretense, perjury, forgery, embezzlement or bigamy, is declared to be a qualified elector, except that he shall be qualified to vote for President and Vice President of the United States if he meets the requirements established by Congress therefor and is otherwise a qualified elector.

In addition to these ten (10) crimes the Mississippi Attorney General in an opinion listed eleven other crimes that should be added to the list. These crimes are armed robbery, extortion, felony bad check, felony shoplifting, larceny, receiving stolen property, robbery, timber larceny, unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, unlawful carjacking. These crimes were added because in the opinion of the Attorney General they fell within Section 241 of the Mississippi Constitution that prohibited voting after a theft conviction. In total there are 21 crimes that will take away your right to vote.

Mississippi Law states that anyone convicted of these crimes shall not be registered to vote and if already registered their names should be erased from the voter registration book by the county election commissioners. Miss. Code Section 23-15-19 (1972). A Federal Conviction of any kind does not prohibit a person from voting in Mississippi elections.

When I travel across the state I find that "good people can make some bad and sometimes dumb choices in life." I think at one time or another almost all of us find ourselves in that position. A felony conviction in Federal Court, another state, or for one of the crimes other than the 21 listed above does not prohibit a person from voting. If you fall into this category and you are not listed on the voting rolls you should demand to be put back on the rolls and if the election commission does not comply, then contact a lawyer. People in American fought for hundreds of years for the right to vote and you should not be intimidated, abandon, or ignore the right to vote.

Here is a brief summary of what qualified you to vote in Mississippi:
1. Be a citizen of the U.S.
2. Be a resident of Mississippi and be 18 years old at the time of the next election.
3. Live in the town you want to vote for 30 days before the next election.
4. You must not be convicted of one of the 21 crimes listed above.
5. You can still vote if you have a Federal conviction.
6. You can vote if you have a conviction from another State.
7. You can still vote if you have a Mississippi Conviction other than the 21 listed.

To register to vote you can get registration forms at public libraries, county court houses, community centers, post offices, and other city or county offices. You can also download the forms from the Mississippi Secretary of State's website. The process is easy and takes very little time. Exercise the most valuable right you have-vote.

This is the 50th Anniversary of the Freedom Riders coming to Mississippi to help integrate bus stations, lunch counters, hotels, and various other public places. When the Freedom Riders arrived however, Mississippi police officers were waiting and armed with new laws with which to arrest them. These so-called "breach of peace" laws were passed in 1960 and 1961 primarily to allow officers to arrest civil rights protestors. The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the conviction of various Freedom Riders in this 1964 case.

The most disturbing part of these statutes is that most of them are still on the books and being used every day to arrest Mississippi citizens for failing to comply with police orders even when they are not breaking the law in the first place. The Mississippi Legislature did repeal one of the "breach of peace" statutes in 2009.

I cannot recount the numerous cases which I have defended over the years which started out with an officer telling someone to "shut up", "come here", or do something. When the person excercised his or her constitutional right to refrain from doing as the officer said, the person was arrested and charged with "failing to comply with a police officer", "disturbing the peace", "disorderly conduct", and/or "resisting arrest". The facts at trial usually show that the citizen arrested was not committing any criminal act before being told by the officer to do something. Speaking, contrary to most police officer's opinion, is NOT a criminal offense. In fact, the Mississippi Supreme Court has even held that a citizen may even curse at a police officer but I do not recommend this course of action.

Continue reading "Mississippi Freedom Riders and The Laws They Rode In On" »

Coxwell & Associates and the Lanier Law Firm is announcing a wrongful death lawsuit filed today against University of Mississippi head football coach Houston Nutt, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the University of Mississippi and other defendants based on their respective roles in the 2010 death of student-athlete Bennie (Buster) Abram.

Mr. Abram, an Ole Miss junior and walk-on defensive back on the football team, collapsed and died on the first day of spring practice last year. According to the autopsy report, the 20-year-old's death on Feb. 19, 2010, was caused by complications from sickle cell trait with exertion and a contributing factor of cardiomegaly, an inflammation of the heart.

The lawsuit says coaches, trainers and athletic department officials at Ole Miss violated NCAA guidelines covering the intensity of spring practices, particularly for players with the sickle cell trait like Mr. Abram. The lawsuit also cites the NCAA for failing to implement adequate guidelines for off-season practices and for not sanctioning coaches who violate existing guidelines.

Also named as defendants are the university's board of trustees, Ole Miss athletic department medical director Dr. Jeffrey Dennis, strength and conditioning coach Don Decker, the UMAA Foundation (the Ole Miss athletic booster club), and Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oxford, Miss. The case is Bennie F. Abram Jr., et al. v. Houston Nutt, et al., No. 11-421-CIV, in the Circuit Court for the First Judicial District of Hinds County in Jackson, Miss.

Sickle cell trait appears in nearly 10 percent of the African-American population, and less commonly in all races. Believed to be the leading killer of Division I football players, the condition has been linked to at least nine deaths among college athletes since 2000.

Mr. Abram, a native of Southaven, Miss., fell unconscious and was treated on the practice field by athletic trainers before being taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital. According to doctors' reports, he went into cardiac arrest at the hospital and died six hours later.

"Buster's death is a tragedy that should have been prevented," says The Lanier Law Firm's Gene Egdorf, who represents the Abram family along with Merrida "Buddy" Coxwell and Charles R. "Chuck" Mullins of Coxwell & Associates, PLLC, in Jackson, Miss. "Every sickle cell expert in the world will tell you that the only way this trait can cause a student-athlete's death is when they are put through overly strenuous workouts like the one Bennie went through before he died. The negligence of the NCAA, coaches, trainers and staff combined with senseless off-season workout programs is a recipe for disaster. We will fight to change this cycle just like we did when we got the NCAA to change its rules to mandate sickle cell testing."

Continue reading "Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Against University of Ole Miss" »

Your graduating senior may still be your baby, but in the eyes of the law he or she is an ADULT!

That means you can no longer make important medical or financial decisions for your child without their permission. But your job of being a PARENT doesn't stop just because your child turns 18. If there's a medical emergency or your child asks for financial help, you NEED the ability to cut through the legal red tape and get involved.

FACT: Doctors, hospitals or financial institutions (i.e. college business offices, student loan processing agents, banks, etc) will NOT bend the rules on this! It's against privacy laws. You must have 3 KEY DOCUMENTS in place to make important medical or financial decisions on your child's behalf. Even something as simple as a status update would be refused!

It's easier to see this need in case of medical emergencies, but financial decisions are as equally concerning. Millions of college students fall prey to the "predatory" lenders on campus, all promising money through student credit cards and student loans. You need to be legally able to assist and safeguard the financial wellbeing of your new adult.

You need to ensure you do not fall prey these lenders yourself through cosigning for credit cards, student loans, etc. As a Mississippi bankruptcy attorney, I often I see young adults who have run up enormous debt during college and are now facing lawsuits and garnishments. I also see parents and grandparents are also facing the same due to cosigning for their childrens loans. Student loans cannot be discharged through bankruptcy.

I call these 3 key documents the Parent Child Protection Kit, as they will give you the legal permission you need to HELP your child! Seeking the counsel of an attorney is always recommended, however these forms are all available on the internet, free of charge, and do not require an attorney.
• Advance Health Care Directive
• Financial Power of Attorney
• HIPPA Medical Release Form

Here's wishing your new adult a hearty congratulations on their big graduation day and hoping that, through your guidance, they will never need my services!!

A man died in the hospital a few days after a chase with law enforcement officers.. The FBI is currently investigating this incident. Now, I am not saying that any police officer did anything which caused this man's death. However, one statement from the news story caught my interest. One of the officers was quoted as saying "I can tell you that our guys saw no one break a law out there, except for the suspect that Jackson was chasing."

My response to that is in 16 years of handling police misconduct cases in Mississippi I have rarely, if ever, had another police officer report a fellow officer for abuse. Some call this phenomenon "the thin blue line" which represents the camaraderie of police officers. However, to others it represents a code of silence among police officers to suppress the truth.

Think about that: police officers who are sworn to uphold the law are compelled by this "thin blue line" not to tell the truth. Police officers probably justify this stance by pointing out that the person assaulted or abused was breaking the law and got what he deserved. Many citizens feel the same way. But by committing an assault, or worse, and then lying about it, aren't the police breaking the law?

This practice needs to be stopped. So-called police Internal Affairs "investigations" are usually very insufficient. The internal affairs investigators are also cops and, like other officers, don't want to accuse a fellow officer of any improper conduct. What happens is that this practice is allowed to continue until something really bad happens and you see a full fledged FBI investigation which leads to arrests, indictments, and convictions.

Continue reading "Police Misconduct in Mississippi: Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil" »