A four-candidate race to replace a longtime sitting judge who is retiring is fueling interest in Tuesday’s general election in Pike County.
David Lee Brewer, Amelia Carter, Nelson Estess and Jason Tate are running in the nonpartisan race to replace Pike County Court Jude John Price, who is stepping down after six terms on the bench.
Since youth court accounts for a significant share of the court’s docket, the election is increasingly significant this year amid a surge in youth crime in Pike County.
Over the past year, residents and officials have revived a debate about whether the county needs a juvenile detention center, which supervisors have all but conceded is unaffordable and not as immediate of a problem as the overcrowded and aging county jail.
Besides youth court, county courts hear eminent domain proceedings and civil matters in cases with damages up to $200,000. County courts may handle non-capital felony cases that are transferred from circuit court.
Judges may issue search warrants, set bonds and preside over preliminary hearings. County courts also share jurisdiction with justice courts in civil and criminal cases.
Pike County’s county court is one of 22 in the state, which has 30 county court judges.
Among other cases likely to end up in county court, child support cases and other civil actions are quite common.
Here’s a look at the candidates:
David Lee Brewer
Brewer said his experience as county prosecutor is his biggest advantage in the four-way race for county judge.
Brewer, 51, is a Pike County native, attended school at McComb and North Pike before going to the Air Force Academy and serving in the military.
He got a master’s degree in social sciences, sociology and anthropology at the University of Mississippi and then got his law degree there.
“I’ve spent 17 years as the prosecuting attorney for the county,” Brewer said. “I’ve handled 13,000 cases in youth court.
“I am the most qualified candidate. I know all the children and their backgrounds and their families. I know all their problems.
“No other candidate has experience that can match mine. I’ve handled more cases in the court than they have combined. I feel a duty to offer the county the most qualified choice.”
Youth court and juvenile crime, a large component of the county court’s caseload, offers challenges to law enforcement and court systems here and around the state.
Juvenile detention centers are few and far between, which sometimes leaves the court with unpalatable choices in sentencing and monitoring. Regional juvenile facilities would be a legislative matter, Brewer said.
“The way to get that done is for people to tag the purse strings personally,” he said. “It will raise taxes, because all new programs do, but this is becoming a necessity.”
Lowering rates of juvenile crime rests squarely on the shoulders of parents, he said.
“It starts at home,” Brewer said. “These kids need someone to fill in as a parental unit. In the time I’ve served as prosecutor, I’ve seen the parents come through, then their kids, then their grandkids. It’s just perpetuating. Parents need to act like parents, and they need to find a church or some system of morals.”
He said as county judge, he would likely try to limit the number of pending appeals by holding docket calls on those cases, so they must be heard or remanded to the court of origin.
Regardless, for most of those types of cases, “you just have to follow the guidelines set out in law,” he said.
Brewer, a Summit resident, is the son of the late Roy Brewer and Ganeath and Sam Daniel. He is married to Deidre Brewer.
Amelia Carter
Carter said her experience as a Magnolia city judge and professional experience working with families and youth makes her qualified to become the next county judge for Pike County.
“I am qualified for the position because I know I am a good judge. I have three years in the municipal court, and I have a big heart for the youth,” Carter said. “My passion is for Pike County.”
Carter, 42, of McComb, served as Magnolia’s judge from 2018-21.
She works for a legal services agency that helps low-income families and has organized criminal charge expungement clinics.
She holds a law degree from Ole Miss, as well as a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s in economic development.
With rising youth crime and no juvenile detention center in Pike County, Carter said there needs to be better brainstorming among local officials for ways to build a new one.
“There are so many reasons why we need a new juvenile detention center,” she said. “Instead of sending them outside of the county, we need to find a way to build a new one. Here we have better control of the environment where we can implement more mental health programs and education. Also the parents have better access to their children.”
Carter said improving mental health services will reduce youth crime.
“Mississippi needs to expand their mental health programs for the whole family, not just for the youth, but for the parents as well,” she said. “There is also a need to help single-family homes. There are a lot of challenges young adults face when experiencing that hardship and tying to find their way in the world.”
Carter said it’ll take a combination of enforcement, detention, community outreach and programs of that nature in order to fix the problem of youth crime. When making decisions about bond and sentencing, Carter said each case needs individual attention.
“It all depends on the individual,” she said. “I want to make sure to balance the safety of the community and the rights of the individual. Each case is different, but I’d like to give them the opportunity for new direction where I can.”
Nelson Estess
Estess, 48, has 21 years of experience as an attorney. He believes his well-rounded experience as a prosecutor, defense attorney and judge makes him the most qualified to be Pike County Court judge.
Estess is a 1993 South Pike High School graduate, earned an associate degree from Southwest Mississippi Community College, a bachelor’s in business management from Southern Miss and a juris doctorate from Ole Miss. He is the father of Ethan, 15, and Addison, 14.
Estess said there is no position in the legal profession where he could make a bigger impact than as county and youth court judge. He said the judge should be someone who cares about children.
“You have to put in the time and energy to figure out what’s going on with the kids and the families before you can reach a solution that will help turn them around and put them in the right direction,” he said.
Estess said he has been involved with county court on many different occasions.
“I’ve represented both juveniles and parents in youth court,” he said. “I’ve also represented numerous people on appeals from county and city court. I’ve represented people on habeas corpus petitions and I’ve also represented folks on civil hearings.”
Estess said Pike County, ideally, should have its own juvenile detention facility, but he realizes whether one gets built is beyond his control.
“The more tools in a judge’s tool bag, the better outcomes,” he said. “I also recognize that, if elected, I will be part of the judiciary, and that branch of government is not part of the legislative or executive branches of government, which holds the purse strings.
“If I get in the job and find that a juvenile detention center is absolutely needed, then I will certainly do everything I can to be an advocate for it.”
A key to lowering youth crime, said Estess, is to figure out what it will take to help each child individually.
“I tell people all the time I’ve got two kids, a 14- and 15-year-old,” he said. “I do not discipline them the same way because they do not respond to the discipline the same way.
“That’s not just for my kids. That applies to every child that will come before the youth court, and the idea is to catch them before they commit these violent crimes with guns so that they don’t make that ultimate mistake.”
Jason Tate
Tate said his lengthy and diversified legal career, including experience in county court, family law and juvenile cases, makes him well qualified to become Pike County’s next county court judge.
His practice in McComb handles criminal law, personal injury, divorce and child custody, and about a quarter of it is in youth court.
Tate has also been a guardian ad litem in chancery court, in which he is appointed to investigate matters involving children and make recommendations in the child’s best interest.
“I have represented children as a defense lawyer before the youth court,” he said. “I have represented children as a guardian ad litem for the youth court. When I prosecuted for McComb, I prosecuted before the county court. I have defended cases in the county court.”
Tate, 49, of Summit is a graduate of Parklane Academy, Southwest Mississippi Community College, the University of Southern Mississippi and the Ole Miss School of Law. He has been practicing since 1998, which he noted is longer than any of the other candidates. He and his wife Lori have two sons, Jackson and Ethan.
Tate said he believes a regional juvenile detention facility is the answer to reducing costs and ensuring bed space is available nearby, but he believes detention should be reserved for the most serious offenses.
“Those violent cases are the ones that are at that point you’re going to have to send them to the detention center,” he said.
House arrest can be used in other cases.
Tate said other things besides detention are needed to fix the problem of youth crime. It starts with looking after younger children who are about to be the same age as many of the offenders now in court.
“My goal is to try to reach this group coming behind them and get that wall up through other resources,” he said.
As for the children already in youth court, Tate said the judge should “find out each child’s needs and what’s going on in their life to figure out why they’re doing what they’re doing. That’s the bottom line.”
As for other court matters, Tate said it’s critical to run an efficient docket and operate with transparency, adding that he believes victims of crimes should be notified of suspects’ bond hearings.
