As many as 50 Pike County jail inmates could be released if the grand jury doesn’t take up their case before it adjourns later this month, and another nine have already been set free following a judge’s order.
The county is contending with jail overcrowding, delayed access to the legal system and a number of lawsuits, most of them related to these issues.
One of the inmates ordered released, Kentrail Magee, had been held in jail despite a grand jury’s decision not to indict him for murder.
Magee was accused along with Adrian Goodwin in the Nov. 22, 2022, shooting of Ricardo Weathersby at Goodwin’s house on Highway 48 east of Magnolia. Weathersby was shot four times, including once in the chest, around 1:35 a.m. He died Dec. 8, 2022, and Magee’s and Goodwin’s charges were upgraded from attempted murder to murder.
Deputies said they found the pair — and weapons believed to have been used in the crime — at a house on Highway 570 east of Summit later on the day of the shooting.
A grand jury decided there wasn’t enough evidence to take Magee’s case to trial, but despite that, he remained jailed.
While Magee’s case stands out, a jail census conducted last week showed that dozens of other inmates had been held for more than 90 days without having their cases presented to a grand jury or having public defenders assigned to represent them.
Some of the inmates who were ordered released had been in jail for more than a year without a grand jury hearing evidence on their cases, with many of those cases stretching back to 2022.
This comes as the county faces 22 lawsuits related to the jail, the first of which was argued last week in federal court in Jackson.
Many of them center around conditions at the jail and delayed access to the courts. Fearing a bevy of legal ramifications, including a possible federal takeover of the jail, county officials are scrambling to rectify issues under a new sheriff’s administration, with plans to build a new jail that is sure to come with steep tax increases.
In an effort to chip away at cases in which inmates have been held for more than 90 days without going before a grand jury, Judge Mike Taylor conducted the jail census with county officials, including those from the district attorney’s and public defender’s office, this past Tuesday.
Taylor ordered nine detainees immediately released and another 50 released if the grand jury adjourns before their cases are presented. Four who had already been indicted had their bonds reduced, as did another 18 whose cases are pending before the grand jury.
Taylor also assigned public defenders to 45 people in the county jail.
“Until further order of the Court, the jail census will be conducted by Michael M. Taylor at least monthly,” Taylor wrote in his Feb. 15 order. “A suitable roster of detainees held by Pike County shall be filed with the Court and the Circuit Clerk by the last Wednesday of each month. The date for reviewing the roster of detainees will be set on the Court’s regular docket and disseminated in the ordinary course of business.”
Last week’s jail census counted 169 inmates in the 32-year-old jail, which was designed to hold about 135.
Along with Magee, the other inmates ordered immediately released on their own recognizance, which means without bond, are:
• Austin Bourg, possession of THC wax. Bourg was arrested on Dec. 28, 2022, and his case was bound over to the grand jury more than a year ago, on Jan. 17, 2023.
• Leonard Doss, possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana in a motor vehicle, possession of paraphernalia, false ID. He was arrested Oct. 26 and bound over on Nov. 21.
• Jeremy Heimbach, possession of a controlled substance, possession of paraphernalia, careless driving, no insurance. His bond was surrendered on April 15 of last year, meaning he gave up his right to post bond.
• Jesse Hodges, possession of meth, possession of paraphernalia. Hodges was arrested Feb. 23, 2023 and bound over on March 8.
• Kevin Kirkland, possession of meth. He was arrested Nov. 23, 2022 and bound over Dec. 13 of that same year.
• Lajarvus Osbey, possession of meth. He was arrested March 8, 2023 and his case was bound over March 28.
• Tommy Pineda Guevara, possession of marijuana. He was arrested Sept. 1, 2022, and his case was bound over Sept. 20 2022.
• Alexander Tucker, possession of child pornography. He was arrested Sept. 6, 2022, and his case was bound over Oct. 5, 2022.
