- The AG’s office has designated two prosecutors for the new Jackson court. Chief Justice Randolph’s judicial appointee has yet to be named.
The temporary location of the Capitol Complex Improvement District (CCID) Court in Jackson is anticipated to open its doors in October, assuming construction stays on track.
Ongoing hurdles to renovations at the permanent location due to the facility’s historic nature are being overcome.
Creation of the court within the CCID was approved during the 2023 legislative session as part of HB 1020. The new court will utilize at least two prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Office and one judge appointed by the Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court. Chief Justice Mike Randolph has not named his appointee as of yet.
The CCID court is expected to help reduce the backlog of cases that lawmakers backing the bill say are the result of the city of Jackson’s high crime rate.
Four other temporary circuit judges were also to be appointed to hear cases in the Hinds County Circuit Court system, but that provision of the law was struck down by the Mississippi Supreme Court after justices ruled that it violated the state Constitution.
Work underway to open temporary and permanent locations
An anticipated timeline to start handling cases at the temporary location of the CCID court is sometime in October, said Glenn Kornbrek, Deputy Executive Director for the Department of Finance and Administration.
The temporary location will be at the former Continental Trailways bus station, which has been owned by the state for decades. Work to convert the former bus station into a temporary location for the new court included vacating shops supporting Capitol facilities.
“We vacated the shop portion of the facility and are getting that ready for court as soon as we can get the paint to dry,” Kornbrek said.
Renovation of a permanent location for the CCID court is also underway, but that work has additional regulations due to the age of the building.
“We’re doing this as the temporary home until we can do the permanent court location, which is going to be at Wright and Ferguson Funeral Home, which is connected to the new Capitol Police Station,” Kornbrek described.
When the state took ownership of the old funeral home, located at West and High Streets in Jackson, it was under an agreement that the building could not be demolished. Kornbrek added that the building’s status as an eligible landmark means renovation work must go through the approval process with the Department of Archives and History.
“The exterior portion is probably the most historic portion of the building and then the chapel itself will have some sort of historic issues,” Kornbrek said.
Setting the permanent location of the CCID courtroom in the chapel of the old funeral home provides easy access from the Capitol Police Station by way of a tunnel and elevator. This will help keep defendants who are in custody from crossing paths with the public as court cases are heard.
Both the permanent and temporary locations of the court will feature only one courtroom but will have room for two judges, Kornbrek added.
“If there’s a need for two courtrooms that’s going to have to be something looked at as to what to do in that case,” Kornbrek stated.
Completion of the permanent facility is expected to take at least a year.
Prosecution staff have been designated
Michelle Williams, Chief of Staff for Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office, said two prosecutors from the AG’s office have been “designated” to act as prosecutors for the CCID court when operations begin. Those seasoned attorneys are part of the AG office’s staff, she said, adding that they have prior experience working with municipal court cases.
“We’ve got prosecutors in the office, we’ve always had prosecutors in the office,” Williams explained. “So, what we’ve done is designated two of them to start off doing the CCID cases.”
Currently, there is no indication what the caseload will look like for the CCID Court, and since the legislation that formed the court outlines that cases can go to the CCID court or still go to the Hinds County criminal court, Williams said the key word for the AG’s office is “nimble.”
“We’re trying to be nimble and keep ourselves prepared for whatever might come forward,” Williams added. “It could be there’s just a few cases and these guys will be plenty able to take care of it. It could be that we got to shift around our resources to be able to take care of whatever comes our way.”
The names of those who will serve as prosecutors for the court are not being disclosed by the Attorney General’s office at this time.
“We don’t usually announce the names of any of our prosecutors until they get in there,” Williams clarified.
She added that there is a possibility more than two prosecutors may be needed if the caseload is larger than anticipated. As such, all of the prosecutors at the AG’s office are being prepared to assist the two designees.
“We have an entire division of prosecutors, all of them are getting ready for this,” Williams said. “A couple will know that their primary caseload will come from CCID, but if the docket is really small it’s not like they will give up other cases.”
Opposition to the CCID court
The NAACP attempted to block the formation of the CCID court, but a preliminary injunction was denied by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year after it was also denied by U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate.
In his ruling, Judge Wingate stated that the CCID court was needed to deal with the city’s high crime rate.
“Jackson’ s crime problem is sweltering, undisputed and suffocating. The FBI crime statistics tell the sorrowful story: In 2020, Jackson reported 130 homicides—a record number at that time. In 2021, Jackson surpassed that record with at least 155 reported homicides—’the highest per capita murder rate in the nation . . . . [h]igher than Birmingham, Atlanta, Detroit, and even Chicago.’ [Docket no. 34-4 at 3]. In 2022, even with a 14% decline in homicides, Jackson reported 138 homicides that year, and Jackson’s ‘homicide rate still managed to surpass every other major city in the U.S. for the second straight year.’ Id. at 20,” Judge Wingate states.
The Mississippi conference of the NAACP, as well as others, took part in the filing to block the court. They argued that the court would violate voting rights of Jackson residents, who are majority black, since the judge and prosecutors would be appointed.
Ultimately, as previously reported, the Fifth Circuit, similar to Judge Wingate, disagreed and ruled that the legislation does not take away Jackson’s rights. Hinds County’s existing courts will function as they always have despite the new court.
“In sum, plaintiffs fail to plead a cognizable injury-in-fact and thus lack standing to assert their claims. Without standing, they cannot obtain an injunction,” said the Fifth Circuit.
Jeremy Pittari
