Lee County / Tupelo Legal Research

I wanted to post a link to an article in the NE Mississippi Daily Journal that discusses how the Lee County Library will now have Westlaw, an Internet legal research tool, available on at least some of its computers. Westlaw is one of two major companies (LexisNexis being the other) that provide this service to attorneys, governmental agencies, libraries and others and it is quiet handy if you know how to use it. As the article discusses the previous Lee County facilities contained volumes that were often out of date and keeping the paper portion of a law library up to date is time consuming and labor intensive. Another benefit this provides is longer hours for researching possibilities as the Library is open more often than the previous facility.

I do, however, have a couple of concerns about this transition. As the article states part of this move is made to free up office space at the Lee County Justice Center. My concern is that there is nothing physically wrong with most of the volumes in their current condition, especially the reporters. Reporters are not updated, they are just opinions from cases from a previous year and the next year another volume comes out and they are a continuous set, there is nothing wrong with the law in them unless a new case comes out reversing the ruling or way of looking at a set of circumstances. This rarely happens in criminal law and the feeling I got from the article is that the books were headed for the dumpster.

My other possible issue which the article did not discuss is legal research access for prisoners. I assume the initial thought for putting the law library in the Lee County Justice Center was to give prisoners access to them to try and figure out their own defenses/issues/plans. While I advocate the use of an attorney, especially when facing a criminal conviction, a person has a right to defend themselves and as such needs access to a legal library to be able to prepare an adequate defense. Hopefully, defendants in Lee County will have this access but if the library is now at the public library I highly doubt furloughs will be granted to go research their case and it appears the books will disappear so they cannot do research at a detention facility, both of which make it harder on a criminal defendant.

Carrying a gun on a school campus

Tommorrow the Jackson, MS mayor, Frank Melton, begins his trial on the felony charge of "carrying a gun on a school campus". While I do not want to get into a pro/con argument here I thought this would be a decent forum for posting the statute, 97-37-17, that it appears Melton has been indicted for. Here is a link to a .pdf of the indictments, only one of which is being tried this week.

97-37-17
(1) The following definitions apply to this section:
(a) "Educational property" shall mean any public or private school building or bus, public or private school campus, grounds, recreational area, athletic field, or other property owned, used or operated by any local school board, school, college or university board of trustees, or directors for the administration of any public or private educational institution or during a school related activity; provided however, that the term "educational property" shall not include any sixteenth section school land or lieu land on which is not located a school building, school campus, recreational area or athletic field.
(b) "Student" shall mean a person enrolled in a public or private school, college or university, or a person who has been suspended or expelled within the last five (5) years from a public or private school, college or university, whether the person is an adult or a minor.
(c) "Switchblade knife" shall mean a knife containing a blade or blades which open automatically by the release of a spring or a similar contrivance.
(d) "Weapon" shall mean any device enumerated in subsection (2) or (4) of this section.

(2) It shall be a felony for any person to possess or carry, whether openly or concealed, any gun, rifle, pistol or other firearm of any kind, or any dynamite cartridge, bomb, grenade, mine or powerful explosive on educational property. However, this subsection does not apply to a BB gun, air rifle or air pistol. Any person violating this subsection shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or committed to the custody of the State Department of Corrections for not more than three (3) years, or both.

(3) It shall be a felony for any person to cause, encourage or aid a minor who is less than eighteen (18) years old to possess or carry, whether openly or concealed, any gun, rifle, pistol or other firearm of any kind, or any dynamite cartridge, bomb, grenade, mine or powerful explosive on educational property. However, this subsection does not apply to a BB gun, air rifle or air pistol. Any person violating this subsection shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or committed to the custody of the State Department of Corrections for not more than three (3) years, or both.

(4) It shall be a misdemeanor for any person to possess or carry, whether openly or concealed, any BB gun, air rifle, air pistol, bowie knife, dirk, dagger, slingshot, leaded cane, switchblade knife, blackjack, metallic knuckles, razors and razor blades (except solely for personal shaving), and any sharp-pointed or edged instrument except instructional supplies, unaltered nail files and clips and tools used solely for preparation of food, instruction and maintenance on educational property. Any person violating this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or be imprisoned not exceeding six (6) months, or both.

(5) It shall be a misdemeanor for any person to cause, encourage or aid a minor who is less than eighteen (18) years old to possess or carry, whether openly or concealed, any BB gun, air rifle, air pistol, bowie knife, dirk, dagger, slingshot, leaded cane, switchblade, knife, blackjack, metallic knuckles, razors and razor blades (except solely for personal shaving) and any sharp-pointed or edged instrument except instructional supplies, unaltered nail files and clips and tools used solely for preparation of food, instruction and maintenance on educational property. Any person violating this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or be imprisoned not exceeding six (6) months, or both.

(6) It shall not be a violation of this section for any person to possess or carry, whether openly or concealed, any gun, rifle, pistol or other firearm of any kind on educational property if:
(a) The person is not a student attending school on any educational property;
(b) The firearm is within a motor vehicle; and
(c) The person does not brandish, exhibit or display the firearm in any careless, angry or threatening manner.

(7) This section shall not apply to:
(a) A weapon used solely for educational or school-sanctioned ceremonial purposes, or used in a school-approved program conducted under the supervision of an adult whose supervision has been approved by the school authority;
(b) Armed forces personnel of the United States, officers and soldiers of the militia and National Guard, law enforcement personnel, any private police employed by an educational institution, State Militia or Emergency Management Corps and any guard or patrolman in a state or municipal institution, when acting in the discharge of their official duties;
(c) Home schools as defined in the compulsory school attendance law, Section 37-13-91;
(d) Competitors while participating in organized shooting events;
(e) Any person as authorized in Section 97-37-7 while in the performance of his official duties;
(f) Any mail carrier while in the performance of his official duties; or
(g) Any weapon not prescribed by Section 97-37-1 which is in a motor vehicle under the control of a parent, guardian or custodian, as defined in Section 43-21-105, which is used to bring or pick up a student at a school building, school property or school function.

(8) All schools shall post in public view a copy of the provisions of this section.

I would like to add this forum will not become a Frank Melton board, however, looking at the purely legal side of this indictment/trial is an interesting fact of Mississippi law.

Disenfranchisement in Mississippi

During one of the local (Jackson, MS) newscasts this past week I heard the anchor say something to the effect of: “All those over 18 years of age and registered to vote, except for criminals with felonies, can vote Tuesday.” (paraphrasing). This is an incorrect generalization concerning the felonies. In MS you can be convicted of quite a few felonies and still be able to vote. The only disenfranchising convictions in MS are :

1. murder
2. rape
3. bribery
4. theft
5. arson
6. obtaining money or goods under false pretense
7. perjury
8. forgery
9. embezzlement
10. bigamy.

This is an exclusive list set out in Sec. 241 of the Mississippi Constitution.

Additionally the only way to reestablish this right in Mississippi is through a pardon from the governor or appropriate action by the legislature. 23-15-19 in the Code also recognizes this as the exclusive list and those convicted of the above crimes are not allowed to register to vote, taking the problem out of the hands of poll workers and relying on the county’s circuit clerk to purge the rolls appropriately.

As always we welcome discussion and any questions you might have about MS law.

Election Day 2006

Just wanted to provide a reminder that tommorrow, November 7 2006 is election day. In Mississippi all 4 US Representatives are up for election as is one US Senate seat. This election cycle is also fairly heavy with judicial elections with several Court of Appeals seats up for election (however, most are unopposed) and around the state there are many circuit and chancery posts up for grabs.

In my opinion if you don't vote you don't have a right to complain when the person screws up so go do your civic duty tommorrow.

BB