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North Mississippi Criminal Defense Lawyer: Mississippi’s Prescription Drug Abuse Problem Grows Worse

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Prescription drug abuse has quickly become an epidemic across the country and in Mississippi in particular. Many families across the state have been touched by the terrible effect of loved ones in the grip of prescription pills. Worry about the impact of prescription drugs and their effects on society precipitated the recent Prescription Drug Summit which is currently underway in Jackson. National, state and local agencies have gathered to discuss drug diversion programs and are evaluating effective prevention strategies.

The problem is a big one. Regina LaBelle with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy told those gathered at the Summit that the number of deaths during the height of the heroin and cocaine epidemics pale in comparison the deaths now from prescription drug abuse. Shockingly, more people die from prescription drugs than cocaine, heroin and hallucinogens combined. [Read more…]

Mississippi Set for Record Number of Executions

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According to a recent report by the Associated Press, with the current slate of two executions scheduled for this month in addition to the four already this year, Mississippi is on track to have more executions in 2012 than in any year since the 1950s. The last time the state executed more than four inmates in a single year was 1961. In 1955 and 1956 eight executions took place. Back then crimes such as armed robbery, rape and murder all qualified as capital offenses. Today, only capital murder is punishable by death.

The current increase in executions in Mississippi runs counter to the trend across the country where fewer people are sentenced to death. Many experts don’t believe the state’s trend is likely to continue. Some believe this recent large number has to do with timing and the appeals process and not a sign of a large increase in the use of the death penalty in the state. [Read more…]

A doctor, a lawyer and a Mississippi murder-for-hire

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Police in Greenwood, Mississippi are now saying that a man arrested earlier this week was involved in a separate murder-for-hire scheme that was unrelated to a plot that police say ended in a deadly shooting at a Greenwood lawyer’s office.

Greenwood Police Chief Henry Purnell tells The Greenwood Commonwealth that Cordarious Robinson, 22, has nothing to do with the shootout that occurred Saturday night at the downtown Greenwood law office of Lee Abraham. “These are unrelated charges that we have charged him with. He had nothing to do with the Saturday night shooting.” [Read more…]

Hernando, Mississippi man charged with murder

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According to a recent report in the DeSoto Times Tribune, a Hernando man was charged with murder following a tragic hit and run that resulted in the death of an innocent woman.

The woman was identified as 23-year-old Sarah Jones of Memphis, Tennessee. She was struck and killed on Oak Grove Road near River Oaks and Scott Road early in the morning while riding a bicycle.

Hernando Police Chief Mike Riley said the woman’s body was discovered by a passerby about 7:30 a.m. on Oak Grove Road. [Read more…]

Future of Mississippi Tort Reform

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In 2004, under the pro-business leadership of then Governor, Haley Barbour, the Mississippi legislature was called into special session and emerged from session after enacting non-economic damage caps of $500,000.00 in medical negligence cases and $1M in most other cases. This was part of a sweeping tort reform package that has remained on the books in Mississippi.

Since that time, several cases have come before the Mississippi Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of tort reform–specifically damage caps. Currently before the Court is the case of Learmouth v. Sears Roebuck and Company. In Learmouth, a Neshoba County jury awarded the Plaintiff $4M in damages ($1.2M in lost wages, $573,000 in past and future medical expenses, and $2.2M in non-economic damages). The trial court reduced the non-economic damages to the state’s $1M damages cap, and the Plaintiff appealed the trial court’s reduction to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The 5th Circuit then referred the matter to the Mississippi Supreme Court for a ruling on the constitutionality of the damages cap. [Read more…]

Mississippi Nursing Home Liability Bill Dies

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Nursing home abuse happens in Mississippi just like it happens in the rest of the country. This is a sad and disheartening fact — physical abuse, sexual abuse and financial abuse happen right here in North Mississippi to our elderly people. There are some 16,000 Mississippians in our state’s skilled nursing facilities, and that number will increase exponentially as the Baby Boomers age. We should be doing everything we can to protect these victims of abuse, and punish those that are taking advantage of them. Instead, Mississippi lawmakers seem to be protecting the nursing home organizations and the insurance companies.

Sid Slater discusses the issue in the DeSoto Times-Tribune last week, pointing out the legislation that would have required non-government nursing homes to carry the same $500,000 in liability coverage that government nursing homes carry passed the House Insurance Committee by unanimous vote only to die in the full House. [Read more…]

Southaven-Hernando, MS plans to reduce trucking accidents by upholding safety regulations

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Trucking accidents in Southaven, MS and Hernando, MS and the serious personal injuries that often result from them will likely see a slow-down as a part of the Mississippi Department of Transportation’s new Smart Roadside Enforcement program. The MDOT’s enforcement division is testing one of two Smart Roadside Inspection System Mobile Vans in the nation. The mobile monitoring van will be used to help make sure tractor-trailer trucks operating on secondary roads are abiding by safety regulations.

Another MDOT initiative involves the use of weigh-in-motion station technology. These are unmanned virtual weigh stations that are able to weigh a tractor-trailer while it is in motion. One of these virtual weight stations is located on Hwy 51 near the Southaven, MS–Hernando, MS border. [Read more…]

Southaven, Mississippi “Trip and Fall” Results in $1.15 Million Verdict for Horn Lake, Mississippi Couple

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On December 23, 2007, Horn Lake, MS resident Vicki Whiteaker was shopping at the Fred’s Dollar Store in Southaven, MS picking up last minute Christmas items. While exiting the store and watching for traffic in the busy parking lot, she fell over a barricade that was placed in her pathway to the parking lot by Fred’s employees. This barricade (measuring just 12 inches off of the ground–about the height of a trip wire) was installed approximately six months before her fall, and was supposedly installed to deter shoplifting.

As a result of her fall, Ms. Whiteaker suffered life altering injuries to her left arm and her right wrist. In addition, the fall broke several of her teeth. [Read more…]

Sardis, Mississippi Motorcycle Accident Claims the Life of Batesville, Mississippi Soldier

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On August 28, 2010, Private First Class Shedrick Gordon of Batesville, MS was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident near Sardis, MS.According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics for the State of Mississippi, in 2008, out of 28,171 registered motorcyclists, approximately 40 people were killed in motorcycle accidents. Of those 40 fatalities, only 80% were wearing a protective helmet.

While it has been proven that wearing a helmet can save lives, as noted above, it is not always a sure thing. Sometimes injuries result from equipment failure or malfunction, poor design of the motorcycle, or lack of proper safety instruction. Other times, the accidents are caused by other drivers who either fail to pay attention, who are speeding, or who are otherwise driving recklessly. [Read more…]

DeSoto County, Walls Mississippi Auto Accident Emphasizes Need for New Traffic Signal At Intersection of Hwy. 61 and Delta View

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Tammy Holliday, a 39 year old Walls Elementary School cafeteria worker, was tragically killed in a serious automobile accident at what many have called a very dangerous intersection in Walls, MS. According to Milton Kuykendall, Desoto County School Superintendent, this intersection, which is located nearby the Lake Cormorant School, has been the subject of numerous accidents and one that badly needed a traffic signal.

Unfortunately, the need for safety measures (such as placement of a much needed traffic signal) are often not taken seriously until such time as a serious injury or death occurs. However, even when traffic signals are installed, it is more often the case they are not properly maintained–resulting in serious injury to those driving or pedestrians crossing these intersections. [Read more…]