Edmonds v. Mississippi

In July 2004, a jury found Tyler Edmonds guilty of the murder of Joey Fulgham, who was his half-sister’s husband. In May 2007, the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed Edmonds’s conviction and remanded the case to the trial court for a new trial due to evidentiary errors. At his new trial in 2008, a jury found Edmonds not guilty. This appeal stemmed from Edmonds’s suit against the State under the Compensation to Victims of Wrongful Conviction and Imprisonment statutes codified in Mississippi Code Sections 11-44-1 to 11-44-15, which permitted a person wrongfully convicted and imprisoned to recover $50,000 for every year of wrongful incarceration. The circuit court concluded that Edmonds was not entitled to compensation because he made a false confession to police officers regarding his involvement with the murder, which equated to a fabrication of evidence. The Supreme Court determined the appropriate interpretation and application of Section 11-44- 7(1)(c), which provided that a plaintiff under the Compensation to Victims of Wrongful Conviction and Imprisonment Act must show he did not “fabricate evidence to bring about his conviction.” The second primary issue before the Court was whether Edmonds’s request for a jury trial should have been granted. On both issues, the Supreme Court held in favor of Edmonds and therefore remanded for further proceedings. View "Edmonds v. Mississippi" on Justia Law