I hope to have copies of these orders for show-and-tell soon, but I’ve just learned that on April 10, Hinds County Chief Circuit Judge Swan Yerger appointed Butler, Snow-ites James P. Tucker and Amanda Barbour special prosecutors in the Ofc. Robert Washington murder case against Sherrod Moore. Tucker is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney (and criminal-division chief), while Barbour was an assistant district attorney in Houston and deputy DA in Birmingham.
As yet, they’ve apparently not become publicly active in the case, and neither was present for the hearing on Sherrod Moore’s motion to compel earlier this month. Judge Yerger seems to have brought them in to be prepared in case Hinds County DA Robert Shuler Smith gets disqualified. (The most likely way that could happen: his becoming a witness — which his dealings with Stephan Hickman may make probable.)
So: Judge Yerger isn’t fooling around with under-qualified attorneys, is he?
More when I get it.
UPDATE: The orders (4-page pdf). Thank you, source!
- There was only one hole dug when Winston and Robert showed up w/ shovel to look for the murder weapon. If they didn’t find it, why would they only dig in once place? You think the Sheriff’s Dept has the murder weapon?
- Smith’s “dealings” with Hickman have not been ‘by the book’, by any means.
So, it sounds to me like Smith wants off this case.
Robert Smith needs to remove himself from this case as he has proven that he not only has a personal interest in it, but that he also lacks the experience and prosecutorial know-how necessary to tackle it. His representation of a Melton bodyguard served as a guiding light into his current position with one possible side-effect; a sealed federal indictment for jury tampering. (Shirlene Anderson supposedly told a federal grand jury that the defense was communicating with the jury via text messaging during the Melton trial). With this kind of “connection,” Smith has no business prosecuting a murder that Melton probably ordered.
KM / where does Danks stand in the tampering situation? He’s the only name I haven’t heard caught up in that.
The whole Danks angle is interesting. He is a longtime friend of Ed Peters going back to when Peters was early DA and Danks was County Attorney. Do you think Danks is nervous with Peters in trouble? Or is Danks going to rat on Frank? Smith made some bad moves in this case because of his (correct) perception that the police are involved. He’s in over his head, the other allegations notwithstanding.
If Smith is as closely allied with Melton as reported, why did he release the Hickman transcripts to the public? Why wouldn’t he try to keep those undercover, since they clearly do damage to Melton and may implicate him in a crime? I’m not sure I understand the pieces of this puzzle well enough to understand why Smith has done the things he has done.
Word is that Smith has distanced himself from Melton. Gee, I wonder why? Regardless, no one said Smith was a member of Mensa. Reading his moves is somewhat difficult because of this.