Families rally at Mississippi AG’s Office demanding new oversight and transparency in cases, but what does current law say?

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Families gathered outside the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office in Jackson Thursday, demanding more oversight and accountability from Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s Office over accusations of abuse by law enforcement agencies.

The rally included family members of Kohen Wiley and Dexter Wade, along with civil rights advocates Patrick Lumumba and John Barnett. Barnett represented defendants against the “Goon Squad” Rankin County deputies.

Other attendees said they experienced or represented alleged abuse from law enforcement agencies and called on the state attorney general to investigate further.

Wiley family says it lacks information

It has been almost four months since 1-year-old Kohen Wiley was killed by Senatobia Police Officer Hunter Foster. Wiley’s grandmother, Veronica Roberson, said the family has been left in the dark during the investigation.

“I feel like the least they could do is show us the video,” Roberson said. “If you have nothing to hide, that’s the least you could do. I’m his grandmother, I don’t know nothing, so it makes me feel something’s being done that’s not right.”

Wade’s mother cites 2023 death

Bettersten Wade-Robinson, the mother of Dexter Wade, said Hinds County authorities violated her son’s rights when he was killed in 2023 by an off-duty Jackson police officer driving an SUV. She said he was buried without her knowledge in the county pauper cemetery.

Wade-Robinson said she wants Attorney General Fitch to step in because she does not trust the Hinds County district attorney.

“Her words is: I back my blue, I back my badge, I always have my blues’ back,” Wade-Robinson said. “Here’s something better said: I back my citizens, I stand by my citizens and I always have my citizens’ back.”

Current law limits state involvement

Under current Mississippi law, the state attorney general can only step in and investigate criminal cases if district attorneys recuse themselves or are disqualified by a judge, and that process is voluntary.

Any case transferred is also free of court-mandated deadlines because circuit court judges do not have the authority to order the state attorney general to prosecute or set a timeline for presenting evidence to a grand jury.

Then the Public Integrity Division can also decide if and when to present charges to a grand jury or decline pursuing a case altogether. Civil rights advocates said those laws must change.

“What Mississippi has been successfully doing for years is dressing up lies,” Lumumba said. “From the Capitol Building to these buildings. Hiding injustices against Black people for years.”

Attorney general’s office responds

In a statement, Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s Office said:

“We have no complaints regarding Spencer Eckford or Dexter Wade. Here is the link on our website to file a complaint: https://portal.ago.ms.gov/public/?q=node/405. On Kohen Wiley, this is an active investigation, but the family should communicate with the DPS incident assistance coordinators, who have reached out to them and their attorneys about that matter.”

The rally was also used as a call to endorse Priscilla Till for governor over Lynn Fitch.

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