In Mercedes B. Clark v. State of Mississippi, a Lauderdale County jury convicted first-time offender Clark of trafficking 43 dosage units of eutylone, a Schedule I controlled substance, after a traffic stop revealed the pills in a clutch bag inside her vehicle, leading to a 10-year sentence without parole. Clark’s appellate counsel filed a Lindsey brief stating no arguable issues existed for appeal, while Clark submitted a pro se supplemental brief raising challenges including the sufficiency of evidence on knowing and intentional possession, the adequacy of jury instructions defining “willfully,” and a request to amend parole eligibility statutes. The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence, holding that the jury was properly instructed on the elements of possession, that Clark’s statements and the forensic evidence supported the verdict, and that the court lacked authority to alter statutory sentencing provisions. The court found no merit in Clark’s claims and identified no other issues warranting further briefing or relief.
In this divorce case, Nancy and Carlos Sistrunk, married since 1984 and with four adult children including a disabled daughter requiring ongoing care, sought to divide their marital assets after separating in 2021 and agreeing to proceed on irreconcilable differences. The Oktibbeha County Chancery Court granted the divorce, divided real and personal property roughly equally while assigning each party their own debts and assets, and denied alimony, child support for the adult child, and attorneys’ fees. The Mississippi Supreme Court reversed and remanded, holding that the chancellor failed to make required findings of fact on most Ferguson factors for equitable distribution and that several factual findings lacked support in the record. The Court directed the lower court to properly address the equitable distribution of assets and related financial issues on remand.
David Archie filed an election contest challenging the results of the August 2023 Hinds County Supervisor District 2 Democratic primary runoff, which Smith won, and later sought judicial review in circuit court after the Hinds County Democratic Executive Committee failed to resolve his claims. The sole issue on appeal was whether Archie’s petition for judicial review, filed on September 8, 2023, was timely under the ten-day statutory deadline, which is extended if the final day falls when either the courthouse or circuit clerk’s office is closed. The circuit court dismissed the petition after a hearing limited to attorney arguments and four affidavits, without taking testimony or resolving whether the clerk’s office was open on September 7 despite a cyber attack that caused its doors to be locked after noon. The Mississippi Supreme Court vacated the dismissal and remanded for a fuller evidentiary hearing because the existing record—showing conflicting accounts about locked doors, absent staff, and an undescribed drop basket—provides insufficient facts to determine whether the office was actually available for public business that day.
In this Mississippi adoption case, natural mother B.N. petitioned more than five years after the 2017 final adoption decree to set aside the adoption of her daughter D.A.S. by the child's paternal aunt and uncle, K.P. and J.P., alleging that she had been fraudulently induced to consent based on promises of an "open adoption" allowing continued contact. The chancery court denied relief, and the Supreme Court affirmed. The court held that under Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b), a motion to set aside a judgment for fraud must be made within six months and within a reasonable time, and B.N.'s five-year delay was untimely without good cause shown. It emphasized that setting aside adoptions is disfavored due to the need for permanence in adoptive relationships.
Patricia Wright, an at-will employee of the Public Service Commission of Yazoo City, sued the PSC and its general manager after her 2018 termination for falsifying records, claiming the firing violated the public policy exception to at-will employment because she had refused to participate in her supervisor’s alleged illegal acts of waiving late fees and reconnecting service for customers with large past-due balances. The trial court denied the PSC’s motion for summary judgment, finding factual disputes. On interlocutory appeal, the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed and rendered judgment for the PSC, holding that Wright failed to identify any conduct by her supervisor that could result in criminal penalties or to show she had refused any directive to engage in such conduct. Wright’s own testimony established that she had accepted a partial payment and created a work order to restore service, and she admitted she had never declined any request from her supervisor; her additional claims about office cliques or missing funds were unrelated to the termination decision.
UnitedHealthcare submitted a bid for a Mississippi Medicaid managed care contract that included a redacted compilation of governmental sanctions it had received, but it was not selected for the award. After the Division of Medicaid received public records requests for the unredacted information, United sought a protective order claiming the sanctions list qualified as a trade secret or confidential commercial information exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Act. The chancery court reviewed the materials in camera and ruled that the compilation was not exempt. On appeal, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed, holding that United failed to meet its burden of showing specific competitive harm or other elements required for protection, as the sanctions were based on public information and general assertions of harm were insufficient under the Act’s presumption of disclosure.