A federal lawsuit alleges that of the five districts used to elect officials in DeSoto County, Mississippi, all discriminate against black Mississippians. The Legal Defense Fund (LDF), the ACLU of Mississippi, and Harvard Election Law are plaintiffs within the lawsuit, and the lawsuit was filed on behalf of two voters within the county, in addition to Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. The lawsuit was filed within the Northern District of Mississippi on September 12.

According to , although 32% of DeSoto County residents are black, not one of the county’s 25 elected officials are black. These positions include: county supervisors, district court judges, law enforcement officials, school board members and election commissioners.

According to Legal Defense Foundation Press ReleaseLDF leaders consider the division of constituencies into wards is racially discriminatory.

As stated in a press release by Amir Badat, LDF special counsel for voting, “Black voters in DeSoto County deserve full and fair participation in the democratic process to ensure their interests are represented and their communities are considered,” Badat said.

Badat continued, “The racially discriminatory DeSoto County redistricting plan deprives Black DeSoto residents of their fundamental right to elect representatives who invest in their unique needs. This dangerously impacts the quality of life of Black DeSoto residents… We will work to protect the rights of Black DeSoto residents to participate equitably in this democracy and to elect governing bodies that best represent the interests of their community.”

Daniel Hessel, an attorney and clinical lecturer on the Harvard Election Law Clinic, agreed with Badat’s assessment, saying in a press release that “DeSoto County’s election district map fractures the county’s black community by depriving black voters of a voice in government. Black voters in DeSoto County are entitled to fair maps to ensure their needs and interests are reflected in the five offices elected on these district lines.”

The fastest-growing county in Mississippi deserves fair representation, in keeping with Jarvis Dortch, executive director of the ACLU of Mississippi. “DeSoto County is the fastest-growing county in Mississippi. Individuals and families who move to our state deserve fair and equitable representation in their local government,” Dortch said.

Dortch continued, “Unfortunately, the current Supervisor district boundaries are drawn to favor white voters and disadvantage voters of color. The community will only thrive when all voices are heard and some voices do not count more than others.”

This introduction to the lawsuit immediately mentions the indisputable fact that despite DeSoto County’s significant black population, no black person has been elected in greater than twenty years. He also says that previous county plans have divided the black community, weakening the political power of black residents in DeSoto County.

“Despite DeSoto County’s large black population, no black person has been elected to county office in at least two decades, and candidates elected by the black community have rarely been elected.”

The lawsuit suggests it is feasible and helpful to redraw the maps in order that black and white residents of the county can share power.

“A district map could be drawn that follows traditional districting rules and includes a reasonably configured district in which black residents make up a majority of the population. Such a map would give black voters the opportunity to choose their preferred candidate as one of five officials in each of the five county offices currently covered by Plan 2022.”

According to Charles Taylor, executive director of the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP, “solving the injustice in DeSoto County starts with fair election mapping and access to the ballot box,” Taylor said.

He concluded: “Participation and representation are fundamental rights guaranteed by democracy, yet the county’s black citizens have long been deprived of these rights by office holders.”

Keith Sylvester, a black man from Atlanta, spent greater than a yr in prison for the murders of his mother and stepfather — despite video and cellphone evidence proving his innocence that was intentionally suppressed by the detective investigating the murders.

Now, Sylvester is about to receive $1.5 million in damages following an appeals court decision to overturn his conviction, in accordance with WSB Television.

But it doesn’t appear that the officer investigating the case, Atlanta Police Detective James Barnett, was ever punished for withholding evidence that might have proven that Sylvester never murdered his parents or set their house on fire after strangling them.

It also doesn’t appear that he could possibly be charged with perjury, which could be an appropriate charge in this kind of case.

“The argument is that a jury could find that Detective Barnett either intentionally lied to a state judge or was so reckless with the truth that he misled the state judge into thinking there was probable cause,” in accordance with the appeals court ruling that overturned his conviction.

Atlanta police arrested one other black man, Cornelius Muckle, for the murders of Deborah and Harry Hubbard after cellphone records showed his phone was at their home before they were murdered and their home was set on fire. Muckle, who had nothing to do with the Hubbards, also tried to sell items stolen from the house at an area pawn shop two days after the murders.

But Barnett claimed Sylvester murdered his parents to get the insurance money. However, Sylvester’s lawyer on the time said he was not even listed as a beneficiary, in accordance with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“His name is nowhere on the insurance policy,” he said.

Zack Greenamyre on the time. “He would have been one of six children and stepchildren who would have been beneficiaries of the policy.”

Sylvester, who helped detectives on the case for nearly six months in hopes of finding the killer, said he was shocked when he was arrested.

“When (the detective) handed me the summons and told me I was arrested for the murder of my parents, I thought it was a ploy on his part to get more information,” Sylvester told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Article from May 2024.

“I thought it was a mistake. They’d figure something out and I’d be out of there soon. I thought I’d be out in a few days.”

Instead, he spent 14 months behind bars on charges of murder, arson and insurance fraud.

Murder

It was June 2nd, 2018, and Sylvester was visiting his mother and stepfather at their Atlanta home, which he did almost on daily basis, in accordance with WBS-TV.

However, in accordance with dashcam footage, cellphone operator footage and security cameras that recorded him at gambling establishments, the person left his home before 9 p.m.

Phone records also show Harry Hubbard called his niece, Nyaira Walton, at 9:30 p.m. Nyaira told detectives her uncle showed no signs of distress throughout the call.

At 3:56 a.m., the Atlanta Fire Department received a report of a house fire. Upon arrival, officers discovered bodies inside with signs of strangulation.

Firefighters also determined that the hearth had been intentionally set “shortly before” the decision was received, which might have prevented Sylvester from setting it, in accordance with the aforementioned evidence, which was never presented at trial. The autopsy also showed that the couple were still alive when the hearth began, because the couple had ash and soot of their tracheae, indicating that they were still respiration when the hearth began.

However, it appears Barnett had no luck finding the actual killer, so he focused his efforts on Sylvester.

According to the appeals court ruling:

Nearly six months had passed because the murders when Barnett arrested Sylvester in December 2018, much to his shock because Sylvester had continually cooperated with police to assist solve the crimes.

This is how Sylwester described the arrest WGRZ in February 2019 after two months in prison:

Barnett spent the following yr attempting to prove his innocence, writing letters to judges, prosecutors and civil rights groups, hoping they might consider his case.

The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office launched an investigation and determined that Muckle was the actual killer.

But prosecutors tried to pin the blame on Google for locking up the unsuitable man, accusing the tech company of taking nine months to answer a request for a search warrant under a geofence that might allow investigators to “cast a wide net, collecting information on all devices located within a specified area,” in accordance with National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

In this manner, they determined that Muckle’s phone had been within the Hubbards’ house shortly before the hearth broke out, and that the Hubbards had been murdered, in accordance with 11 Living news. It was also determined that Muckle attempted to sell items stolen from the house at an area pawn shop two days later.

“The results of this investigation show that the assailant, who was not named in the original police investigation, was in fact inside the home of Deborah and Harry Hubbard 20 minutes prior to the 911 call about the fire that caused their deaths,” District Attorney Paul Howard said in an announcement to 11Alive News on the time.