Judge rules for paper in records battle
A Harrison County Chancery Court judge has ruled in a lawsuit brought by The Sun Herald that the videotape of the beating of inmate Jessie Lee Williams Jr. is public record.Williams, 40, of Gulfport, died Feb. 6, 2006, two days after a beating in the jail booking room.
However, Chancellor Jim Persons said Wednesday that he cannot order the release of materials that the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department no longer has. Persons said the newspaper will have to go to U.S. District Court.