This article was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for their newsletters, and follow them on Instagram, TikTok, Reddit and Facebook.
Hinds County District Attorney Jody E. Owens II walked briskly toward a crowd of TV cameras and reporters on the steps of the federal courthouse in Jackson last week to denounce what he called a “horrible example of a flawed FBI investigation” and an “assassination attempt on my character.”
Owens, the top elected law enforcement official for Mississippi’s largest county that encompasses its capital city, pleaded not guilty to multiple federal felony charges stemming from an alleged FBI bribery sting. He vowed to remain in office.
And indicted Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, who faces similar charges in the same case, pledged to remain mayor and continue his 2025 reelection campaign.
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“We plan on fighting these charges. But right now, I’m going to get back to protecting Hinds County and being your district attorney that you elected us to be,” Owens told reporters last week after his arraignment in federal court.
“I am not guilty, so I will not proceed as a guilty man,” Lumumba said.
For at least the last 50 years, it has not been unusual for top-ranking elected officials across the U.S. to keep their offices as they fight the charges, even after major felony indictments for corruption, according to legal experts interviewed by The Marshall Project – Jackson. Indictments are allegations, and the accused are innocent until proven guilty.
Public corruption investigations have become commonplace in the news. In 2022, the latest year available, there were 50 guilty pleas and seven trial convictions for public officials, ranging from a police chief to state senators, according to the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity section’s annual report.
Beyond Jackson, New York City Mayor Eric Adams is facing federal corruption charges and vowed not to step down. And although President-elect Donald Trump was convicted last year of 34
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