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Caleb Bedillion

@calebbedillion.bsky.social

Investigative reporter @themarshallproject.org covering Mississippi criminal justice system, especially courts, public defense and jails.

1,201 Followers  |  276 Following  |  85 Posts  |  Joined: 14.11.2024  |  1.9258

Latest posts by calebbedillion.bsky.social on Bluesky

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Indicted Mississippi DA Flouts Campaign Finance Disclosure Laws While he fights federal bribery charges, Jody Owens faces sanctions for not disclosing campaign funds and spending. Weak laws confuse enforcement.

Earlier this year, I reported that Owens had not yet filed his mandatory disclosure of last year's campaign spending activity. He filed the report after that.

www.themarshallproject.org/2025/05/12/j...

18.07.2025 16:42 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

Owens and his attorneys did not comment for this story.

After his arraignment last year, Owens claimed the indictment against him has "cherry-picked" comments. He said "drunken locker room banter is not a crime."

18.07.2025 16:42 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Mississippi campaigns s are allowed to donate to other campaigns or PACs. An elections law expert said that if the $10,000 went to pay off Lee's campaign debt, the Owens campaign should have identified it as a contribution to Lee.

18.07.2025 16:42 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Of the alleged payment to Lee, the indictments claims Owens stated a need β€œclean it out.”

β€œ[L]ike we always do, we’ll put it in a campaign account, or directly wire it,” he said, the indictment claims. β€œ[T]hat’s the only way I want the paper trail to look.”

18.07.2025 16:42 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

The indictment alleges the payoff was a bribe and that it come out of the campaign account used by Owens.

18.07.2025 16:42 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

The Owens campaign reported paying $10,000 on Feb. 15, 2024 to a printing company for "debt retirement."

A federal indictment alleges that on that same day, Owens paid off $10,000 in debt owed by then-City Councilwoman Angelique Lee.

18.07.2025 16:42 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

The itemized totals for contributions and expenditures reported on the report's cover sheet don't match the sum of the itemized line-items detailed in the body of the report.

18.07.2025 16:42 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Some highlights:

The Owens campaign reported more in itemized contributions for the year 2024 than in total contributions for the year 2024, which is impossible.

18.07.2025 16:42 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Indicted Mississippi Prosecutor’s Latest Campaign Report Rife With Errors Amid federal corruption charges, the campaign finance report from Jody Owens features bad math, with thousands of dollars unaccounted for.

See the full story. Owens has pleaded not guilty.

www.themarshallproject.org/2025/07/18/m...

18.07.2025 16:42 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

From me and @ayewolfe.bsky.social :

In Mississippi, District Attorney Jody Owens filed his latest campaign finance report months late. It's full of math errors. The report also contains transactions that correspond to some details from a federal indictment charging Owens with bribery.

18.07.2025 16:42 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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What It Was Like Inside a Stifling Cuyahoga County Jail Without Power Cuyahoga County officials say no one incarcerated in the jail needed treatment for heat illness. People inside say it was life-threatening.

Conditions Inside Cuyahoga County Jail Amid Heatwave, No Air Conditioning:

β€œThey had us locked up because they were saying they didn't have enough correctional officers, so they couldn't let us out. It was draining my body.”

www.themarshallproject.org/2025/07/03/c...

03.07.2025 14:04 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Jackson Newsletter Articles about β€œJackson Newsletter” by The Marshall Project

To stay up-to-date on this kind of reporting about the justice system issues in Mississippi, sign up for our email newsletter.

www.themarshallproject.org/tag/jackson-...

02.07.2025 17:34 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
State of Mississippi Judiciary

Docket page with the letter and most recent responsive plans:

www.courts.ms.gov/index.php?cn...

02.07.2025 17:34 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

The Supreme Court's letter to local judges is here:

www.courts.ms.gov/appellatecou...

02.07.2025 17:34 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Conservative and progressive legal system reformers have been working on public defense in Mississippi for years. There's a belief among them that momentum is developing to at long last make improvements.

02.07.2025 17:34 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Mississippi Makes Move Toward State-Funded Public Defenders Indigent felony defendants in many counties have lacked court-appointed lawyers before indictment, even while they sat in jails for weeks or months.

This comes as the Legislature recently agreed to fund a pilot program to boost public defense resources in one rural court district.

www.themarshallproject.org/2025/06/12/m...

02.07.2025 17:34 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

β€œWe should have started going court by court and asking them to show us their plans," former chief justice William Waller told me in 2023.

Now, the state's supreme court is doing a version of that.

02.07.2025 17:34 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Mississippi Courts Won’t Say How They Provide Lawyers for Poor Clients Six years ago, the Mississippi Supreme Court told judges around the state to file plans showing how they meet their obligations to poor defendants. So far, only one has.

Back in 2017, the Mississippi Supreme Court first instructed local judges to develop local public defense plans and submit them to the high court.

But as I previously reported in 2023, only a single court at the time had ever followed this directive.

www.themarshallproject.org/2023/09/18/m...

02.07.2025 17:34 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

This matters because Mississippi's public defense systems are so decentralized.

A sprawling network of local officials and courts fund and oversee defense for poor defendants, and they've long operated with no oversight.

02.07.2025 17:34 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Why Mississippi Courts Must Produce Public Defense Plans The state Supreme Court wants to know how local courts provide lawyers, if any, to poor people after their arrest.

Full story from me at The Marshall Project.

www.themarshallproject.org/2025/07/02/m...

02.07.2025 17:34 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

The Mississippi Supreme Court is now requiring greater transparency from the local judges who largely manage the state's patchwork public defense systems.

In a recent letter, Chief Justice Michael Randolph told circuit judges to file written public defense plans by Sept. 5.

02.07.2025 17:34 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Stay Connected With The Marshall Project - Jackson The Marshall Project - Jackson exposes criminal justice abuses in Hinds County and across Mississippi by investigating policing, courts, prisons and jails.

Want to stay current with key news about Mississippi's legal system?

Subscribe to The Marshall Project's email newsletter focused solely on the state.

www.themarshallproject.org/newsletters/...

20.02.2025 23:25 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Try Our New Bill Tracking Tool Search Mississippi criminal justice bills as they move through the legislature.

Then, in an email newsletter out this week, @dajaehenry.com and I highlight three key criminal justices and provided an overview of the latest legislative movement.

www.themarshallproject.org/2025/02/19/t...

20.02.2025 23:22 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Use Our Interactive Mississippi Justice Bill Tracker to Stay Informed Use our interactive bill tracker to stay informed on changes to courts, policing, prisons and more.

Here's the guide:

www.themarshallproject.org/2025/02/14/m...

20.02.2025 23:22 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Want to know how Mississippi lawmakers might impact the state's legal system?

The Marshall Project's team in Jackson has published a tool you can use to monitor bills that state lawmakers are considering. We'll keep it updated as things change.

20.02.2025 23:22 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Use Our Interactive Mississippi Justice Bill Tracker to Stay Informed Use our interactive bill tracker to stay informed on changes to courts, policing, prisons and more.

The Mississippi Legislature is considering a raft of bills that could impact prisons, policing and courts in the state.

The Marshall Project - Jackson has just published a tool to help you keep up with state lawmakers might do.

www.themarshallproject.org/2025/02/14/m...

14.02.2025 21:20 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Civil rights organizations ask Secretary Watson to explain mail-in ballot 'confusion' Groups question why Wednesday, instead of Thursday is the cutoff for counting absentee votes as a close court election hangs in the balance.

Groups question why Wednesday, instead of Thursday is the cutoff for counting absentee votes as a close court election hangs in the balance.

04.12.2024 21:52 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

The Marshall Project has a starter pack! go.bsky.app/2oPnQyH

03.12.2024 20:32 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

it's stunning that even though most counties reported vote changes during the recount, the overall margin stayed exactly the same. it's an important reminder that recounts are extremely unlikely to produce meaningful changes because it's improbable that most errors will go in the same direction.

03.12.2024 16:40 β€” πŸ‘ 62    πŸ” 15    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
27.11.2024 18:55 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

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