Hood
JACKSON, Miss. (Legal Newsline) - The Mississippi Bar is reportedly filing a complaint against Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood.
The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson reported Thursday that the Bar is expected to file a complaint over one of Hood's campaign ads from last year. The complaint would follow one filed in November by the lawyer for a man accused of killing a Catholic priest.
Jeremy Wayne Manieri was charged with robbing and killing the Rev. Ed Everitt of Hammond, La., in July. Manieri told police he shot Everitt after he woke up to find the priest fondling him. He has not been indicted by a grand jury.
In the commercial, Hood's campaign showed a photo of Manieri with a voiceover saying the attorney general's GOP opponent in last year's election, Steve Simpson, let a "child molester" out of jail and then the child molester "murdered a 70-year-old priest in cold blood."
Simpson is a former circuit judge and an assistant district attorney, and served as the commissioner of the state's Department of Safety before making a run for Hood's seat.
Hood defeated Simpson by a wide margin in the Nov. 8 election to win his third term in office.
Manieri's lawyer, Brian Alexander, filed a complaint on Nov. 22 with the Mississippi Bar Association over the commercial.
Hood's campaign defended the ad, saying it did not publicly name Manieri and "merely stated facts from media reports."
From Legal Newsline: Reach John O'Brien by e-mail at jobrienwv@gmail.com.