Case: Jefferson County v. State

In 1999, Plaintiff Jefferson County filed suit against the State of Mississippi in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, seeking to force the State to contribute to the cost of indigent defense.

In the same year, two similar suits were filed against the state by Quitman and Noxubee Counties. These cases appear in our database as Quitman County v. State of Mississippi (PD-MS-0001) and Noxubee County v. State (PD-MS-0003). Also in 1999, a suit complaining of inadequate public funding for indigent defense was filed by an individual public defender against Forrest County and the State of Mississippi. This case appears in our database as Van Slyke v. State (PD-MS-0004).

Jefferson County v. State, Noxubee County v. State, and Van Slyke v. State were all held in abeyance pending the outcome of the first appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court in Quitman County v. State of Mississippi. See State v. Quitman County, 807 So.2d 401, 402 n.1 (Miss. 2001). In 2001, the Mississippi Supreme Court resolved that first appeal by holding that Quitman County stated a sufficient cause of action to justify a trial. State v. Quitman County, 807 So.2d 401, 410 (Miss. 2001).

Because we have no docket or other court documents for Jefferson County v. State, we are unsure whether the case was resumed following the Mississippi Supreme Court's authorization of a trial in State v. Quitman County or whether the case was otherwise resolved.

The information for this summary was acquired primarily from a report by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund entitled "Assembly Line Justice: Mississippi's Indigent Defense Crisis." This document appears in our database as PD-MS-0002-0001. Also relevant was the information located in State v. Quitman County, 807 So.2d 401, 402 n.1 (Miss. 2001).

We have no further information on this case.