County Exhumes Dexter Wade’s Body Before Family’s Arrival: ‘They Dug Him Up Without My Permission’

By Shaunicy Muhammad 

Hinds County exhumed Dexter Wade’s body from the local penal colony at 8 a.m. on Monday, hours before his family was set to arrive to witness his removal from the spot where local officials buried him long before notifying the family of his death.

The family’s attorney, Ben Crump, cited a signed letter from the Hinds County Board of Supervisors to Dennis Sweet, another attorney for the family. The letter said the “exhuming will take place on Monday, November 13, 2023 at 11:30am.”

Crump and Sweet said they had an agreement with the Hinds County Board of Supervisors that Wade’s mother would be able to attend the exhumation. The family only learned that his body had already been removed when they arrived at the Hinds County Penal Farm.

                                                    

Wade died in early March after an off-duty Jackson Police Department officer fatally struck him with his vehicle as he attempted to walk across the southbound lanes of Interstate 55. His mother Bettersten Wade searched for him for months and reported him missing to police on March 15. But even though Dexter Wade had a prescription bottle with his name on it and the coroner’s office had already determined his identity by the time his mother filed the police report, JPD did not inform her of his death until late August—over a month after his burial.

Wade’s family asked to exhume his body on Nov. 13 in preparation for an independent autopsy and a “proper burial” for their loved one, Crump said.

“It was an agreed upon position with the County that Ms. Bettersten Wade would be here at 11:30 to commence the exhumation of her son,” Crump said at a vigil on Nov. 13. “Like a thief in the night, they went and took the body out of the ground. Ms. Bettersten asked, ‘Who gave permission to public works? What are they hiding?’” Crump said.

“Is this how the system works?” Bettersten Wade asked on Nov. 13 at the vigil. “They put him in the ground without my permission; they dug him up without my permission.”

Bettersten Wade, pictured with attorney Ben Crump, reported her son Dexter missing in March 2023. She learned in August 2023 that an off-duty police officer struck and killed Dexter Wade in March and that her son was later buried without her knowledge. Photo by Shaunicy Muhammad

Crump and Wade’s family have questioned whether the lapse in communication from officials was related to the 2022 conviction of a JPD police officer charged in the beating death of her 62-year-old brother George Robinson. Robinson was pulled from a vehicle in the Washington Addition neighborhood and beaten by officers, witnesses said in January 2019. He died days later.

Bettersten Wade questioned how officials could claim they couldn’t get in touch with her to tell her that her son’s body had been identified when she would have been on their radar following the high-profile court case.

“How could you not say this is a vendetta? I put in a missing person’s report. There’s my address; there’s my phone number. How could they not put all that together?” Bettersten Wade said at a press conference on Oct. 30.

Dexter Wade was walking across Interstate 55 on March 5, 2023, when an SUV driven by an off-duty Jackson police officer struck him. Hinds County buried his body in a pauper’s grave at the Hinds County Penal Farm in July 2023. Photo courtesy Dexter Wade’s family

The Hinds County Coroner’s Office turned Dexter Wade’s body over to his family following the vigil. Crump said a public exhumation would have allowed for “full transparency” with the family and the public.

Since NBC News first reported about Wade’s death and subsequent burial, Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba said that the circumstances were not the result of police misconduct or maliciousness. “There was a lack of communication with the missing person’s division, the coroner’s office and accident investigation,” Lumumba said on Oct. 26.

At Monday’s vigil, Crump accused Jackson officials of shifting blame and “trying to wash the blood off their hands.”

“There is no excuse for the way this case has been handled,” the attorney said in a Nov. 13 statement following the vigil. “Every time Ms. Wade takes a step toward getting answers as to what happened to her son, Jackson officials bring her two steps back. We hoped today that Ms. Wade could receive some answers and closure, but once again she is just left with more questions and even more trauma.”

Investigators with the Hinds County Coroner’s Office removed Dexter Wade’s body and turned it over to his family on Nov. 13, 2023. Photo by Shaunicy Muhammad

Jackson Director of Communications Melissa Faith Payne sent a statement to the Mississippi Free Press on Oct. 26 saying that “officers were unable to identify him at the time” of his death on March 5.

“Days later, the coroner’s office was able to identify the victim as Dexter Wade by way of medication found in his pocket,” the statement said. “However, the contact information for Mr. Wade was outdated, and neither the coroner’s office nor investigating officers were able to make contact with Mr. Wade’s family.”

“Subsequently, on March 14th, Dexter Wade’s family reported him missing to the Jackson Police missing person’s unit,” Payne continued. “Missing persons officers did not know that the pedestrian victim from March 5th was the same person reported missing on March 14th. The lead detective in the missing person’s case continued to investigate until he retired in July.”

Payne said a second officer began a follow-up investigation in August “that led back to the coroner’s office.”

“Through collaborative efforts, they were able to close the missing person’s case, by identifying Dexter Wade as the pedestrian who was killed March 5th,” the statement continued. “While this is a very tragic and unfortunate accident, our investigation found no malicious intent by any Jackson police staff.”

When asked for comment today about Wade’s exhumation, Payne said “the City had no part in either his burial or exhumation. That was entirely with the county.”

Continued Calls for a DOJ Investigation

Officials have not said who approved the 8 a.m. exhumation. The Mississippi Free Press was unable to reach the Hinds County Board of Supervisors for comment for this story.

Hinds County Administrator Kenny Wayne Jones told WAPT on Monday that the situation was “very unfortunate” but that there was “no cover-up or anything like that—just miscommunication.”

Attorney Ben Crump, right, and Bettersten Wade, center, look at Wade’s body bag as investigators with the Hinds County coroner’s office place him in the back of a hearse following exhumation on Nov. 13, 2023. Photo by Shaunicy Muhammad

Attorney Crump continued to call on the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct their own investigation into the circumstances around Wade’s death and burial. U.S. House Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat whose district includes most of Jackson, also voiced support for a federal investigation in a statement on Monday.

“The circumstances surrounding Mr. Wade’s death are deeply troubling,” Thompson said. “The pain his mother and loved ones are enduring is unimaginable. The extensive local and national media coverage of this tragedy has prompted numerous calls to my office from concerned citizens in Jackson who are also searching for answers. The system owes Mr. Wade’s family an explanation for the callous manner in which his untimely death was mishandled.”

Crump said the family plans to have an independent autopsy conducted on Wade’s body. Campaign Zero, an organization based in Washington, D.C., is assisting with the costs. The attorney said the family plans to give him “a proper funeral” on Nov. 20 and that he expects civil-rights attorney and MSNBC host Al Sharpton to attend.

“Justice delayed is justice denied, and we will keep fighting for justice in Dexter’s name until his mother gets the closure she deserves,” Crump said.

This article originally appeared in the Mississippi Free Press on November 17th, 2023.  

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Welfare agency set to depose Brett Favre, but both want to conceal transcripts

by Anna Wolfe

Former NFL quarterback Brett Favre is set to give sworn testimony in the ongoing welfare fraud civil suit at the end of this month.

But both Favre and the Mississippi Department of Human Services, which is suing the famous athlete and 46 others, have asked the judge to issue a protective order allowing parties to block evidence in the case, such as deposition transcripts, from being shared with the public.

If Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Faye Peterson signs the order — to which 16 other defendants objected — Favre’s deposition transcript would be considered confidential for at least 30 days after it is completed, after statewide elections in November. After that, Favre would be able to designate deposition exhibits or portions of transcripts confidential, preventing any other parties from sharing the materials with anyone outside of their counsel, the court or potential witnesses.

MDHS has accused Favre of pushing welfare officials to fund the construction of a volleyball stadium at University of Southern Mississippi and make a seven figure investment in a pharmaceutical company he was promoting — both of which MDHS says were shams that personally benefitted Favre and others. Favre denies he had anything to do with an illegal scheme.

Since MDHS first filed the case in May of 2022, Peterson has issued several procedural orders, most significantly denying Favre’s motion to dismiss the complaint against him and denying several motions to stay the case. She also denied a motion for protective order from the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation.

“The primary purposes of the Agreed Protective Order are to prevent confidential discovery materials from being made public and used outside of this litigation, and to give parties an opportunity to make an application that confidential materials be filed under seal,” reads the Sept. 22 motion for protective order by MDHS, Favre and another defendant in the case, virtual reality company Lobaki, Inc.

Both MDHS and Favre also plan to depose former University of Southern Mississippi President Rodney Bennett on Oct. 31 in Nebraska, where Bennett recently relocated to serve as chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln after resigning from USM in 2022.

MDHS has used a text message that Bennett sent former Gov. Phil Bryant in 2020 as the basis for its claim that Favre personally committed to provide funds to build the volleyball stadium, which bolsters the argument that Favre stood to personally benefit from the diversion of MDHS funds to the project.

“I will see, for the ‘umpteenth time’ if we can get him (Favre) to stand down,” Bennett wrote to Bryant in late January of 2020. “The bottom line is he personally guaranteed the project, and on his word and handshake we proceeded. It’s time for him to pay up – it really is just that simple.” 

Neither Bennett nor Bryant are defendants in the civil case.

Favre’s legal team denies that any of the welfare funds channeled to USM helped satisfy Favre’s pledge, especially considering that the funds were transferred in 2017, while Favre signed his guarantee in 2018.

Favre said that with respect to the proposal to use MDHS block grants to fund the volleyball stadium, “The Governor was aware of the source of the funding and supported it.”

At the time Bennett sent Bryant the text about Favre, Bryant had just left office and was discussing entering a business deal with Prevacus and PreSolMD, the Favre-backed pharmaceutical startups that also received more than $2 million in stolen welfare funds.  Bryant denied involvement in either deal.

MDHS sent an email to each defendant in the civil suit to gauge their support for a protective order. The following 16 defendants objected:

• Nancy New, her private school company New Learning Resources Inc. and her nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center.

• The nonprofit’s accounting firm Williams, Weiss, Hester & Co.

• Nancy New’s sons Zach and Jess New, Jess New’s company Magnolia Strategies and the LLC they all started together, N3 Holdings.

• Former state welfare director John Davis and his nephew Austin Smith.

• Former welfare agency attorney William Garrig Shields.

• Former welfare subcontractor NCC Ventures and its owner Nicholas Cronin Coughlin.

• Former welfare subcontractor Chase Computer Services.

• Retired football player Marcus Dupree and his organization Marcus Dupree Foundation.

These defendants said they were “hesitant to agree that materials, which [they] have never seen, can be made confidential simply with the markings of an attorney,” reads the Sept. 22 motion. The objecting defendants also argued that “‘records of public officials and former public officials’ may be marked as ‘confidential’; and that ‘some party will designate as ‘confidential’ matters which should not be confidential, and we will then have to go through an unknown length of time to obtain a court hearing in order to have the matters made public.’” The remaining 29 defendants did not respond either way.

“As noted, discovery materials are not a matter of public record and to the extent that any designated discovery materials are to be filed with the Court, if any party or non-party requests they be sealed, the Court must ultimately decide if sealing is warranted,” the motion reads.

MDHS’s original counsel in the civil suit first scheduled depositions of 13 defendants in July of 2022, and they were set to take place between August and November of last year.

But days after filing the notice, Gov. Tate Reeves and the welfare department chose to fire the attorney, former U.S. Attorney Brad Pigott, which put a halt to securing the sworn statements.

Favre’s Oct. 26 deposition, set at the Hotel Indigo in Hattiesburg near Favre’s home, will be the first in the case unless one is scheduled before then.

Originally published on October 4th, 2023, in Mississippi Today.

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Mississippi’s racial divides were on full display as HB 1020 got its final debate and passing vote

by Bobby HarrisonMarch 31, 2023

The state of Mississippi’s racial wounds and sordid history were again thrust into full view at the Capitol on Friday as the House debated and passed controversial bills that would impose state control over the judicial system in the majority-Black city of Jackson.

House Bill 1020 and its companion Senate Bill 2343 have for weeks attracted negative national attention for giving white state leaders new judicial and expanded police authority over capital city Jackson, the Blackest large city in the nation.

The measures would give the white chief justice of the state Supreme Court the authority to appoint judges to hear cases in the district. This is unique in that every other court district in the state has elected judges rather than appointed judges.  The bills would also expand the jurisdiction of Capitol Police, a state police agency managed by the Department of Public Safety and its appointed agency head who is white. Every other municipality in the state has a local police force with main jurisdiction.

The legislation that passed the House late on Friday was a compromise between House and Senate leaders. Because it passed the Senate late Thursday, it now heads to the desk of Gov. Tate Reeves for signature. It was one of the final bills passed by lawmakers in the combative 2023 session.

READ MORE: ‘Out to get Jackson’: Bill to create separate courts, police for part of capital city advances over protest

The controversial Jackson bills passed the white and Republican-controlled Legislature by an overwhelming margin. Every Black lawmaker in the House and Senate but one — Rep. Angela Cockerham, an independent from Magnolia — voted against the bills.  Supporters of the legislation say that the judges, under the final version of the bill, will only serve for a limited period of time and that there still will be four elected judges hearing criminal cases in Hinds County.

Debate of the bill on the House floor on Friday became tense and heated, highlighting the racial tension that has been festering all session. House Ways and Means Chair Trey Lamar, a Republican from Senatobia and the author of HB 1020, told members on Friday he was going “to refuse to take the race-laced, unfactual rhetoric as bait” as he defended the bill.

Lamar said that he was unfairly labeled as a racist when all he was trying to do is aid the citizens of Jackson — many of whom he said had asked for help with the crime problems besetting Mississippi’s capital and largest city. Lamar said the bill had nothing to do with race.  “When you take away the right of people to elect their officials who have traditionally been elected, how else are they going to see it?” asked Rep. Ed Blackmon, a Democrat from Canton. “…The right to vote may not mean much to some of you, but when you look at history that got us to where we are today, when it took so long and lost so many lives…

“Gentleman, you have not been beaten for asking for the right to vote,” Blackmon said to Lamar. “You have not been locked up for asking for that. I have. Yes, I am sensitive to that.” Rep. Willie Bailey, a Democrat from Greenville, said in an impassioned, angry response from the well of the House chamber: “You don’t tell me not to talk about race.”

All session and on Friday, members of the Jackson delegation said that they had asked for help for their city, but lamented that the majority-white House leadership did not allow them to be involved in deciding the shape that help should take. They asked why money could not be provided for additional Jackson city police officers and for another elected judge in the city of Jackson.  They said majority white cities in the state would not be treated the same as Jackson — which is more than 80% African American and the Blackest city in the nation with a population of more than 100,000.  

READ MORE: ‘Only in Mississippi’: House votes to create white-appointed court system for Blackest city in America

Rep. Zakiya Summers, a Democrat from Jackson, asked, “When people say they are just trying to help, but the elected officials from the city of Jackson say this is not help, why is that not enough?”  The legislation would create a separate judicial and law enforcement district within the Capital Complex Improvement District. Four judges would be appointed by Chief Justice Michael Randolph, who is white and from Hattiesburg. An additional court would be created within the district to hear misdemeanor cases and to conduct preliminary hearings in felony cases.

The legislation gives the state Department of Public Safety the authority to send to prison those convicted of misdemeanor crimes that carry jail time. Normally such sentences are served in local jails.  Unlike the original version of House Bill 1020, the specially appointed judges would be for a set period of time — through 2026 — instead of being in place permanently. The legislation gives a state police force primary jurisdiction within the Capitol Complex and secondary jurisdiction throughout the city.

Blackmon and Rep. Robert Johnson, a Democrat from Natchez, both said on the floor they were making a record during their remarks for the lawsuit that is likely to be filed because of the legislation. The basis of the lawsuit, they said, is that the proposal takes the right to vote away from the African American population of the city.  While the city is more than 80% African American, Blackmon pointed out the demographics of the Capital Complex District will be close to 50-50.

Lamar said the Legislature opted to create the special court and police force instead of providing additional resources to the city government because the city leaders had shown incompetence in other areas — such as in in providing water, sewer and garbage services. In reality, though, city officials have nothing to do with the governance of the felony court district that includes the city of Jackson.

Rep. Nick Bain, a Republican from Corinth, said he had heard from many Jacksonians who said they wanted help with crime issues facing the city. “This is the capital city of Mississippi,” Bain said. “It belongs to each and every one of us in this room.” He said the legislation passed Friday was intended to provide that help, not to create racial divides.  But those racial divides were front and center on Friday, and many lawmakers said these bills — and the debate of them — will leave a stinging feeling as lawmakers conclude their work in the final hours of the 2023 legislative session.

READ MORE: Republicans don’t have to listen to their Black colleagues. That’s how they designed it.