OXFORD, Miss. (AP) - The Latest on retrial of former Southaven mayor (all times local):
4:50 p.m.
A former Mississippi mayor has been found not guilty in his retrial on charges that he illegally bought a city-owned SUV and was reimbursed for gasoline from city pumps.
Greg Davis of Southaven was acquitted Tuesday on both charges by a jury after about an hour of deliberations.
Local media report that Davis hugged defense attorney Steve Farese in the courtroom in Oxford. The case was moved there after a 2014 guilty verdict was overturned because an appeals court ruled the case should have been tried outside DeSoto County because of intense publicity.
Davis says he was using the vehicle and the gas to benefit the residents of Southaven, a Memphis, Tennessee, suburb which is Mississippi’s third largest city.
Prosecutors said Davis bought the city-leased SUV even though a now-dead city clerk told him that would be illegal.
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2:40 p.m.
A former Mississippi mayor was the only defense witness in his retrial on charges that he illegally bought a city-owned SUV and was reimbursed for gasoline from city pumps.
The Commercial Appeal reports that Greg Davis of Southaven testified that he rode city streets looking for potholes, helped storm victims and helped collect garbage during a sick-out.
District Attorney John Champion countered that Davis was just doing his job.
Davis also disputed a former city clerk’s testimony that he bought the vehicle after she told him it would be illegal. He said he thought Sheila Heath was talking about a different proposed purchase.
Heath’s testimony from 2014 was read because she has since died.
Davis’ 2014 conviction was overturned. An appeals court ruled that he should have been tried outside DeSoto County because of intense publicity.
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Early testimony in a former Mississippi mayor’s retrial included literal repetition of testimony that helped bring his conviction in 2014.
Greg Davis of Southaven is accused of buying a city-owned SUV without approval, and getting improper mileage reimbursement.
He’s being retried because an appeal court overturned that verdict, saying the trial should have been moved out of DeSoto County because of intense publicity.
The Commercial Appeal reports that testimony from a former city clerk was read into the record Monday because the clerk has since died. Sheila Heath said Davis bought the SUV even though she had told him he couldn’t do so legally.
Defense attorney Steve Farese said Davis did nothing illegal either by purchasing the vehicle or by using city gasoline.
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12:55 p.m.
Prosecutors are repeating their contention that a former Mississippi mayor illegally used city resources.
Greg Davis was mayor of Southaven, Mississippi’s third-largest city, from 1997 to 2013. He’s accused of illegally purchasing a city-owned SUV without approval, and of being reimbursed for mileage purchased on a city-issued card.
A jury found Davis guilty in 2014, but the Mississippi Court of Appeals last July said the trial should have been moved from DeSoto County because of intense publicity.
Steve Farese, representing Davis, said Monday that Davis did nothing illegal either by purchasing the vehicle or by using city gasoline.
The Commercial Appeal reports Farese wanted DeSoto County Circuit Judge Jimmy McClure to rule that prosecutors hadn’t met the burden of proving Davis was guilty. McClure, though, allowed the case to proceed.
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Information from: The Commercial Appeal, https://www.commercialappeal.com
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