Two Columbus-based public officials issued statements this week asking Attorney General Lynn Fitch to release the evidence backing her decision last Friday to drop the manslaughter charge against white former police officer Canyon Boykin, who fatally shot Ricky Ball, a black man, in 2015.
State Rep. Kabir Karriem (D-Columbus) wrote a letter to Fitch on Wednesday he shared publicly with the media and on social media, urging Fitch to explain her decision to dismiss the case. Mayor Robert Smith followed suit on Thursday, demanding explanations and criticizing the timing of the decision on the mayor’s Facebook page.
They both join District Attorney Scott Colom’s public call for the same answers he issued last week to the AG’s Office.
On May 29, Fitch dismissed the case against Boykin with prejudice, meaning he cannot be legally charged in the case again. Boykin was indicted in 2016 for the fatal shooting of Ball. Boykin shot Ball on Northside after Ball had run from a traffic stop.
Boykin claimed he shot Ball in self-defense. But none of the three officers on the traffic stop activated their body cameras during the incident, and the gun that was found by Ball’s body had been reported stolen from the home of another city police officer who responded to the scene after the shooting.
The city fired Boykin days after the incident. Colom turned the case over to then-Attorney General Jim Hood’s office, which presented it to the Lowndes County grand jury that indicted Boykin.
Fitch’s abrupt dismissal of the case, though, has sparked local protests as well as backlash from local leaders.
Karriem, in his Wednesday letter, said the dismissal had a deep impact on the local communities.
“The community was comforted by the fact that the Ball family would have their day in court,” wrote Karriem, who was the Ward 5 Columbus councilman at the time of the shooting. “The news of the dismissal with prejudice has sent shock waves not only through Lowndes County, but the entire state.”
The dismissal, he said, also could harm the citizen-police relationship in Columbus and set a dangerous perception of law enforcement among the community.
“This decision casts a dark cloud over our community and the judicial system, especially given the current atmosphere in our nation right now,” his letter continues. “I am fearful that this establishes a precedent that gives our community the perception that law enforcement can kill without impunities.”
In his Facebook post, Smith slammed Fitch’s office for dismissing the case amidst national unrest after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. He demanded answers from Fitch’s office as to why the case was dismissed.
“The citizens deserve to know, and so does the still-grieving family of Ricky Ball,” the statement read.
The dismissal of the case after Boykin was indicted for Ball’s death, he said, was “shocking.”
“After five years of investigations, thousands of pages of documentation, countless hours of interviews, and even an indictment by a Grand Jury, the Mississippi Attorney General throws it out, expired, and forgotten,” Smith said. “Ricky Ball died in a tragic incident five years ago. Justice on this case died May 29, 2020.”
In a statement this morning, Fitch’s office called its review of the evidence “thorough and independent.” It reviewed forensic reports and statements from four Mississippi Bureau of Investigations officers, each determining the case was self-defense, the statement said.
Fitch’s office is working with Colom to release the evidence to him, the statement said. Colom previously told The Dispatch he plans to release as much of the evidence to the public as legally possible as quickly as he can.
“Though it is atypical to return a case file, in the interest of transparency, we are currently diligently working to prepare this file for return to DA Colom and discuss it with him on a daily basis,” the AG’s Office statement said.
Yue Stella Yu was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.