A judge has decided that former Southaven, Mississippi, Mayor Greg Davis will be retried four counties away on felony fraud and embezzlement charges.
The case was rescheduled to June 19 in Grenada, defense attorney Steve Farese said in an email Thursday to The Associated Press.
Davis was convicted of buying a city-owned SUV without approval from aldermen, and of being reimbursed for mileage purchased on a city-issued card.
Mississippi’s Court of Appeals reversed Davis’ 2014 conviction, ruling in July that the trial should have been moved out of DeSoto County Circuit Court because of intense publicity.
Farese told The Commercial Appeal shortly afterward that the Gulf Coast would be logical for a retrial, since Davis’ legal matters were big news in both the Memphis and Jackson areas.
Grenada County, about 80 miles south of Southaven, is on the edge of the Memphis media market.
Farese also said then that he hoped to reach a settlement with prosecutors. That didn’t happen, he said Thursday.
The unanimous appeals court decision looked only at the fact that the trial wasn’t moved out of Hernando.
If Davis’ conviction had been upheld, he would have served 2½ years.
Davis was Southaven mayor from 1997 to 2013. He ran for re-election but lost to Darren Musselwhite.
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