The third trial of Joshua Archie

By James Hampton III,

Contributing Writer,

The third trial of Joshua Archie (now age 30) for the alleged murder of Robert Adams (killed at age 68 in 2012) was set to begin on Monday, August 9, 2021. On Saturday, August 7, the accused and his family held a press conference led by David L. Archie in which the Hinds County District 2 supervisor spoke on his nephew’s behalf.

“We are here as a family asking that the [Mississippi] Supreme Court step in and bring this trial to a halt,” David Archie declared, the pressing issue being the court’s denial of a continuance requested by Joshua’s attorney, Tom Fortner, whose age and health conditions make trying a case during the current COVID-19 flare-up a dangerous and taxing proposition for the 68-year-old attorney.

Upon denial of the motion for continuance, Fortner had also filed a motion to recuse himself as Joshua’s attorney, a motion which was also denied by the Madison County Circuit Court presided over by Judge Steve Ratcliff.

Joshua’s mother Cherry Price also weighed in. “What is the issue of delaying this trial a few months? We don’t have a problem going to trial, we have a problem with COVID-19,” she said with controlled emotions, citing members of her own family that have caught COVID-19 while serving on jury duty in other local trials.

David Archie implored the Mississippi Supreme Court to step-in to interrupt the Madison County Circuit Court trial referring to the Court’s Emergency Administrative Order issued just days before on Thursday, August 5.

Emergency Administrative Order-21, the latest in a series of emergency orders issued by the state Supreme Court related to the COVID-19 virus, seems to make adjustments to the previous emergency order issued in late May when the virus seemed to be abating, acknowledging specifically that “circumstances have precipitously deteriorated, especially with respect to the delta variant of COVID-19.”

One of the major concerns expressed by the Archie family is that the order gives the Circuit Court discretion to deny citizens access to the courtroom to attend the trial. Joshua’s family wants to be in the courtroom to show support for the young man who they maintain had nothing to do with the robbery and shooting death of Adams by a masked gunman at the Party City in Ridgeland nine years ago.

Also, the Archie family seems to be gravely concerned about potential unfairness in jury selection. At the press conference, David Archie informed the media that jury selection for the current trial had actually begun months ago but that the Madison County District Attorney prosecuting the case had a close friend to die and hence petitioned the court for a continuance in order to deal with that loss of life. That continuance was granted.

It therefore seems logical to the Archie family that their attorney’s (Fortner) own petition for a continuance should have been granted given that his own life may be at stake entering the courtroom with severe underlying conditions that put him “at-risk” during the current COVID-19 surge.

Price added emphatically, “We have gone to trial twice, two hung juries,” and further, “We’re just asking for a delay for a few months until COVID-19 dies down.” It seems reasonable.

According to CDC data, Mississippi has ranked the third highest among states in the nation over the past two weeks in COVID-19 case rate per 100,000 people. Only Florida and Louisiana rank higher.

David Archie visibly controlling his own emotions said, “We do not want Madison County to use COVID-19 as an advantage to prosecute Joshua Archie.” He said, “We don’t want to have another Curtis Flowers trial here in the state of Mississippi,” referring to the six-trial, twenty-three year, race-based prosecution of the Winona man that finally, after national attention, ended in dropped charges and monetary compensation from the state of Mississippi for 23 years of wrongful imprisonment.

In an interview with The Mississippi Link, Price said her son’s father, James Tony Archie, who passed away in 2012, had a  dying request of his brother David Archie. She stated the request was, “Please bring my son home.”

As of Monday, the Mississippi Supreme Court had not stepped in. The jury selection of six blacks and six whites had been seated. The third trial of Joshua Archie is underway.