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Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project
Working to Obtain a Nationwide Moratorium on Executions

Mississippi

| Mississippi Assessment Team | Resources on the Administration of the Death Penalty in Mississippi |


Mississippi Assessment Team

Professor Charles Jackson Williams, Chair of the Mississippi Assessment Team, is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law. Professor Williams serves as the Director of Legal Writing. He was in private practice for ten years before serving as Director of the Mississippi Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel. Professor Williams received his B.A. from the University of Texas and J.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Law.

Gov. William Allain has resumed practicing law in Jackson, Mississippi, since serving as the fifty-ninth Governor of Mississippi between the years of 1984 and 1988. As Governor, Allain was an ardent supporter of constitutional reform. He appointed a 350-member commission to study the state's 1890 Constitution. During his administration, he implemented a constitutional amendment restructuring the State Board of Education. This amendment provided for an appointed State Superintendent of Education and a nine-member State Board of Education. Prior to being elected Governor, Allain was the state's Attorney General, where he built a strong reputation as a consumer advocate. Gov. Allain received his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and his J.D. from the University of Mississippi.

Phillip Broadhead is a clinical professor and Director of the Criminal Appeals Program at the University of Mississippi School of Law. Mr. Broadhead has nineteen years of trial and appellate litigation experience in cases ranging from youth court to death penalty litigation while serving as an Assistant Hinds County Public Defender and the Marion County Public Defender. Mr. Broadhead served on the faculty of the Mississippi Public Defenders Association Trial School, a trial advocacy teaching institute to enhance the courtroom skills of criminal defense attorneys. He is a past president and current board member of the Mississippi Public Defenders Association, and a member of the Mississippi Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Rules. Mr. Broadhead received his B.A. from Mississippi State University and his J.D. from the Mississippi College School of Law.

Donald Cabana currently is a criminal justice professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, and is the former Superintendent of the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. He is the author of the book, Death at Midnight: The Confession of an Executioner, which chronicles his 20-plus years in corrections in Massachusetts, Florida, Missouri, and Mississippi. Cabana was selected for the Distinguished Faculty Award by The University of Southern Mississippi in 1995 and was recognized as the 1980 Outstanding Corrections Official by the State of Florida. Dr. Cabana received his B.S. from Northeastern University and both his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Southern Mississippi.

John Champion is the District Attorney (DA) for the Seventeenth Circuit Court of Mississippi and currently resides in Senatobia, MS. Mr. Champion began working in the District Attorney office as an Assistant DA in 1993 and became the DA in 2001. As DA, Mr. Champion prosecutes felony cases in the circuit and has prosecuted capital cases. Prior to joining the DA’s office, he worked in a private practice. Mr. Champion is currently a member of the Mississippi Prosecutors Association and the National District Attorneys Association. He is a graduate of the University of Mississippi, where he received his B.A. and J.D.

James W. Craig is a partner in the general litigation group in the Jackson office of Phelps Dunbar LLP, where he handles complex commercial litigation including consumer finance litigation, trade secrets, intellectual property cases, and state and federal antitrust law. He was a trial lawyer on a case in which the client won $299 million in compensatory damages, the highest ever awarded in the history of Mississippi. Mr. Craig is also an accomplished appellate lawyer, having served for five years as the Executive Director of the Mississippi Capital Defense Resource Center, where he represented death row prisoners in their appeals. Mr. Craig is also an adjunct professor at Mississippi College School of Law, where he teaches Remedies Products Liability. Currently, Mr. Craig is the Co-chair of the ABA’s Death Penalty Representation Task Force in the Section of Litigation. He is also a Commissioner on the Mississippi Public Defender Commission. Besides being a member of the ABA, Mr. Craig is also a member of the Mississippi Bar Association, Mississippi Public Defenders’ Association, Fifth Circuit Bar Association, and the Hinds County Bar Association. He is a graduate of Whitworth College, where he earned his B.A. summa cum laude, and the Mississippi College of Law, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Mississippi College Law Review.

George Quinn Evans is the current Board Chairman and past president of Wise Carter Child & Caraway, P.A., which he joined in 1970. His areas of concentration include commercial litigation, general health care litigation, medical malpractice, product liability & industrial safety, and professional liability. His practice is devoted to general health care law representing physicians, hospitals, and other health care institutions and providers and to the defense of medical malpractice suits on behalf of physicians and hospitals and product liability suits on behalf of manufacturers, including medical and pharmaceutical manufacturers. He is on the Board of Directors of the Mississippi Defense Lawyers Association, and is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Board of Trial Lawyers. Mr. Evans received his B.A. cum laude from the University of Notre Dame and his J.D. from the University of Mississippi Law School.

Robert W. Moak is the President and Attorney of the Law Offices of Bobby Moak PC in Bogue Chitto, MS. Since 1984, he has served as Representative of the 53rd District in the Mississippi House of Representatives. Currently, Rep. Moak is Chairman of the Gaming committee. He also serves on the Insurance, Judiciary A, Public Health & Human Services, Tourism, and Ways & Means committees. Rep. Moak is a member of Phi Kappa Tau, Phi Theta Kappa, the University of Mississippi Alumni Association, the Mississippi Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. He is a graduate of the University of Mississippi, where he received his B.A. and J.D.

J. Brad Pigott is a partner at Pigott, Reeves, Johnson and Minor, P.A, a general practice firm in Jackson, MS. Prior to joining the firm, he served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi from 1994-2001. As a United States Attorney, he was noted for being an advocate of proactive civil enforcement. He also established a nationally recognized "Weed & Seed" and "Safe Streets" program to both reduce and prevent crime. From 1989-1994, he served on the State Board of Education. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Mississippi Center For Justice.

Justice Lenore L. Prather is the first woman to serve on the Mississippi Supreme Court. After a time in private practice, she was appointed West Point municipal judge in 1965. Seven years later, Gov. John Bell Williams appointed her judge for the 14th Chancery District of Mississippi. Prather then was elected without opposition in 1974 and re-elected to full terms in 1975 and in 1982, when Gov. William Winter appointed her to the state Supreme Court. On January 5, 1998, Presiding Justice Lenore L. Prather became the Chief Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court. In May 2003, Prather, a former interim president of Mississippi University for Women, received an honorary doctorate. Justice Prather received her B.S. from Mississippi University for Women, and her J.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Law.

Carlton W. Reeves is a partner at Pigott, Reeves, Johnson, and Minor, P.A in Jackson, MS. Before joining the firm, he served as the Chief of the Civil Division in the Office of the United States Attorney for Southern Mississippi. He currently serves as a board member of the Board of Directors for the Mississippi Center For Justice, and as the Treasurer for the Board of Directors of the Mississippi’s Workers Center For Human Rights. He is also a Board Member of the Community Foundation of Greater Jackson. He is a graduate of Jackson State University and the University of Virginia School of Law

Cynthia H. Speetjens is a solo practitioner in Jackson, MS. A distinguished trial lawyer, she primarily practices criminal defense. Before forming her own practice, she was an Associate at Frazer Davidson, P.A. She has also served as the Assistant District Attorney for the 7th Circuit Court of Mississippi. During her tenure with the District Attorney’s Office, she tried 7 cases in which the death penalty was imposed. In other areas of the law, she tried well over 200 cases to verdict. She is a member of the Mississippi Bar Association and a member of its Committee on Women in the Profession. She is an Adjunct Professor at the Mississippi College of Law, where she also received her B.A. and J.D. She has authored articles on child abuse and money laundering for the Mississippi Lawyer and the publication of the Mississippi Bar Association.

Resources on the Administration of the Death Penalty in Mississippi

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