BROOKHAVEN — Residents may see protestors outside of the Lincoln County Justice Court Wednesday. Sheriff Steve Rushing brought up the announced protest at the Lincoln County Board of Supervisors meeting Monday. 

According to a flyer, protestors will gather in front of the Lincoln County Justice Court in support of D’Monterrio Gibson on Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 11 a.m.  A press conference is also planned in conjunction with the protest. 

Rushing said he brought up the protest at Supervisors just so government officials could know what was going on. 

“We have had protestors before and had no problems with them,” Rushing said. “We just hope for a peaceful protest. We will be here to assess any concerns but we hadn’t had any problems before.”

In June 2022, protestors traveled all over Brookhaven demanding justice for Gibson. Some protestors openly carried firearms, which is legal in Mississippi. 

Background of case

Gibson is the victim of an alleged shooting known as the “FedEx shooting.” Last year, Judge David Strong had to rule the trial as a mis-trial due to repeated violations of court orders by Brookhaven Police Investigator Vincent Fernando. Readers may recall the trial culminated with Fernando producing a surprise piece of evidence after both the District Attorney Office and Defense had asked for all evidence to be turned in in pre-trial hearings. 

Defendants Brandon and Gregory Case are charged with attempted murder, conspiracy and shooting into a motor vehicle driven by FedEx driver D’Monterrio Gibson in January 2022. Attorneys for the Cases filed for a motion to dismiss in September after further evidence, four new body camera videos, were turned over by the Brookhaven Police Department. 

After hearing arguments, Strong asked the defense attorneys for Brandon and Gregory Case to file a short letter brief and to send a copy to the district attorney’s office in the next five days. The district attorney Brendon Adams will then have five days to reply. 

Strong said he will then make a ruling on if the case will be dismissed entirely or he could possibly rule to exclude new evidence submitted by Brookhaven Police Department’s detective Vincent Fernando in a retrial of the “FedEx shooting case.”

The trial is set to start on Oct. 14 at 9 a.m. so Strong’s ruling on the motion to dismiss could come days before the trial is set to start.