The Mississippi State Supreme Court has refused to review the case of a man convicted of attempted murder in Lincoln County.

Jay Mark LaFleur, now 54, was indicted in January 2021 for attempted murder, aggravated assault, and shooting into a dwelling. Following a two-day jury trial in Lincoln County Circuit Court, he was convicted of attempted murder and simple assault, and acquitted of shooting into a dwelling. 

“The attempted murder stemmed from an altercation on July 10, 2020, with his wife where he pulled a handgun and attempted to shoot her in front of her son,” Assistant District Attorney Brendon Adams said at the time.

Lincoln County Circuit Court Judge Michael M. Taylor “made comments suggesting that the State might have presented insufficient evidence to prove attempted murder, but the court ultimately granted LaFleur a new trial on that charge due to a perceived defect in his indictment,” the State Court’s decision reads. 

“Prior to his second trial, LaFleur moved to dismiss the attempted murder charge … under the Double Jeopardy Clause. The trial court denied the motion to dismiss, and LaFleur brought this interlocutory appeal … Because the trial court granted a new trial … and because the trial judge’s comments did not reflect a final determination of LaFleur’s criminal culpability, the Double Jeopardy Clause does not prohibit a second trial on attempted murder.”

LaFleur allegedly committed the crimes on July 10, 2020. The indictment incorrectly stated it was returned during the January 2020 grand jury term, rather than the 2021 term. Prior to trial, District Attorney Dee Bates moved to amend the indictment to state the correct date, which the court granted. However, the order prepared by the DA also mistakenly amended the date of the alleged crime to Sept. 18, 2015 — “a wholly irrelevant date.” LaFleur did not object to the order, and the case went to trial.

Evidence at the trial showed the offenses were committed on July 10, 2020. The jury found LaFleur guilty and the court sentenced him to 30 years in the custody of the Department of Corrections for attempted murder, and six months in county jail for simple assault.

LaFleur filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or a new trial, and later filed an amended motion arguing his indictment was “fatally defective” and “void” because of the 2015 date. 

The trial court denied the JNOV motion but granted a new trial based on the mistake. The State filed a motion to reconsider. But Judge Taylor denied it.

“The fact that it was an error, the fact that nobody caught it does not alter the fact that the Defendant was tried in this courtroom, an accused, by a valid order of the Court of having committed this offense in 2015,” Taylor said at the time. “The Court can’t correct that now and say, well, you were being tried for the crime the date we intended, not the date we said. The date that is said in the indictment is of utmost importance … So the Court finds the Motion to Reconsider is not well taken and the Court’s original ruling granting a new trial … will stand.”

After LaFleur’s filing regarding double jeopardy, the court granted the motion to dismiss in part — finding he could not be retried for shooting into a dwelling, because he was acquitted; and that he could not be retried for aggravated assault because he was convicted of a lesser offense. 

The decision returned by the Court of Appeals stated, “Looking to its substance, the trial court’s final decision to grant a new trial was not a determination of LaFleur’s culpability; rather, the decision was an attempt to correct perceived trial error … Assuming, without agreeing, that the trial court correctly recognized a significant procedural error, granting a new trial is the correct remedy for that sort of error.”

“Because the court’s ruling did not constitute an acquittal, the Double Jeopardy Clause does not prohibit a second trial. Therefore, we affirm the trial court’s denial of LaFleur’s motion to dismiss. We dismiss LaFleur’s direct appeal because he does not challenge his conviction of simple assault.”

LaFleur remains in the custody of MDOC.