A Hinds County judge has blocked the state attorney general’s attempt to permanently drop the manslaughter case against a former Capitol Police officer who admitted to killing a 25-year-old Jackson man during a traffic stop.
Hinds County Circuit Judge Faye Peterson ruled the attorney general’s office was showing a “bias” for law enforcement, despite its legal responsibility to prosecute the manslaughter case against the white former officer, Michael Lamar Rhinewalt, for firing the shot that killed Jaylen Lewis, a Black man. After a majority-Black jury deadlocked on whether to convict Rhinewalt at trial last month, the new ruling leaves open the possibility that Rhinewalt could face a second trial and up to 20 years in prison under a future attorney general, once current Republican officeholder Lynn Fitch’s term is up in 2028.
