Both lawyers representing Mayor Lynn Spruill and mayoral candidate Johnny Moore met at Oktibbeha County Circuit Court on Thursday, which resulted in a new court date for the 2017 Democratic primary runoff election contest.
Starkville attorney Jim Mozingo, representing Spruill, filed a motion to continue the trial scheduled for Feb. 5 to be moved to allow a “reasonable opportunity” to complete discovery.
Judge Barry Ford, who was appointed by the Mississippi Supreme Court to oversee the case, considered the motion and moved the date for the hearing to the week of April 9. The meeting was held in the chambers of Judge Lee Coleman via phone. The meeting was not open to the public.
Mozingo told the Starkville Daily News he was pleased with the outcome of the motion, because it allows his team to have a fair opportunity to prepare for the trial.
“It just gives us the proper amount of time as far as we’re concerned to get together everything that we think we are entitled to put on, and to fairly meet the proof that Mr. Moore says he is going to try and make,” Mozingo said.
In Mozingo’s motion, he cited that Moore did provide the necessary information concerning Moore’s expert, Pete Perry, on Jan. 16 except for three cases, which he was unable to obtain. The three cases were then provided to Spruill’s team on Jan. 22.
The motion stated it would only provide Spruill’s team nine business days to investigate “substantial new information” prior to the trial.
Attorney William Starks, representing Moore, said he is not in favor of the decision, but is ready to move forward with the case.
“We were opposed to it, we were ready to go forward on (Feb. 5) but that’s what the judge’s ruling is, so we’re going to abide by that and be ready on (April 9),” Starks said.
When asked if this will be a changing factor in his team’s approach to the case, he said they will not change their strategy moving forward.
“I don’t know what they hope to find during the next 30 to 60 days,” Starks said.
Perry, the fact witness for this case, has not been excluded at this time to provide his expert opinion for the court. A motion to exclude Perry was made along with the motion to continue the trial.
Moore’s team hopes to call Perry to testify as an expert witness once the matter goes to trial.
Perry, who serves as Hinds County GOP chairman, has worked as a “top-level government administrator,” in addition to working in the administrations of President Ronald Reagan and President George H.W. Bush.
Starks told Ford during the hearing on Jan. 12 that Perry’s role would be to take the stand and for Starks to provide him with the ballot envelope to analyze.
Ford told both legal teams if Perry is to take the stand as an expert, Moore’s team must provide an opinion and a basis for the opinion to Spruill’s team.