Missing Ole Miss graduate student Jay Lee – Photo: Facebook
Sheldon “Timothy” Herrington Jr. has been sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and evidence tampering in the death of University of Mississippi graduate student Jimmy “Jay” Lee. The gay 20-year-old disappeared in 2022, and his remains were not found until earlier this year.
Herrington was first charged with Lee’s murder just weeks after he disappeared. But the case was difficult to prosecute, largely because Lee’s body remained missing for more than two years, including at the time of Herrington’s December 2024 trial.
A judge formally declared Lee dead a month before Herrington’s trial, but court observers noted that some jurors were still hesitant to convict without a body or strong forensic evidence tying Herrington to the killing.
Lafayette County Circuit Court Judge Kelly Luther declared a mistrial after jurors deadlocked three times following nine and a half hours of deliberation. According to the Associated Press at the time, the panel could not agree on whether Herrington was guilty of capital murder, first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter, or not guilty at all.
On February 1, 2025, deer hunters discovered human skeletal remains off a dirt road in rural Carroll County, a site locals say is often used for illegal dumping, according to Mississippi Today. Carroll County Coroner Mark Stiles could not determine a cause or manner of death due to the lack of soft tissue. The Mississippi Crime Lab later confirmed the remains were Lee’s, but also could not determine how he died.
The discovery of Lee’s remains prompted a new indictment of Herrington on capital murder and evidence-tampering charges, according to The Daily Mississippian. The tampering charge was later dropped after the two-year statute of limitations expired.
Prosecutors relied largely on non-physical evidence, including surveillance video showing Lee leaving and returning to his on-campus apartment in the early hours of the morning, as well as phone records linking him to Herrington shortly before he disappeared. A Google search from Herrington’s account asking “how long does it take to strangle someone” further strengthened the case.
Herrington initially denied having a sexual relationship with Lee, but later admitted they had a sexual encounter that morning. Prosecutors also noted that the rural Carroll County location where Lee’s remains were found is about 35 minutes from Herrington’s hometown of Grenada.
Herrington was scheduled to stand trial for capital murder a second time this month, but abruptly changed his plea from not guilty to guilty on December 1, just hours after jury selection began, according to The Clarion Ledger.
Ahead of that second trial, prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty if Herrington were convicted, according to Memphis-based CBS affiliate WREG.
On December 2, Luther accepted Herrington’s guilty plea and sentenced him to 40 years in prison, with 10 years suspended, plus an additional 10 years for evidence tampering. The sentences will run consecutively, meaning Herrington will serve 40 years behind bars, followed by 10 years of post-release supervision, including five years of supervised probation and five years of unsupervised probation.
Before sentencing, Lee’s father, Jimmie Lee Sr., addressed the court, calling it a “sad day” and describing himself as a “broken father.” He said he had long suspected Herrington killed his son and that the family is still struggling to come to terms with the loss.
“I had to witness my son’s skeletal remains. I touched his skull. No father should have to go through that. No parent should have to go through that,” Lee said. In an aside to Herrington, he added, “Jay trusted you.”
In handing down her sentence, Luther said the court was “acutely aware” of the national attention the case had drawn. She noted that Lee “lived a lifestyle that was different from most people in Mississippi,” which had led some observers to doubt his killer would ever be brought to justice.
In a historic move, Michael J. O'Loughlin, an award-winning journalist and gay man, has been named executive editor of the National Catholic Reporter, the nation's leading independent Catholic news organization.
A New England-based journalist, O'Loughlin has amassed more than 15 years of experience covering religion as a reporter, editor, podcast host, and author. For the past nine years, he has worked at America Media, the Jesuit news and commentary outlet, serving seven years as national correspondent and most recently as founding executive director of Outreach, an LGBTQ Catholic news site.
Ten people are on trial in France, accused of engaging in sexist online harassment of First Lady Brigitte Macron by spreading false and malicious claims about her.
The posts alleged that the French president's wife is transgender and was born male under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux -- the name of her older brother. Some also equated the 25-year age gap between the 72-year-old first lady and her 47-year-old husband to "pedophilia," according to Agence France-Presse.
The Macrons first met in 1993, when Brigitte was a 39-year-old married teacher at Lycée La Providence in Amiens and Emmanuel Macron was her 15-year-old student -- and a classmate of her daughter. (The age of consent in France is 15.) They reconnected years later after Macron graduated from Lycée Henri-IV in Paris and married in 2007.
Ibrar Nadeem, an aide to Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli, bragged to Muslim supporters about the candidate's past opposition to marriage equality during a "Muslims4Jack" event in Piscataway, New Jersey on October 18.
"We want to have a ban on same-sex marriage," Nadeem said, as recorded in a video posted to X.
Nadeem went on to note that Ciattarelli had voted against legalizing marriage equality as a New Jersey state assemblyman and claimed that his preferred candidate would continue to oppose it.
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