Caleb BedillIon and William Moore

Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

Former Lee County Prosecuting Attorney James Moore says Sheriff Jim Johnson requested the dismissal of a 2018 drunk driving charge against a county supervisor.

An exclusive story by the Daily Journal on Wednesday revealed that Billy Joe Holland was arrested and charged with driving under the influence in April 2018, only for the charges to be dismissed in short order.

Johnson acknowledged that after a state trooper brought Holland to the Lee County Jail, Johnson allowed Holland to leave without being booked in or posting bond to secure his release.

Now, the former county prosecuting attorney says Johnson’s involvement in the case went even further.

“I never spoke to Billy Joe Holland about the DUI charge,” said Moore, who was elected a county judge last fall. “I was contacted by Sheriff Johnson by phone on the Monday morning following Billy Joe’s arrest and advised there was no record of said arrest at the jail and was requested to dismiss the DUI charge.”

Johnson strongly denied Moore’s charges.

“I have not asked anybody to dismiss or take care of a DUI for Billy Joe Holland,” Johnson said Thursday morning. “I emphatically tell you I did not get involved with it.”

According to Johnson, it’s possible he spoke with Moore about Holland’s arrest, but he doesn’t recall with certainty.

Holland told the Daily Journal Wednesday that he doesn’t know why the case was dismissed and didn’t ask for it to be dismissed.

“I don’t even know the procedure you go through,” said Holland, who never hired a lawyer over the 2018 arrest.

The county supervisor was not even present in court when the dismissal was approved and only found out about the dismissal after the fact.

In an interview with the Daily Journal, Holland admitted that he had been drinking and said he was prepared to face the legal consequences.

On April 6, 2018, a Mississippi Highway Patrol trooper stopped Holland at a checkpoint and took him to the Lee County Jail.

A second-term county supervisor, Holland submitted to a test that showed he had a blood alcohol content of 0.10 percent. The legal limit is 0.08 percent.

The sheriff’s account of what happened after Holland entered the jail has varied.

When first asked about Holland’s arrest, Johnson insisted that Holland was booked.

“They brought him, he was locked up and he made bond just like everybody else,” Johnson said. “I remember it vividly. Because they were calling me. I said, he’s going to have to bond out the same as anyone else.”

A reporter told the sheriff that Holland’s name does not appear in the written booking records, but Johnson at first remained adamant.

“He was locked up. Absolutely. 100 percent,” Johnson said. “I said, whatever we do, let’s not ever get into a situation where we look like we’re covering something up.”

Later that afternoon, Johnson acknowledged to the Daily Journal that though MHP cited Holland and submitted a book-in sheet, Holland was not booked and did not have to post bond to secure his release.

The night of Holland’s arrest, Johnson said he was contacted by a county employee who works with Holland and wanted to pick Holland up. Johnson said he called the jail and ordered that Holland be allowed to leave with the county employee.

“I made the call, and said when they get through with him and he gets all his paperwork just take him out and release him,” Johnson said.

The county prosecuting attorney said that the absence of any jail records helped keep Holland’s DUI out of the public eye for over a year.

“There is a transparent public record of this case in justice court where I prosecuted and always has been from the time the ticket was turned in up until now,” Moore said in a statement. “This story wasn’t picked up at the time it occurred because there were no records at the jail, something I had no control over as prosecutor. I’ve never taken any action to cover up any charges that have ever been filed in court against anyone.”

The Daily Journal first learned of the existence of the court records earlier this week and began actively investigating the arrest, events at the jail and subsequent dismissal of all charges.

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