Charles Jones will be serving as the Coahoma County Sheriff for another four years.
Jones has served in his capacity since 2009 and won another term on the Aug. 6 election against challengers Mario Magsby and Stacy Lester. Magsby filed a lawsuit calling for either a runoff between him and Jones or a new election with all three candidates.
The Mississippi Supreme Court appointed a special judge to the case, Barry Ford, to hear the matter in circuit court. Ford ruled Magsby filed his paperwork late to petition the election and dismissed the lawsuit.
MS Code 23-15-927 reads, “A petition for judicial review must be filed within ten (10) days after any contest or complaint has been filed with an executive committee.”
Magsby’s lawsuit against the Coahoma County Democratic Party was also dismissed.
Jones secured 2,759 votes (50.8 percent) in the Aug. 6 election, Magsby finished in second with 2,128 votes (39.2 percent), and Lester came in third with 544 votes (10 percent). Jones avoided a runoff by 44 votes. A candidate needs fifty percent plus one of the votes to secure the victory.
Magsby’s lawsuit raised issues at the Lula, Lyon, Jonestown, Lee Drive in Clarksdale, Sasse Street Fire Station and National Guard Armory precincts. Concerns included malfunctioning voting machines, voters being allowed to cast their ballots before and after 7 p.m., conduct of poll managers, data cards being left in voting machines and candidates signs being too close to precincts.
“This was a plot and it didn’t work,” said Jones after the lawsuit was dismissed. “They were unsuccessful. I hope that Magsby learned something from this also as far as follow the rules and follow the law.”
Jones said Magsby did not follow the rules on how to contest an election.
“The judge made a decision,” Magsby said. “The paperwork was filed a day late. From my understanding, if the rule fell on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the paperwork would be filed the next day.
“The judge ruled that the paperwork was filed late even though the due date was on a Sunday and the rule said the paperwork could be filed on the next day. The judge ruled in the sheriff’s favor.”
The due date was Sunday, Aug. 18 and Magsby filed his paperwork Monday, Aug. 19.
Magsby said right now he is not looking at appealing the decision.
Jones said this was not the first time Magsby did not follow the rules.
“That’s why he’s not working for me now because he didn’t like following the rules,” Jones said.
Magsby was the chief deputy over the patrol division in the Coahoma County Sheriff’s Office and resigned May 25, 2018.
“I actually resigned from the sheriff’s office,” Magsby said. “I was not fired. Really, what the sheriff is saying is just a retaliation running for sheriff against him. There are no hard feelings. Everyone has a right to run for a political office they think they can run for. I have no hard feelings and no regrets.”
The outcome of the lawsuit was never a question in Jones’ mind.
“I just told you from Day 1 that Magsby started off lying,” Jones said. “He was pretending to be the victim the entire election. He was still pretending to be a victim. He was always lying and making up things that were not true.”
Jones’ focus after the lawsuit was filed was strictly on doing his job as sheriff. He said in the Aug. 14 edition of the Clarksdale Press Register about the lawsuit, “I don’t really have any thoughts. It doesn’t concern me.”
Jones said he was not concerned because he did nothing wrong and did not work on the voting machines.
Jones said business owners and elected officials were brought in to target him due to the fact that he would not go along with any wrongdoing.
“I get targeted because I don’t go along with the good ole boy system,” Jones said. “I believe in treating everyone, no matter who you are, how much money you’ve got and what color you are, with respect. I don’t care about a person’s economic or social status. I believe everyone believes in good service.”
Magsby saw things differently.
“It was my decision to run for sheriff because my working there I have seen a lot of mistreatment of employees, abuse of power and my decision to run for sheriff was decision,” he said. “No one conspired with me about running for sheriff. No one came to me about running for sheriff to get him out of office. It was my decision and, once I put my name in the hat, I had supporters to come and start supporting me.”
Jones’ recent experiences will impact decisions he plans to make as sheriff in the future.
“These last two years has been a very eye opening experience for me,” Jones said. “I’ve watched employees work for me and try to plot against me because of a couple of business owner in the community got upset with me. They used this guy because they knew they were disgruntled.”
Jones specifically said current and former employees of the sheriff’s office were used.
“This was an eye opening experience for me,” he said. “I’m glad that it happened the way it did. A lot of things were uncovered.
“In 2020, I’m going to surround myself with people I can trust.”
As sheriff, he said his goal is to educate the community on what is really going on, let people know how to protect their property and make Coahoma County a safer place to live. He said people think they can leave guns, purses, electronics and valuables inside a vehicle and leave doors unlocked overnight, but that is not the case.
“My focus is on educating the citizens on what to do and how to protect themselves and their property and how they can better help law enforcement serve them,” Jones said. “Those things really make a difference in helping us do our job.”
Jones also hopes to bring unity to Coahoma County.
“I’m campaigning for justice and unity,” he said. “This community is divided. There are a few people that want to see division.
“We have to remain united.
“We just cannot afford to be divided.”
