Fraud case against Mississippi mayor ends with hung jury

Published 7:51 am Saturday, September 14, 2019

A long-delayed trial of a former Mississippi mayor has ended in a hung jury.

A Hinds County judge declared a mistrial Friday on charges against former Rolling Fork Mayor Eldridge “Butch” Walker.

Attorney General Jim Hood’s office was trying Walker on charges that he defrauded the Federal Home Loan Bank. Hood spokeswoman Rachel Ring says the attorney general will “reevaluate the case.”

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Walker’s 2015 indictment charges him with seeking $5,800 in unnecessary home repairs on a Rolling Fork home, and conspiring with former nonprofit administrator Marlene Williams to get paid.

Williams and fellow administrator Kayla Lindsey pleaded guilty earlier in federal court to making false statements to the bank.

Walker was indicted in 2014 on similar charges, later dismissed.

Walker’s lawyer has claimed Walker was unfairly singled out for prosecution.