Mississippi police officer whose texts caused murder case mistrial soon may return to post

Published 8:40 am Tuesday, November 5, 2019

A Mississippi police officer who caused a mistrial by texting prosecutors from the witness stand may soon have her detective status restored.

The Greenwood Commonwealth reports Jeri Bankston’s possible promotion has angered the mother of the victim whose case was trashed. Trevia Foreman, now of Memphis, Tennessee, tells the newspaper that “no justice is being done.”

Her daughter, 29-year-old Lakeyla Broom, was fatally stabbed in 2014. Her husband was charged with murder and eventually freed after a judge ruled he couldn’t be tried again without violating double jeopardy.

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Bankston was the chief investigator and the prosecution’s lead witness during the 2017 trial.

The indictment was tossed and a mistrial declared days into the trial when the judge learned Bankston had been texting prosecutors. Bankston was demoted to a patrol officer.