A Columbia woman will serve two-and-half years in prison after pleading guilty to statutory rape.
Circuit Judge Prentiss Harrell sentenced Sammie Kesha Hatfield, 35, on May 20 to 20 years with 17.5 of those years on post-release supervision, according to court documents. She also has to register as a sex offender and pay a $2,500 fine and court costs.
Hatfield was 33 at the time she had sex with a 13-year-old in 2017, according to an indictment.
It was one of several sentences handed down last week as a new term opened in Marion County Circuit Court.
William Earl Cox, 39, received a sentence of 25 years with 20 years to serve after pleading guilty to burglary of a dwelling. It will run concurrently to a sentence he’s already serving from Lamar County where he was convicted of armed robbery in 2018. Cox was also previously convicted of aggravated assault in Pike County in 2005.
Dusty Lewis Turner, 41, pleaded guilty as a habitual offender to taking of a motor vehicle. He was sentenced to five years with three years to serve. Turner has previous convictions of felony fleeing in Walthall County in 2018 and burglary of a non-dwelling in 1996 in Madison County.
Elisha Karen McKenzie, 47, of Jayess pleaded guilty to introduction of contraband into a correctional facility. She was sentenced to five years with all five years to be suspended on non-reporting basis plus fines and court costs. She brought 0.7 to 0.9 grams of marijuana into the Marion County Jail in September 2016, according to court documents. McKenzie has three previous felony convictions – uttering forgery in 1996 in Marion County, accessory after the fact in 2006 in Marion County and burglary other than a dwelling and fleeing in 2017 in Walthall County – and is currently in drug court in Walthall County.
Sonny Derick Holmes, 31, of Hattiesburg pleaded guilty to identity theft and felony bad check. He received a 15-year sentence for identity theft with 13 to serve and a three-year sentence for felony bad check with two years to serve. Along with fines and court costs, he was ordered to pay restitution to Synchrony Bank, Pic N Save, Keith’s Superstore, Wolfe Lumber Yard and Hill Hardware. A third charge he had been indicted for, burglary of a non-dwelling, was dismissed.
Brian L. Nichols, 41, pleaded guilty to voyeurism and was sentenced to three years with all three in prison. He was indicted for peeping through a woman’s window in 2018.
Jocqua Lavern Brown, 24, of Hattiesburg pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a controlled substance while in possession of a firearm. He had another count of that same charge dismissed and received a non-adjudicated sentence for five years, which means the court withholds sentencing for that long and if Brown stays out of trouble the charge will be dismissed.
Wilbert J. Strong Jr., 44, of Ellisville pleaded guilty to failure to register as a sex offender and was sentenced to five years with all five suspended on probation. Strong was listed as transgender on court documents. Strong was convicted of felonious sexual assault of a victim between the ages of 13 and 16 in New Hampshire in 2007, according to the state sex offender registry.
Jerica Hess, 30, of Columbia pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and received a five-year non-adjudicated sentence, which requires completing drug court.
Judge Harrell’s Marion County court term continued this week and is set to conclude Friday.
