POPLARVILLE – The trial for a former Columbia man accused of leading a plot to kidnap and extort a prominent Columbia businessman began Monday.
Victor Mitchell, 45, faces up to life in prison on an array of charges related to an alleged plan against Tommy Duff that law enforcement foiled in 2016.
Monday was mostly spent on jury selection with opening statements at the end of the day at the Pearl River County Courthouse in Poplarville, and testimony began Tuesday. The trial is expected to last three or four days.
District Attorney Hal Kittrell described to jurors details of a conspiracy he said was intended to humiliate and extort money from Duff before a man named Willie Lampley informed police and Duff about it, leading to the arrest of Mitchell and two alleged co-conspirators.
Mitchell’s attorney, Robert Whitacre of Hattiesburg, said in his opening statement that Lampley was actually behind the scheme, first in a plan to “hustle money” from Mitchell and then from Duff.
Mitchell is being tried on multiple charges: Conspiracy to commit kidnapping, conspiracy to commit sexual battery and conspiracy to commit extortion are one count. The second count is attempted kidnapping, count three is attempted sexual battery and count four is attempted extortion.
Mitchell is a former Columbia resident who had moved to Sumrall before his arrest in 2016. He has remained jailed since that time.
The trial was moved from Lamar County to Pearl River County based on a change-of-venue request from Mitchell. Circuit Judge Claiborne “Buddy” McDonald, who is presiding over the trial, ruled in 2018 that Duff stems from a prominent and influential family and has approximately the same status as an elected public official because he was appointed by the governor to the state College Board. Tommy Duff and his brother Jim co-own Duff Capital Investors, a Columbia-based conglomerate that includes Southern Tire Mart and other companies. The Duff brothers are the richest men in Mississippi with net worths of $1.35 billion each, according to Forbes magazine.
The day started Monday with 150 potential jurors, and due to technical difficulties jury selection did not begin until almost 10 a.m. By the time court adjourned for lunch the count was down to 116. Before lunch Kittrell questioned potential jurors, and one of Mitchell’s attorneys, Tangi Carter of Hattiesburg, presented her questions once the court reconvened.
At 3:23 p.m. McDonald recessed court to allow both sides, along with the judge, to pick the 12 jurors and two alternates.
Just before 4 p.m. a jury of 10 men and four women was selected. Two of them are alternates, but the jurors will not know which until the trial finishes.
Opening statements were brief for both the prosecution and the defense as the day was drawing to an end Monday.
District Attorney Hal Kittrell said in his opening statement that everything started with Mitchell driving a Porsche that wrecked with a KLLM truck on March 29, 2016. KLLM Transport Services is owned by Duff Capital Investors.
“The defendant claims he was struck from the rear and KLLM said that he was not,” Kittrell said.
In a meeting, according to the prosecution, Mitchell told Tommy Duff he wanted Duff to buy him out of his business, Mitchell Construction, but Duff wouldn’t do it.
Kittrell said Howard Cameron, who is also charged in the case, and Mitchell have been gambling before in casinos and Cameron has witnessed Mitchell lose $40,000 to $60,000 in a night. The prosecution stated Cameron and Mitchell were talking in April 2016, and Mitchell offered a job to Cameron for $150,000 to help him with a man he was having trouble with. That man was Tommy Duff, according to Kittrell.
Kittrell said Mitchell told Cameron and another man charged in the alleged conspiracy, Glen Evans, that he wanted to kidnap Duff at his home in Lamar County. They planned to sexually assault Duff and wanted to humiliate and extort him, Kittrell said.
Kittrell said the basic scheme of kidnapping, sexual assault and extortion never changed but some of the details did like who would do what and where.
Lampley was involved in the situation but contacted Hattiesburg police and Duff on Nov. 18, 2016, and advised Duff there was a plot to kidnap him, according to Kittrell. At that point various law enforcement agencies become involved. On Nov. 19, Kittrell said the plot was supposed to take place imminently, and Mitchell, Cameron and Evans were arrested in Hattiesburg. In the car that was supposed to be used in the kidnapping there were zip ties, ski masks, sex toys and other masks.
Trials for Evans and Cameron are pending, and they are expected to testify this week.
Whitacre described Mitchell in his opening statement as “a hard-working man; he’s prosperous; he was successful; he owned his own business. He did well enough to make large bets at the casino and was doing well enough to afford a Porsche.”
Whitacre said the prosecution is making the case about a car accident with a KLLM truck but said that is not true.
“What the case is really about is career criminal Willie Lampley, who is going to get on that stand in an orange prisoner’s jumpsuit. He’s going to admit that the whole purpose that he had to interact with Victor Mitchell was so that he could hustle him out of money,” Whitacre said. “And when he was unable to hustle money out of Victor, he concocted this scheme to try to hustle money out of one of the richest men in the state of Mississippi.”
Caption: Victor Mitchell is seen Monday as his trial got underway at the Pearl River County Courthouse in Poplarville.
