A jury returned a guilty verdict on all four counts against Victor Mitchell this afternoon and sentenced him to life in prison.
The 45-year-old was convicted following a four-day trial at the Pearl River County Courthouse in Poplarville related to a plot to kidnap businessman Tommy Duff.
Jurors deliberated for just over two hours before reaching their decision. Mitchell showed no emotion as the verdict was announced. He will serve life on an attempted kidnapping conviction and will be sentenced on three other counts Oct. 11.
He had taken the stand in his own defense Wednesday, against the advice of his lawyers. Mitchell alleged he was actually the victim of a conspiracy by two other men, Willie Lampley and Howard Cameron. But both of them testified Mitchell was the leader of the plan and that his motive was he was upset about the settlement from an accident he had with a truck belonging to KLLM, one of Duff’s companies, in March 2016.
See Saturday’s C-P for the full story.
