During the Jimmie Jay Lee murder trial, text messages from Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr.’s phone were found. presented, showing a conversation about what happened after Lee arrived at Herrington’s apartment for the first time.
Lee, a 20-year-old University of Mississippi student remembered as a beloved member of Oxford’s LGBTQ+ community, went missing on July 8, 2022. In October, a judge declared Lee legally dead, but the whereabouts of Lee’s body are still unknown.
Authorities arrested 24-year-old Herrington two weeks after Lee’s disappearance. Herrington was a 22-year-old Ole Miss graduate from Grenada when he filed a murder charge in connection with the case. Herrington allegedly killed Lee to conceal a romantic relationship between the two.
Herrington’s attorney is Kevin Horan, a senator from Mississippi.
Horan’s line of questioning Saturday included the cross-examination of former Oxford police Lt. Shane Fortner. Fortner was questioned by prosecutors on Friday.
Horan asked Fortner if 71 search warrants had been executed in the case. In response, Fortner said he did not know the exact number of warrants issued. Horan limited his area of questioning to the search warrant for Herrington’s phone. Text messages sent from Lee to Herrington on the morning of July 8 were subsequently introduced by the defense.
Attorney Kevin Horan makes an opening statement during the trial of Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr., who is on trial for the murder of University of Mississippi student Jimmie “Jay” Lee in Oxford, Miss. on Tuesday, December 3, 2024. (Bruce Newman, Swimming Pool)
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Horan argued that the first time any communication occurred between Herrington and Lee on July 8 was at 2:54 a.m., when Lee asked Herrington, “Are you in Oxford?” Horan said his “client never responded” to Lee’s question.
Horan also noted that there were no messages of Herrington inviting Lee to his home during the initial text exchange, adding that Lee was not “persuaded” to Herrington’s apartment.
“My understanding is that based on what has been announced by the state, Lee leaves at 4 o’clock and sometimes returns around 5:30 p.m.,” Horan said, referring to surveillance footage that showed Lee leaving his apartment to visit Herrington for the first time.
According to Fortner, Lee sent a message to Herrington at 4:36 a.m. on July 8 saying, “Just wanted to be able to say I got you. Be the DL (down low) again. Nice to have been the first guy. Experiment beyond .” Fortner said there were two emojis embedded in the statement. The text messages were not presented on a monitor in court, nor did the parties describe the emojis used.
Fortner said at 4:53 a.m. on July 8, another message from Lee to Herrington said, “Also I’m (explicitly) on your floor, so you should put that up by the way. Oh, and the nudity was fake too. Back to block now.”
Horan went on to address Snapchat messages in which Lee and Herrington started a sexual text message thread sometime around 5:17 a.m.
Fortner said an outbound call took place from Herrington to Lee on July 8 at 5:19 a.m. The call logs showed that Herrington called Lee again at 5:20 am. There was no indication of connection on either call, Fortner said. A third outgoing call was made from Herrington to Lee at 5:23 am. That call was briefly connected for at least 14 seconds.
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Snapchat messages previously introduced by the accuser revealed a sexually explicit conversation between Lee and Herrington, with Herrington texting Lee to “come back” around 5:25 a.m.
The prosecutor also stated that at 5:57 a.m., Herrington searched Google “how long does it take to strangle someone.”
Horan stated that there was Instagram activity on Herrington’s account seven seconds into the Google search. That activity ended six seconds later. Herrington looked for pre-workout boost testosterone.
Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr., who is on trial for the murder of University of Mississippi student Jimmie “Jay” Lee, looks at the courtroom during his lunch break in Oxford, Miss. on Tuesday, December 3, 2024. (Bruce Newman, pool)
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According to previous testimony, one of Lee’s friends Khalid Fears had a FaceTime call with Lee around 5:58 a.m.
Snapchat messages introduced by the prosecutor revealed that Lee Herrington sent a text message saying “open” at 6:03 a.m.
Herrington then texted a customer that he could deliver her screws at 7:59 a.m. on July 8. Herrington had notes about getting haircuts and dropping off clothes at the dry cleaners.
At 8:11 a.m., Herrington, who owned a moving company with a business partner, had a conversation with a customer. At 8:29 a.m., Herrington messaged the customer: “I’m driving up now.”
It wasn’t until July 22 that officers arrested Herrington and executed a search warrant at Herrington’s apartment.
“You can’t tell this jury that not a single wire was found in Mr. Herrington’s apartment,” Horan said.
Oxford police are investigating the disappearance of Jimmie “Jay” Lee, a Murrah High School graduate from Jackson.
“There was no hat, no bathrobe, no slippers… But it also has to be said: Jay Lee went missing on July 8. We didn’t execute that search warrant until July 22, which is fourteen days later,” Fortner said.
‘I didn’t ask you if you found a hat, a dressing gown or slippers. I asked you if you found any traces or traces of any of those items that were ever in those apartments or left in his apartment.
“No fiber of any kind,” Fortner replied.
Herrington’s indictment states that the maximum possible sentence is life in prison or the death penalty. However, Lafayette County District Attorney Ben Creekmore told the Clarion Ledger that the state is not seeking the death penalty. Hinds County Assistant District Attorney Gwen Agho was appointed special prosecutor to assist in the case.
The court was held Saturday because jury selection was in Hattiesburg, about 250 miles south of Oxford. Jurors were bused to Lafayette County and impounded for the proceedings. Herrington’s defense team previously argued that a fair trial cannot be assured within the county lines of Lafayette County. Court will resume on Sunday, December 8.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jay Lee trial Shelton Timothy Herrington text, snapchat conversation
