Timothy Herrington will once again stand trial for the murder of Ole Miss student Jimmie "Jay" Lee, but this time won't be in Oxford, Mississippi.
Timothy Herrington will once again stand trial for the murder of Ole Miss student Jimmie “Jay” Lee, but this time won’t be in Oxford, Mississippi.
A judge has granted a change of venue request filed by Herrington’s attorneys, and the prosecution did not oppose the change of venue.
The order states, “It is therefore ordered and adjudged that the venue of this matter is hereby changed to a location to be determined prior to trial.”
Herrington stood trial for the capital murder of Lee in December 2024. After seven days of testimony, a jury couldn’t agree on a verdict. The judge declared a mistrial with the jury split 11 to one. It was never revealed which way the jury was leaning when the judge called a stop to deliberations.
Since the trial, authorities discovered Lee’s body in a remote part of Carroll County, Mississippi. Hunters discovered Lee’s remains in a small town about 80 minutes south of Oxford and 19 minutes south of Grenada, Mississippi, where Herrington’s family lives.
The day Lee disappeared, Herrington was seen on video in Grenada, driving a box truck and carrying a shovel and a wheelbarrow. Herrington’s attorney argued that Herrington often did handyman work around Grenada and that it was not uncommon to see him with such tools.
A grand jury once again indicted Herrington for capital murder the following week. This time, prosecutors announced that they would not seek the death penalty if Herrington is convicted of murder. The judge ruled that Herrington would not be released on bail while awaiting the second trial.
During the first trial, prosecutors argued that Herrington murdered Lee out of fear that Lee would expose a sexual relationship between the two. The state argued that Herrington hid the fact that he was sexually attracted to men, while Lee was openly gay and a prominent member of the LGBTQ community in Oxford.
