Timothy Herrington Jr. pleaded guilty on Monday, December 1, 2025, to second-degree murder and tampering charges as he faced a second trial. Herrington was charged with killing Jimmie "Jay" Lee, a University of Mississippi graduate prominent in the LGBTQ+ community of Oxford.
Timothy Herrington Jr. plead guilty on Monday, December 1, 2025, to second-degree murder and tampering charges as he faced a second trial for the killing of Jimmie “Jay” Lee, a University of Mississippi graduate prominent in the LGBTQ+ community of Oxford.
Jury selection was halted not long after it started in Madison County after Herrington entered his guilty plea.
Jury selection started at 9 am Monday. Shortly before 10 am, approximately 550 individuals were reportedly summoned, and about 145 people were seated as potential jurors.
Around 10:30 am Lafayette County Circuit Court Judge Kelly Luther introduced himself. The judge then stated that serving on a jury is a privilege because in other countries around the world, justice belongs to those who have money or power.
“All around the world, there are people who would love to sit in your chair today,” Judge Luther said. “I like to think of this not as jury duty but as jury right.”
Lee, a 20-year-old beloved member of the Oxford LGBTQ+ community and a Jackson native, disappeared on July 8, 2022. Dozens of search warrants were executed in Oxford as K9 Units searched specific areas in Lafayette County. Family members plead for his safe return and the FBI and Mississippi Attorney General joined the case to find Lee.
A few weeks after Lee’s disappearance, Herrington was arrested and charged with killing Lee, allegedly to conceal a romantic relationship between the two. Herrington was a 22-year-old Ole Miss graduate from Grenada at the time of the alleged offense.
Herrington was tried for capital murder in December 2024. That trial ended in a mistrial. After a new indictment in the case was returned against Herrington, a second trial was set for 2025.
The whereabouts of Lee’s body were previously unknown at that time, with a judge previously declaring Lee legally dead in October 2024 — a couple of months before Herrington’s first trial in December 2024.
On February 1, 2025, human remains found by deer hunters off a dirt road and down by a gully in Carroll County were confirmed by the Mississippi Crime Lab to belong to Lee. A new indictment was then returned to try Herrington again.
Lee’s remains were found about 90 minutes south of Oxford and about 35 minutes south of Grenada.
Herrington is set to be sentenced at 10 am on Tuesday, December 2, 2025 in Oxford, Mississippi.
Read more articles about Jimmie “Jay” Lee here.
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