The Mississippi Supreme Court handed down three opinions today. The headliner is a decision in Phil and Deborah Bryant’s lawsuit against Mississippi Today. There is also a first-degree murder case and a civil lack-of-prosecution case.
First Security Bank v. Richmond, 2025-IA-00012-SCT (Civil – Torts)
Reversing the chancery court’s decision to deny one defendant’s motion to dismiss for failure to prosecute and grant one for another defendant, holding it was an abuse of discretion for its disparate treatment of the defendants’ Rule 41(b) motions.
(7-0: Branning for the Court)
Johnson v. State, 2024-KA-01140-SCT (Criminal – Felony)
Affirming conviction of first-degree murder, holding that the trial court did not err instructing the jury, the trial court did not err in denying a motion to suppress evidence from a warrantless search because the inevitable-discovery doctrine applied, that the claim of error related to the introduction of body-camera video was procedurally barred, that the Court’s sustaining of an objection to defense counsel making biblical references during closing did not warrant reversal, and that the verdict was not against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.
(7-0: King for the Court)
Bryant v. Deep South Today, 2025-CA-00380-SCT (Civil – Torts)
Reversing the trial court’s grant of the defendants’ 12(b)(6) motion, holding that the plaintiffs sufficiently pleaded claims of defamation, false light, and loss of consortium and dismissing as moot the plaintiffs’ appeal of the denial of their motions for partial summary judgment.
(7-0: Coleman for the Court)
Other Orders
- Cunningham v. State, 2023-CT-01213-SCT (denying cert)
- Russell v. Booneville Police Department, 2024-CT-00757-SCT (dismissing pro se “petition for rehearing”)
- In Re: Administrative Orders of the Supreme Court of Mississippi, 2026-AD-00001-SCT (directing the disbursement of $157,868.74 in civil legal assistance funds among the MS Center for Legal Services, MS Volunteer Lawyers Project, and North MS Rural Legal Services)
- Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance v. Thomas, 2026-JP-00402-SCT (ordering suspension with pay from all duties pending further and denying motion to seal the order)
Mississippi Appeals Blog 