Hinds County DA Jody Owens Pleads Guilty In Bribery Case, Resigns

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Hinds County DA Jody Owens Pleads Guilty In Bribery Case, Resigns

A Mississippi county district attorney entered a guilty plea Monday on a single federal conspiracy count and stepped down, the lates in case of bribery that swept up top Jackson elected officials.

Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens admitted to one conspiracy count and now risks as much as five years behind bars, fines reaching $250,000 and three years of supervised release, according to the Magnolia Tribune. Former Democrat Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and former Democrat Councilman Aaron Banks were also indicted in connection with the scheme allegedly uncovered in 2023 by FBI agents. A federal grand jury indicted Owens in October 2024.

Owens said his departure takes effect July 1 in a Facebook post issued June 29. “This is one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made,” he wrote. “While it hurts beyond measure to step away from the position I love, I believe this decision is what is best for me, my family, and the District Attorney’s Office.” (RELATED: Bribery Allegations For Scandal-Prone DC Politician Get Even Worse)

The plea reversed a previously defiant posture. He rejected any wrongdoing after his 2024 arraignment, branding the case “a horrible example of a flawed FBI investigation” and “an assassination attempt on my character,” the Magnolia Tribune reported.

Prosecutors built the case on a sting that opened in the fall of 2023 where two undercover FBI operatives posing as developers chasing a hotel near the Jackson Convention Complex were introduced to Owens, according to court documents obtained by the outlet. Contour Companies and Facilities Solution Team sent in their hotel plan in March 2024 while allegedly naming Owens and a relative and business partner named Sherik “Marve” Smith as associates.

Owens created Facility Solutions Team, LLC, with himself as its registered agent and sole officer nine days after, according to prosecutors. He leaned on his standing inside city government to move the deal along, talking up his pull with council members, facilitating payments, and helping push the proposal through municipal channels, prosecutors said. Owens pocketed at least $115,000 in cash for his own role and funneled more than $80,000 to other officials, according to the federal indictment.

The indictments targeting Owens, Banks and Lambuda claimed that during a yacht trip off Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the operatives handed Lumumba five $10,000 campaign checks disguised as donations from Mississippi residents. The then-mayor then allegedly called a city employee from the boat to move up a request for qualifications deadline, according to prosecutors. Owens collected a separate $50,000 in cash on that same trip for brokering the payment and also oversaw payments to both Lee and Banks, prosecutors said.

The undercover agents provided Owens with $60,000 cash in February 2024, including $25,000 for him, $10,000 for Lee, and another $25,000 for Banks, according to court documents. Officials said Owens informed the agents he would hide the funds for Lee and Banks in a safe located at the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office.

In May 2024, a federal search of the DA’s office and a business of Owens’ found cash concealed within a counterfeit U.S. Constitution, its pages carved out to hide the money, according to the indictment. Prosecutors said serial numbers on some bills matched money the operatives had paid him.

In May 2026, Mississippi College School of Law professor Matt Steffey told WLBT the government’s evidence against Owens looked “strong and unflattering.”

Lumumba and Banks took a different path. Both pleaded not guilty and are set to head to trial in the middle of July, according to the Associated Press. Lumumba’s bid to be reelected as mayor failed in 2025. Banks declined to file for reelection in the 2025 municipal races, WLBT3 reported.

The indictment alleged that all of the money Lumumba took was campaign contributions, Mississippi Today reported. Both Lumumba and Banks remain presumed innocent as the trial proceeds. Owens remains free on bond and is tentatively scheduled for sentencing Oct. 15, according to the Magnolia Tribune.