Judge declares mistrial after jury deadlocks over killing of gay University of Mississippi student

A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the case of Sheldon “Timothy” Herrington Jr. in the 2022 killing of Jimmy “Jay” Lee, a gay man who was prominent in the LGBTQ+ community at the University of Mississippi.

Jurors said they were unable to reach a verdict after over nine and a half hours of deliberation.

Lee’s body has never been found, but a judge declared him dead.

Herrington, 24, was charged with capital murder, which Mississippi law defines as a killing committed along with another felony — in this case, kidnapping. Prosecutors had said they would not seek the death penalty. He had faced life in prison.

Jurors were told they could also consider lesser charges of first-degree murder, punishable by life in prison; second-degree murder, 20 years to life; or manslaughter, up to 20 years.

Both Herrington and Lee had graduated from the University of Mississippi. Lee, 20, was pursuing a master’s degree. He was known for his creative expression through fashion and makeup and often performed in drag shows in Oxford, according to a support group called Justice for Jay Lee.

Lee disappeared July 8, 2022, in Oxford, where the university is located and the trial was held.

Police arrested Herrington two weeks after Lee vanished. Investigators testified that they used warrants to obtain electronic records including explicit messages between social media accounts belonging to the two men and online searches conducted by Herrington, including one inquiring how long it takes to strangle someone.

Prosecutors said during closing arguments Wednesday that Herrington and Lee had a sexual encounter that ended badly and Lee left Herrington’s apartment. They said text messages showed that Herrington, who was not openly gay, persuaded Lee to return with the promise of more sex. Prosecutors said Lee was killed after going back.

“Tim Herrington lived a lie — lived a lie to his family,” District Attorney Ben Creekmore said. “He lied to Jay Lee to coax him over there, promising to do something with him.”

Herrington’s attorney, Kevin Horan, has said prosecutors cannot prove Lee is dead without having a body. He told jurors Wednesday that text messages showed Herrington did not lure Lee to his apartment.

“He’s the one that’s being dominant anchoring this particular conversation,” Horan said of Lee.

Lee, 20, has not contacted friends or family, and his financial transactions and once-prolific social media posts have stopped since the day he disappeared, investigators testified.

Police arrested Herrington two weeks after Lee went missing. Authorities interviewed Herington twice that day, and he gave conflicting information about the hours before Lee vanished, Oxford Police Chief Jeff McCutchen testified Tuesday.

Before officers interviewed Herrington, they had already obtained explicit messages exchanged between social media accounts belonging to Herrington and Lee during the final hours Lee was known to be alive, McCutchen said.

Google records obtained through a warrant showed that Herrington searched “how long does it take to strangle someone” at 5:56 a.m., University Police Department Sgt. Benjamin Douglas testified last week.

The final text message from Lee’s phone was sent to a social media account belonging to Herrington at 6:03 a.m. from a spot near Herrington’s apartment, McCutchen said Tuesday. A cellphone tower in another part of Oxford last located any signal from Lee’s phone shortly before 7:30 a.m., the police chief said. A security camera showed Herrington moments later jogging out of a parking lot where Lee’s car was abandoned, investigators testified earlier.

On the day Lee vanished, Herrington was also seen on security cameras buying duct tape in Oxford and driving to his own hometown of Grenada about an hour south of Oxford, police have testified.

Jurors were chosen from another county about 250 miles (402 kilometers) to the south. They heard eight days of arguments and testimony.

Judge Kelly Luther presides over the case of Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr., who is on trial for the murder of University of Mississippi student Jimmie "Jay" Lee, at the Lafayette County Courthouse in Oxford, Miss., Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Bruce Newman/The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal via AP, Pool)

Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr., center, who is on trial for the murder of University of Mississippi student Jimmie "Jay" Lee, talks with his attorneys as the jury deliberates on the case, at the Lafayette County Courthouse in Oxford, Miss. on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Bruce Newman/The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal via AP, Pool)

Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr., who is on trial for the murder of University of Mississippi student Jimmie "Jay" Lee, sits at the defense table as the jury decides the case, at the Lafayette County Courthouse in Oxford, Miss., Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Bruce Newman/The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal via AP, Pool)

Sheldon "Timothy" Herrington Jr., who is on trial for the murder of University of Mississippi student Jimmie "Jay" Lee, leaves the courtroom as the jury is sent back for further deliberations, at the Lafayette County Courthouse in Oxford, Miss. on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Bruce Newman/The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, via AP, Pool)

Sheldon "Timothy" Herrington Jr., who is on trial for the murder of University of Mississippi student Jimmie "Jay" Lee, gets up from the defense table as the jury is sent back for further deliberations, at the Lafayette County Courthouse in Oxford, Miss., on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Bruce Newman/The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, via AP, Pool)

Stephanie Lee talks with family during the capital murder trial of Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr., who is charged in the 2022 death of her son, Jimmie "Jay" Lee, in Oxford, Miss., on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (Antonella Rescigno/The Daily Mississippian via AP, Pool)

Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr., who is on trial in the 2022 death of University of Mississippi student Jimmie "Jay" Lee, enters the Lafayette County Courthouse in Oxford, Miss., Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (Antonella Rescigno/The Daily Mississippian via AP, Pool)

NEW YORK (AP) — Woody Allen 's former personal chef claims in a lawsuit that the filmmaker and his wife fired him because of his service in the U.S. Army Reserves and questions about his pay, then “rubbed salt on the wounds” by saying they didn't like his cooking.

Allen and Soon-Yi Previn “simply decided that a military professional who wanted to be paid fairly was not a good fit to work in the Allen home,” private chef Hermie Fajardo said in a civil complaint filed Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan.

Allen and Previn knew Fajardo would need time off for military training exercises when they and their home manager hired him as their full-time chef in June 2024 at an annual salary of $85,000, the complaint said. But he was fired the following month, soon after returning from a training that lasted a day longer than expected, it said.

When Fajardo returned to work, “he was immediately met with instant hostility and obvious resentment by defendants,” according to the lengthy complaint.

At the time, Fajardo had been raising concerns about his pay — first that his employers weren't properly withholding taxes or providing a paystub, then that they shortchanged him by $300, according to the complaint.

Allen, Previn and manager Pamela Steigmeyer are accused in the lawsuit of violating the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act and New York labor law, as well as causing Fajardo humiliation, stress and a loss of earnings.

Representatives for Allen did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

Fajardo said he was hired after being showered with compliments following a meal of roasted chicken, pasta, chocolate cake and apple pie he prepared for the defendants and two guests. According to the complaint, it was only after Previn fired him and he hired a lawyer that he was told his cooking was not up to par, a claim Fajardo said was untrue.

FILE - Filmmaker Woody Allen, right, and Soon-Yi Previn arrive for an event in Cannes, southern France, May 15, 2010. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)