Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens resigned Monday and pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge, court records show, days before a bribery trial scheduled to begin July 13 in Jackson.
Owens was indicted in 2024 alongside former Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and former city councilman Aaron Banks, according to a federal indictment that included charges of conspiracy and bribery. Lumumba and Owens also faced a racketeering count, the indictment says.
Federal court records allege Owens took more than $115,000 in bribes and helped enrich elected colleagues by about $80,000 to steer a downtown convention center hotel development toward informants posing as real estate developers. The records also describe a broader pattern of alleged public corruption involving bribes, private planes, strip clubs and yachts.
In May, U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III denied motions by Owens and Lumumba to dismiss the charges and also denied requests to try the defendants separately, court filings show. Owens’ guilty plea to conspiracy carries a maximum prison sentence of five years and a fine of up to $250,000, according to federal prosecutors.
Owens said in a social media post that stepping down “hurts beyond measure” but was best for him, his family and the district attorney’s office. Lumumba and Banks remain scheduled to face a jury unless they change their pleas, and other defendants in the case — including former Jackson councilwoman Angelique Lee and businessman Sherik Marve Smith — previously pleaded guilty in 2024, court records show.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
