$2.7M bond remains for man accused in shooting at Pass Mardi Gras parade
A judge won’t consider reducing a $2.7 million bond for Jessie Lee Williams Jr., one of four people arrested in a shooting Feb. 7 at a Mardi Gras parade in Pass Christian that left two dead.
Williams, also known as Jessie Lee Williams III, was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Wednesday on murder charges regarding the two bystanders killed and assault charges connected to three people who were wounded. He was not charged in connection to a fourth wounded person.
Williams is a 23-year-old felon from Gulfport.
Isaiah Major and Carlos Bates were hit by stray bullets and died during the shooting that started just after the St. Paul Carnival Association’s Mardi Gras parade had ended. A man identified by police as an intended target and three others were wounded.
Williams was at the Harrison County jail courtroom Wednesday. He was waiting in a holding cell until a public defender told him the county prosecutor had refused to recommend his bond be lowered.
“Mr. Williams wanted his bond lowered, I refused and he wanted to hear it directly from me,” said Herman Cox, Harrison County prosecuting attorney. “I told him no way would the state recommend a bond reduction because of the nature of the charges, the facts of the case and his criminal history.”
Williams then waived his right to a preliminary hearing, Cox said.
Judge Albert Fountain declined to consider bond and ordered the case turned over to the next grand jury.
Williams was on probation
Williams, whose father and namesake was killed by corrections officers at the Harrison County jail in 2006, was convicted of two felonies in 2012. The crimes were accessory after the fact to murder and drive-by shooting.
He was on probation on both convictions at the time of the Pass shooting.
A state law that took effect in 2015 considers a new felony arrest a technical violation that requires probationers to be imprisoned for only a few months, pending the outcome of the other felony prosecutions, Cox said. Williams had already completed those additional months in prison and so would have been eligible to be released had the bond been lowered enough.
He had been sent to prison on a probation violation after the Pass shooting and was brought to the Harrison County jail earlier this month to face the parade-shooting charges.
He also faces a charge of felon in possession of a firearm from the parade shooting.
What police say happened
A co-defendant, Malcolm Dedeaux, had been feuding with Charles Johnson and another man since January, court records show. Malcolm Dedeaux, Williams, Jermaine Ratcliff and Donald Dedeaux found Johnson and the other man in front of the post office on Ladnier Street just after the parade and opened fire, court documents say.
Johnson was shot three times and returned fire, according to prior testimony. His probation on a federal drug-trafficking conviction has been revoked.
No details have been released on a motive for the shooting.
This story was originally published July 20, 2016 at 7:58 PM with the headline "$2.7M bond remains for man accused in shooting at Pass Mardi Gras parade."