Insanity defense? Death penalty? Latest on accused Biloxi officer killer’s court case
Darian Atkinson, the Harrison County teen accused in the ambush-style killing of a Biloxi police officer one year ago, has asked for the death penalty to be taken off the table if a jury convicts him of capital murder.
A grand jury had indicted Atkinson, now 20, on the capital offense in the shooting death of Robert “Mac” McKeithen outside the Lopez-Quave Public Safety Center on Porter Avenue.
According to investigators, Atkinson walked 8 miles from Gulfport to Biloxi with one goal in mind — to kill a cop.
Atkinson’s attorney, public defender Theresa Lyons, said in court papers that attorneys are planning to argue an insanity defense at the trial, tentatively set for later this month. The trial, however, is expected to be delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
At least five witnesses are set to testify on behalf of Atkinson in his insanity defense, including family members and the psychiatrist who performed a mental evaluation on Atkinson.
Lyons argued in a pre-trial motion that the death sentence in Mississippi is “discriminatory and irrational” and primarily applies to defendants who are black, or “males, poor persons and defendants accused of killing white males.”
Mississippi, the motion says, has never in its history executed a white person for a capital crime against a black victim.
In addition, the defense is asking for a change of venue for the trial because pre-trial publicity and overwhelming community support in favor of the officer killed in the line of duty.
The crime
McKeithen was gunned down just after 10 p.m. on Sunday, May 5, 2019, shortly after Atkinson was caught on video surveillance following a couple inside the police station. The couple was there to file a domestic violence complaint, and Atkinson followed them back outside, according to testimony in the weeks after the killing.
According to a Gulfport investigator, the couple did not know Atkinson.
The couple was talking to McKeithen in the parking lot, the investigator said in earlier court testimony, when Atkinson walked up behind the officer, pulled out a .40-caliber Glock pistol, and opened fire.
The couple, who had two children with them, ran off.
Atkinson fired nine rounds at McKeithen, according to investigators. Three shots hit the veteran officer’s bulletproof vest, another grazed his head and others hit him in the body.
Others charged
In the days after McKeithen’s killing, five others — including Atkinson’s two brothers, Wanya Toquest Atkinson, 20, and Davian Atkinson, 22, and friends Joshua Kovach, 21, Dalentez Brice, 20, and Andre Sullivan, now 19 — were charged as accessories after-the-fact to capital murder.
All five are accused of trying to hep Darian Atkinson after the killing, either by providing him a change of clothes, a ride or a cellphone to make calls.
Sullivan has since pleaded guilty to bill of information as an accessory after-the-fact.
A home surveillance camera near Atkinson’s mother’s home in Biloxi, as well as video footage from another home, captured footage of Darian Atkinson walking around with at least three of the five others charged in the hours after McKeithen’s death.
An officer remembered
While those associated with the killing are still awaiting trial, local law enforcement officers and area residents are focused on remembering the beloved officer who died in the line of duty.
At the IP Casino, McKeithen’s badge number — 126 — displayed in lights on the high-rise hotel.
McKeithen’s patrol car is parked in front of the Biloix police station, where the flag is flying half staff.
The department will hold a private ceremony for police officers that will be recorded and posted to YouTube.
The Biloxi City Council will also remember him during later Tuesday when a proclamation is signed in his honor on the one-year anniversary of his death.
This story was originally published May 5, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
