Trial for killing of Biloxi police officer will be on the Coast with Rankin County jury
CORRECTION: Darian Atkinson’s trial will be held in Biloxi with a Rankin County jury, the judge ruled Tuesday. And earlier version of this story contained incorrect information.
Darian Atkinson, the Harrison County teen accused in the killing of a Biloxi police officer, will go to trial before a Rankin County jury, though the trial will be held in Biloxi, Judge Christopher Schmidt has ruled.
In addition, the judge ruled the death penalty will remain an option at sentencing should a jury convict Atkinson of capital murder in the May 5, 2019, shooting death of Officer Robert “Mac” McKeithen. The other option at sentencing in a capital murder case is life without parole.
A grand jury indicted Atkinson on the capital offense of killing a police officer outside the Lopez-Quave Public Safety Center in Biloxi.
Atkinson returned to court Tuesday, where the judge continued ongoing consideration of various pre-trial motions filed in the case.
Dressed in a red jail jumpsuit, a masked Atkinson smiled and even laughed at one point during Tuesday’s proceedings. His parents sat quietly in the courtroom.
Assistant District Attorney Ian Baker and District Attorney Crosby Parker are prosecuting the case.
The trial is set for Sept. 27, though public defender Angela Blackwell said Tuesday she intends to ask for a trial delay due to the ongoing surge of COVID-19 cases amid the highly contagious delta variant.
The judge ruled to allow a Rankin County jury to hear the case but said he is considering whether to allow any overwhelming show of support for the slain officer outside the courthouse or in the courtroom during the trial.
In addition, Schmidt is considering whether to allow law enforcement officers who attend the trial — other than a police chief — to wear their uniforms to avoid any impact on the jury’s actions.
The defense attorneys said early on they planned to argue an insanity defense for Atkinson, or that he acted under extreme mental distress, though that strategy could change at trial.
Schmidt has ruled Atkinson is mentally competent to stand trial.
Questioning the abrupt departure of state medical examiner
Still under consideration after Tuesday’s hearing is whether the judge will allow the defense to obtain the personnel file of former state medical examiner Dr. Mark Levaughn, who resigned in January — more than two months after he was placed on administrative leave amid an investigation for an undisclosed “personnel matter.”
Levaughn is set to testify at Atkinson’s trial regarding the postmortem examination of McKeithen.
The defense wants the opportunity to cross exam Levaughn if any material in his personnel file indicates he worked out a deal with the state to step down due to any allegations of impropriety or to avoid any potential criminal charges since he is still testifying in cases he handled for the state.
Levaughn has not been publicly accused of any crime.
“He (Levaughn) resigned at least in part because of that ongoing investigation,” Blackwell said, and the defense should have the right to question him based on any information in the personnel file.
“Darian Atkinson is on trial for his life,” Blackwell said. “The state is seeking to execute him if he is found guilty of the charge. If evidence would show that Dr. Leaughn was given any deals .... to avoid prosecution, that is relevant.”
The prosecutors objected to the release of any files, with Baker noting that “it’s reasonable to infer that it’s a fishing expedition for information that we do not even believe exists.”
Schmidt plans to review the personnel material once it’s made available and determine whether to grant the defense’s request, but said the material will remain under seal.
Atkinson, 21, has been jailed in Harrison County since his arrest a day after McKeithen’s slaying.
A couple fled with their 2 children
McKeithen was shot to death just after 10 p.m. Sunday, May 5, 2019, shortly after Atkinson was caught on video surveillance following a couple inside the Biloxi police station. A couple was there to file a domestic violence complaint, and Atkinson followed them back outside, according to testimony in the weeks after the killing.
The couple did not know Atkinson.
According to law enforcement, Atkinson walked eight miles — from Gulfport to Biloxi — to kill a cop.
The slaying occurred while the couple was talking to McKeithen in the parking lot, an 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.
5 others charged
In the aftermath of McKeithen’s killing, five others — including Atkinson’s two brothers, Wanya Toquest Atkinson and Davian Atkinson and friends Joshua Kovach, Dalentez Brice and Andre Sullivan — were charged as accessories after the fact to capital murder.
All five have admitted trying to help Atkinson after the killing, either by providing him a change of clothes, a ride or a cellphone to make calls or neglecting to tell law enforcement officials they knew Atkinson had allegedly committed the crime.
All have pleaded guilty to the charges, and all but one is awaiting sentencing.
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.
This story was originally published August 24, 2021 at 12:51 PM.
