PASCAGOULA, Miss. – Former Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd will not go to jail for tampering with a witness.
Judge William Coleman sentenced him Thursday to six months house arrest, three years supervised probation and fined him $2,000, plus court cost. Byrd had been indicted on 31 charges, but under a plea agreement all but one were dropped.
During sentencing for his Mississippi crime, Judge Coleman said Byrd had brought shame and disgrace to himself, his family and the community. “You have brought disgrace to your own office,” Coleman said. “Many have lost their faith in law enforcement.”
Earlier this week, Byrd was sentenced in federal court in Alabama on a charge of misleading conduct in a federal investigation. Prosecutors said after a police chase that ended in Alabama, Byrd told his deputy to destroy the video taken from a dashboard camera that shows Byrd kicking a handcuffed suspect. Byrd was sentenced to six months home confinement, six months probation and fined $3,000 in that case.
