Charges against a white father-son duo accused of shooting at a Black FedEx driver in Brookhaven have been dropped.
Back in November 2022, Gregory Case, and his son, Brandon Case, were indicted by a grand jury on charges of attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy, and shooting into a vehicle occupied by D’Monterrio Gibson in the preceding January. Both men are now free following a Monday ruling by Judge David Strong to dismiss charges against them.
Strong’s ruling follows a mistrial declared in the case due to defense attorneys accusing Brookhaven Police Department detective Vincent Fernando of withholding evidence that should have been released in pre-trial discovery. Fernando had a videotaped interview with Gibson in his case file that was never released to the district attorney or the defense’s legal teams.
Since a mistrial was declared, defense attorneys have persisted in having the entire case dismissed, further alleging multiple discovery violations by Fernando.
“I’m disappointed in the ruling but I think the actions of the Brookhaven Police Department left the judge with no choice,” Lincoln, Pike, and Walthall County District Attorney Brendon Adams stated.
According to Gibson, who was dropping off a package at a home in Brookhaven in a van rented by FedEx, one of the two men approached him in a pickup truck from a nearby home. The other suspect was pointing a firearm at the van and began firing, damaging the vehicle and packages inside, as Gibson sped off.
Gibson claims to have been chased until the pursuit ended with him landing on Interstate 55 northbound en route to FedEx’s Jackson distribution center. The delivery driver and his manager filed a complaint the following morning with the Brookhaven Police Department. While Gibson was not injured in the shooting, there were bullet holes in the vehicle he operated.
Once it was determined that a proper ruling could not be reached in the case, the judge ordered Fernando to turn over all evidence he had relating to the investigation. Fernando allegedly had prior knowledge of the existence of body camera footage of law enforcement searching Brandon Case’s home but did not initially bring the evidence to the table, per a report from the Daily Leader.
This prompted the defendants’ legal counsel to submit a motion to dismiss the case against the father and son. Judge Strong, who had grown wary of Fernando’s reported antics in the first trial, acquiesced to the wishes of the defense.
“Due to numerous intentional discovery violations made by the investigator, detective Vincent Fernando, and thus the state, the defendants have been deprived of a speedy trial, intentionally denied evidence, exposed to double jeopardy and denied due process in general,” part of Judge Strong’s order reads.
“These repeated intentional errors are a clear violation of the Rules of Criminal Procedure, as well as well-established case law, justifying the dismissal of the indictment with prejudice.”
The Cases were originally supposed to re-appear in court this spring, but the judge’s dismissal of their charges with prejudice means they cannot be retried for those alleged offenses.
