The FBI searched the district attorney’s office and office in Mississippi’s capital on Wednesday, but authorities declined to say whether Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens was suspected of wrongdoing.
FBI agents spent hours searching Owens’ cigar bar in downtown Jackson and removed items from his office at the Hinds County Courthouse.
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Marshay Lawson, a spokesman for the FBI office in Jackson, said the reason for the search remains secret.
“The FBI is executing federal search warrants at multiple locations,” Lawson said. “The affidavit supporting the search warrant has been sealed by the court and further comment is prohibited.”
Owens also declined to say what the purpose of the attack was.
Members of the FBI Evidence Response Team photograph the front of a store owned by Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens in downtown Jackson, Michigan, on Wednesday, May 22, 2024. The store was one of several Jackson businesses raided by the FBI’s Jackson office Wednesday morning. Authorities declined to say after the raid whether Owens was suspected of any wrongdoing. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
“FBI agents visited our office this morning,” the second-term district attorney said in a statement. “We are fully cooperating with their efforts. The Hinds County District Attorney’s Office is fully operational and continues to serve the residents of Hinds County.”
Owens is listed as the owner and sole employee of Downtown Cigar Co., which investigators searched, and which also has a state license to operate as a bar selling alcohol.
Before being first elected district attorney in 2019, Owens was Mississippi’s lead attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center, a liberal group known for litigating on issues such as civil rights. Owens ran as a criminal justice reformer, and he said he would focus on prosecuting violent crimes while exploring alternatives to prison and jail for nonviolent offenders.
But Mr. Jackson has questioned what some say is the highest murder rate in the nation, and Mr. Owens has received more funding from Republican lawmakers to hire more prosecutors. Republicans expanded the Capitol Police under Republican Gov. Tate Reeves to patrol all of Jackson and created a state-run court system with judges who are appointed rather than elected. Many Democrats say the move means whites are taking over predominantly black cities and that more resources should be used to fight crime. After an NAACP lawsuit, the law was upheld in federal court, and the conflict has somewhat subsided in recent months.
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In 2022, Owens was cited by Capitol Police on a misdemeanor charge of simple assault after police said he pointed a gun at a Hattiesburg man who was visiting a woman at an apartment in downtown Jackson.
Owens denied any wrongdoing at the time.
