The Office and Business of a Mississippi Lawyer Were Searched by Fbi Agents, but No One is Saying Why

On Wednesday, the FBI searched a business and the office of a local prosecutor in the capital city of Mississippi. However, officials would not say if Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens is accused of doing something wrong.

FBI agents looked through Owens’s cigar bar in downtown Jackson for hours. They also took things from his Hinds County Courthouse office.

A spokeswoman for the FBI office in Jackson, Marshay Lawson, said that the reason for the search is still a secret.

Lawson said, “The FBI is carrying out federal search warrants at several locations.” “The court has sealed the affidavit that supports the search warrants, so I can’t say anything else.”

Owens also didn’t say why they were raiding.

“This morning, FBI agents came to our offices,” the DA who is in his second term said in a statement. “They have our full support in their work.” The Hinds County District Attorney’s Office is back up and running, and it is still doing work for the people of Hinds County.

The Downtown Cigar Co. is owned by a company with Owens as its boss and only member. Agents also searched the business. The company also has a license from the state to sell booze as a bar.

Owens was chosen as district attorney for the first time in 2019. Before that, he was the lead attorney in Mississippi for the Southern Poverty Law Center, a liberal group known for suing over things like civil rights. Owens ran as a reformer of the criminal justice system. He said he would focus on pursuing violent crimes while looking for ways to keep nonviolent offenders out of jail and prison.

But Jackson is said to have the highest murder rate in the country, and Owens got more money from Republicans in the legislature to hire more attorneys. Republicans have made the state-run Capitol Police, which is led by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, patrol all of Jackson. They have also set up a state-run court with judges who are chosen instead of elected. A lot of Democrats have said that these changes are like white people taking over a place that is mostly black, and that more money should be put into preventing crime. The law was supported in federal court after the NAACP sued, and there hasn’t been as much trouble in the last few months.

Police in Hattiesburg said Owens aimed and pointed a gun at a man who was visiting a woman in a downtown Jackson apartment in 2022. Owens was charged with simple assault, a misdemeanor.

At the time, Owens denied doing anything wrong.