Crime
Man Accused of Jay Lee’s Murder Let Out on $250K Bond While Awaiting Trial
By Alyssa Schnugg
News editor
The man accused of killing Ole Miss student Jimmy “Jay” Lee was granted bond Thursday by a Lafayette County Circuit Court Judge.
During a bond hearing Thursday, Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr. was given a $250,000 bond. He will have to wear a GPS monitoring device at his expense and turn over his passport while awaiting trial.
In October, Herrington filed a civil suit against the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department claiming he is being wrongfully detained and is asking the court to release him on bond.
Herrington was arrested on July 22 and charged with the murder of Lee. Herrington appeared in court in August for a probable cause hearing and a bond hearing. He was denied bond.
Lee, 20, was last seen at about 6 a.m. on July 8 when he left his apartment at Campus Walk Apartments.
While Herrington has been charged with murder, Lee’s body has not yet been recovered.
The case against Herrington was not presented at the August grand jury and he has not yet been indicted on the capital murder charge. The next grand jury will meet in January.
According to court records and testimony during the August hearing, the two men had known each other for about four months and had recently entered into a sexual relationship. Evidence from Herrington’s phone showed text messages to Lee hours before he went missing.
Herrington and his attornies argued that Herrington being denied bond was against his constitutional rights.
After word of Herrington receiving bond got out, a post on an Instagram account titled, “Justice for Jay Lee,” claimed a “murderer was released” and that the public was not made aware of Thursday’s court hearing. The hearing was not listed on the court docket on Delta Computer Systems.
“They kept this possible release a secret out of fear of us protesting and advocating for Jay Lee,” stated the Instagram post.
Lee, who studied social work at Ole Miss, ran for Homecoming King in September 2021 on a platform of “self-love and living your truth.” He graduated with his bachelor’s degree in May and was planning on attending graduate school at Ole Miss this fall.
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