JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A Mississippi death row inmate has failed to persuade the Mississippi Supreme Court that news coverage and the prominence of the victim’s family in Union County denied him an impartial jury at his sentencing.
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the death sentence given David Neal Cox Sr.
Cox pleaded guilty to murder in the 2010 fatal shooting of his wife, Kim Kirk Cox. Authorities said Cox shot his wife and held his son and stepdaughter hostage until deputies forced their way into the home and arrested him.
Cox, now 44, did not ask the court to throw out his plea. Instead, Cox said he wanted a new sentencing hearing because the Union County jury was influenced by what he called “sensational news coverage” and because his wife came from a well-known family of law enforcement officers.
Prosecutors said Cox offered only one witness and four newspaper articles - all insufficient to support a change of venue. They said Cox was exaggerating the extent of familiarity between prospective jurors and the Kirk family.
Presiding Justice Michael Randolph, writing in the opinion, said there is no evidence of an inordinate amount of media coverage. He said the news articles Cox submitted as evidence were written two years before the trial.
Randolph said Cox offered no evidence to support how the jury was tainted by members of his wife’s family who attended the trial in their law enforcement uniforms.
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