The United States Northern District Court may consider appointing a guardian ad litem for 11-year-old Aderrien Murry.
That is if the court agrees with a recent motion made by attorneys representing the City of Indianola in a $5 million federal lawsuit that was filed last May by the child’s mother, Nakala Murry, after her son was apparently shot in the 4 a.m. hour on May 20, 2023 by Indianola police Sgt. Greg Capers.
The motion filed last week by attorney Daniel J. Griffith of Jacks, Griffith, Luciano law firm requests “This Court appoint a guardian ad litem to protect the minor’s interest as 'the parent is indifferent to the interest of the child' and 'the interests of the child and the parent . . . appear to conflict'.”
In its filing, the city presented as evidence a social media post made by Nakala Murry where she appears to be selling “Justice for Aderrien Murry” signs for $12.
“Shockingly, Plaintiff Nakala Murry has also begun selling yards signs with the minor’s full name, stating ‘Justice for [A.M.] Shot By Indianola’s "Best Cop".’ An obvious conflict exists between individual Plaintiff Nakala Murry, the best interest of her child and the attorney representing the interests of both,” the filing said.
Murry family attorney Carlos Moore told The Enterprise-Tocsin he believes the court should reject any such notion of a guardian ad litem for the child.
“I think the city’s motion should be summarily denied,” Moore said. “Nakala Murry is doing a great job as Aderrien’s mother and natural guardian. No one will fight harder to protect his interests.”
In the same filing, the city also addressed the plaintiff’s motion to reverse or overrule a magistrate judge’s prior ruling last fall to seal the officer’s body camera footage from the day of the shooting.
“Plaintiffs have merely restated their insufficient arguments against sealing and have failed to provide any authority to even suggest that the Magistrate Judge’s Order was clearly erroneous or contrary to law,” the filing stated. “That is because they cannot do so.”
The city maintains that the judge’s order to seal the footage was well-grounded in law and serves to protect the child’s privacy and interests, as well as the interest in seating a fair and impartial jury should the case go to trial.
Despite the prior order to seal the footage, two minutes of the responding officer’s body cam from that morning, including the actual shooting of the child, were released to the media, apparently by the lead investigating agency.
Frustrations over that release were evident in last week’s filing.
“Late Friday evening, January 5, 2024, Defendants were shocked and appalled to learn that two, heavily edited minutes of the body camera footage had been released and published by various media outlets after obtaining the footage from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations,” the filing said. “As a result of this shocking release of the footage fully revealing the minor child’s face and identity, Plaintiffs have obtained what they wanted and their Objection is moot.”
Also released last week were several minutes of 911 dispatch calls from that morning, including the 911 call apparently made by Aderrien Murry and another by his grandmother.
After making its request to the court to appoint a guardian ad litem for Aderrien Murry, the city’s attorneys also requested “That upon appointing a guardian ad litem for the child, Plaintiff Nakala Murry and her Counsel be directed to appear before this Court and show cause as to whether the directives of the Magistrate Judge [Docs. 60 & 73], state law and Rule 3.6 of the Mississippi Rules of Professional Conduct have not been violated…That the Court grant such other and additional relief as may be necessary to litigate this matter without a media sideshow.”
