A Sunflower County murder trial that was moved to Leflore County has ended in a mistrial and will likely not be re-initiated until sometime in mid 2020.
Lucas Edwards, Garrick Price and Vilandrius Gibson were on trial for capital murder in the December 2015 death of Willie Gilson.
The trial was supposedly moved to Leflore County after officials were unable to seat a workable jury in Sunflower County Circuit Court. Successful jury selection was achieved in Leflore County court on December 2, but the trial had to be delayed for a day because the prosecutor in the case had an emergency.
Then on Wednesday, when the trial was scheduled to resume, the attorney for one of the defendants was involved in a traffic accident. Supposedly that, coupled with some other unexpected changes, prompted the judge in the case to declare a mistrial.
It’s been four years since Gilson was found slain in his front yard at the hands of a yet undetermined assailant. A series of delays and continuances have plagued the progress of the proceedings and the family has yet to receive any closure in the form of a conviction.
Gilson’s death was allegedly perpetrated as the result of an attempted robbery gone bad. Four persons, the three defendants plus another person who is not being tried with the trio, supposedly followed him from a local convenience store after spotting him with a sizeable amount of cash, approached him in his front yard in an attempt to rob him and subsequently shot him.
A task force consisting of local law enforcement agencies, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations and the U.S. Marshals arrested the assailants just over a month after the incident.
