JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The top prosecutor in Mississippi’s largest county has been indicted on felony charges of stalking and robbery.
Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith turned himself in for booking Tuesday in neighboring Rankin County, where a grand jury brought the charges.
The attorney general’s office said Smith, 46, also faces two misdemeanor charges of domestic violence.
Smith told reporters on his way into the Rankin County jail in Brandon that he didn’t know details about the charges.
An Oct. 23 trial date was set, and he was released on his own recognizance.
The Clarion-Ledger reported (https://on.thec-l.com/2rChlW3 ) that as Smith left the jail, he said: “It’s really amazing how far people will go,” apparently referring to all of the attorney general’s charges against him.
The attorney general’s office last year charged Smith with conspiring to hinder prosecution of a drug case, a misdemeanor. In January, a jury could not agree on whether to convict him. The new trial in that case is set to begin June 12.
According to the Rankin County indictment, the new charges come from an August 2015 dispute with a woman with whom Smith “had a former dating relationship.” Smith allegedly took the woman’s handgun, grabbed her and threw her against a counter, pointed a gun at her and made threatening comments. The robbery charge stems from the alleged taking of the handgun.
The woman went to the FBI with the complaints about Smith, and the case was turned over to the attorney general’s office once its case against Smith was revealed last June.
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