charlie sherrill
SWCA Member
There's been a lot of talk in the media about Haley Barbour, the outgoing Mississippi governor, granting around 200 pardons on his way out the door. One of them is a case I worked on that I remember very well. I was 33 years old at the time and had been on the job almost 12 years. There was a story in the local fish wrap this morning and part of that article concerns the case that I helped with. The full article can be found at Hattiesburg American | Hattiesburg news, community, entertainment, yellow pages and classifieds. Serving Hattiesburg, Mississippi | hattiesburgamerican.com. Here is the part I was involved with:
"It was a "blind rage" that killed Wayne Meeks.
That's what Louis Edwin Griffin Jr. told Forrest County Circuit Court Judge Jack Weldy when Griffin pleaded guilty to murder April 1, 1981.
The "blind rage" left Weeks, 22, dead in a mud puddle on a rural Forrest County road with five .32-caliber bullet holes in his chest, abdomen, back and hand along with another 12 stab wounds in his chest, according to previous reports.
Griffin is one of the nearly 200 people Haley Barbour pardoned on his way out of the governor's office - nine of whom were convicted in the Pine Belt.
A state Supreme Court decision upheld the pardons last week despite Attorney General Jim Hood's attempts to bat down many of them.
And that means that although Griffin has been out of prison since 2003, executive order number 1136 grants him a full, complete and unconditional pardon - restoring his rights including voting and bearing arms.
Efforts to contact Griffin for this article were unsuccessful.
Meeks' body was found shortly after his March 30, 1981, murder on a dirt road near Lake Thoreau, according to issues of the Hattiesburg American from 1981.
Griffin and his wife, Teresa Lynde Griffin, were arrested at their South 27th Avenue home about 24 hours after the shooting and stabbing. Teresa Griffin was charged with accessory after the fact.
Griffin confessed, and then told much of the story to Weldy in court the next day when he pleaded guilty after waiving his right to indictment.
Griffin, 28 at the time, said his wife pointed out Meeks when he was visiting one of the Griffins' neighbors one afternoon, saying he might have been one of the two men who raped her about a year prior.
The Griffins invited Meeks to go for a ride and smoke some marijuana with them, Griffin told the court. He said he and Meeks got out of the car "to go to the bathroom."
He confronted Meeks about the rape accusation, only to be laughed at as Meeks called his wife a "whore," Griffin said in court.
Griffin pulled his .32-caliber Beretta from his waist and "emptied it into him."
"He was still moving," Griffin said in court, according to previous reports. "I stabbed him till he quit moving."
Griffin said he took both the gun and his "British commando knife" because "with these kind of people, the kind involved in rape, you never know. They're dangerous in my book."
Griffin said he threw the knife in a lake, and he and his wife hid the disassembled parts of the gun in various places throughout their home.
Weldy told Griffin that if it was legally possible, he would sentence him to life without the possibility of parole. Weldy gave him a life sentence - the longest allowed by state law.
Mississippi Department of Corrections spokeswoman Tara Booth said Griffin was released in December 2003."
At the time the murder scene was very isolated. It was near the railroad tracks of the old Mississippi Central line that was later bought out and closed down. The tracks were torn up and several years ago and the former railroad property was turned into a 42 mile long hiking and biking trail. The area was mostly woods then, but today there are paved roads and expensive houses there. I doubt that any of the current occupants of the neighborhood have any idea aboout the violent history of the place they call home.
The scene was right on the county lines of Forrest and Lamar counties. The body was found not long after the murder by someone who lived in the area. There were officers from Forrest and Lamar counties there because at first we didn't know what county we were in or who had jurisdiction. Forrest County won the toss. I remember seeing Meeks' body lying in a mudhole. Water was up to his ears and his eyes had that familiar glassy dead guy look. Shell casings were visable on the ground and sometime into the examination of the scene it was discovered he had also been stabbed. I remember at the time thinking "It doesn't get anymore premeditated than this. Somebody really wanted this guy dead." As stated above, arrests were soon made. I don't think the knife was ever found but a search of their home revealed the Beretta .32 had been disassembled and hidden around the house. The slide of the little auto was found in a mayonaisse jar.
The wife quickly gave up the husband with her statement and he soon gave a statement of his own. What didn't come out in the above article was that she inflicted the first two stab wounds and because she wasn't fast enough Griffin finished the job. In a quick deal with the DA, to protect his wife, Griffin pled guilty the next day to a life sentence. (at the time there was no life without parole or death sentences in Ms. because of U.S. Supreme Court rulings) He was elligible for his first parole hearing after serving ten years. His wife served a few months (as per the agreement with the DA) for being an assessory.
A few short years later I received a call to see a woman about a rape. I was directed to go to the Waffle House on Hwy 49. It was about 2:00 a.m. and the place was empty except for a cook and two waitresses. As I walked in I noticed one of the waitresses was Teresa Griffin. She obviously didn't recognize me as I was now in uniform and wasn't the last time she saw me. She brought me a cup of coffee and took off her apron and came from behind the counter and sat down across the table from me. She talked in a low voice so other employees wouldn't hear what she was talking about. She proceeded to tell me about some guy she met in a bar the night before had raped her. I listened to her story for a few minutes while I drank the coffee. It sounded very similar to what she had told her husband a few months ago. As I finished my coffee I laid a tip on the table and told her "The last time you allegedly got raped one guy wound up in prison and the other guy wound up dead." I told her I couldn't help her and left. I haven't see her since.
"It was a "blind rage" that killed Wayne Meeks.
That's what Louis Edwin Griffin Jr. told Forrest County Circuit Court Judge Jack Weldy when Griffin pleaded guilty to murder April 1, 1981.
The "blind rage" left Weeks, 22, dead in a mud puddle on a rural Forrest County road with five .32-caliber bullet holes in his chest, abdomen, back and hand along with another 12 stab wounds in his chest, according to previous reports.
Griffin is one of the nearly 200 people Haley Barbour pardoned on his way out of the governor's office - nine of whom were convicted in the Pine Belt.
A state Supreme Court decision upheld the pardons last week despite Attorney General Jim Hood's attempts to bat down many of them.
And that means that although Griffin has been out of prison since 2003, executive order number 1136 grants him a full, complete and unconditional pardon - restoring his rights including voting and bearing arms.
Efforts to contact Griffin for this article were unsuccessful.
Meeks' body was found shortly after his March 30, 1981, murder on a dirt road near Lake Thoreau, according to issues of the Hattiesburg American from 1981.
Griffin and his wife, Teresa Lynde Griffin, were arrested at their South 27th Avenue home about 24 hours after the shooting and stabbing. Teresa Griffin was charged with accessory after the fact.
Griffin confessed, and then told much of the story to Weldy in court the next day when he pleaded guilty after waiving his right to indictment.
Griffin, 28 at the time, said his wife pointed out Meeks when he was visiting one of the Griffins' neighbors one afternoon, saying he might have been one of the two men who raped her about a year prior.
The Griffins invited Meeks to go for a ride and smoke some marijuana with them, Griffin told the court. He said he and Meeks got out of the car "to go to the bathroom."
He confronted Meeks about the rape accusation, only to be laughed at as Meeks called his wife a "whore," Griffin said in court.
Griffin pulled his .32-caliber Beretta from his waist and "emptied it into him."
"He was still moving," Griffin said in court, according to previous reports. "I stabbed him till he quit moving."
Griffin said he took both the gun and his "British commando knife" because "with these kind of people, the kind involved in rape, you never know. They're dangerous in my book."
Griffin said he threw the knife in a lake, and he and his wife hid the disassembled parts of the gun in various places throughout their home.
Weldy told Griffin that if it was legally possible, he would sentence him to life without the possibility of parole. Weldy gave him a life sentence - the longest allowed by state law.
Mississippi Department of Corrections spokeswoman Tara Booth said Griffin was released in December 2003."
At the time the murder scene was very isolated. It was near the railroad tracks of the old Mississippi Central line that was later bought out and closed down. The tracks were torn up and several years ago and the former railroad property was turned into a 42 mile long hiking and biking trail. The area was mostly woods then, but today there are paved roads and expensive houses there. I doubt that any of the current occupants of the neighborhood have any idea aboout the violent history of the place they call home.
The scene was right on the county lines of Forrest and Lamar counties. The body was found not long after the murder by someone who lived in the area. There were officers from Forrest and Lamar counties there because at first we didn't know what county we were in or who had jurisdiction. Forrest County won the toss. I remember seeing Meeks' body lying in a mudhole. Water was up to his ears and his eyes had that familiar glassy dead guy look. Shell casings were visable on the ground and sometime into the examination of the scene it was discovered he had also been stabbed. I remember at the time thinking "It doesn't get anymore premeditated than this. Somebody really wanted this guy dead." As stated above, arrests were soon made. I don't think the knife was ever found but a search of their home revealed the Beretta .32 had been disassembled and hidden around the house. The slide of the little auto was found in a mayonaisse jar.
The wife quickly gave up the husband with her statement and he soon gave a statement of his own. What didn't come out in the above article was that she inflicted the first two stab wounds and because she wasn't fast enough Griffin finished the job. In a quick deal with the DA, to protect his wife, Griffin pled guilty the next day to a life sentence. (at the time there was no life without parole or death sentences in Ms. because of U.S. Supreme Court rulings) He was elligible for his first parole hearing after serving ten years. His wife served a few months (as per the agreement with the DA) for being an assessory.
A few short years later I received a call to see a woman about a rape. I was directed to go to the Waffle House on Hwy 49. It was about 2:00 a.m. and the place was empty except for a cook and two waitresses. As I walked in I noticed one of the waitresses was Teresa Griffin. She obviously didn't recognize me as I was now in uniform and wasn't the last time she saw me. She brought me a cup of coffee and took off her apron and came from behind the counter and sat down across the table from me. She talked in a low voice so other employees wouldn't hear what she was talking about. She proceeded to tell me about some guy she met in a bar the night before had raped her. I listened to her story for a few minutes while I drank the coffee. It sounded very similar to what she had told her husband a few months ago. As I finished my coffee I laid a tip on the table and told her "The last time you allegedly got raped one guy wound up in prison and the other guy wound up dead." I told her I couldn't help her and left. I haven't see her since.
