Attorneys petition court to seal case against man accused of killing University of Mississippi graduate, whose body has never been found

Attorneys have petitioned the court to seal the case against the man accused of killing a missing University of Mississippi graduate whose body has never been found.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys have petitioned the Lafayette County Circuit Court to seal the case against Sheldon “Timothy” Herrington Jr., who was arrested on July 22, 2022, and charged with killing Jimmy “Jay” Lee in 2022. He was indicted on a capital murder charge and has been out on a $250,000 bond since December 2022.

On Monday, a joint motion was filed by District Attorney Ben Creekmore and Herrington’s attorney Kevin Horan asking for the case to be sealed due to pretrial publicity and that sealing the case file is the “only measure that would protect the defendant from substantial probably fair trial prejudice.”

The court has not yet set a hearing date to consider the motion.

In June, Horan filed a different motion asking the court to change the venue of Herrington’s eventual trial, which is currently set for the October term; however, court officials said the trial is expected to be continued to December, due to possibly having to bring potential jurors in from surrounding areas and a lack of hotels during the fall months.

According to the change of venue motion, Herrington’s defense team claims that since Herrington’s arrest, there has been “extensive news coverage of the alleged facts” and that “every step of the investigatory process, as well as court proceedings … has been widely published and well documented.”

If convicted, Herrington could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

Lee, 20, was last seen at about 6 a.m. on July 8, 2022, when he left his apartment at Campus Walk Apartments.

Lee’s body has not yet been recovered.

During the bond hearing in August 2022, prosecutors said the two men had known each other for about four months and had recently entered into a sexual relationship.

Lee, who studied social work at Ole Miss, graduated with his bachelor’s degree in May 2022 and was planning on attending graduate school at Ole Miss.