MADISON COUNTY, Miss. ( WJTV ) – The Mississippi Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of a circuit court in the case of a former Party City employee, who pled guilty in connection to a fatal shooting at the store in 2012.

In 2014, Undra Ward pled guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit armed robbery. He was sentenced to serve consecutive terms of 40 years and five years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC).

According to court documents, Ward filed a motion for post-conviction relief (PCR) in 2022, alleging that his guilty plea was invalid and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel because his attorney erroneously advised him that he would be eligible for trusty time and early release.

The Madison County Circuit Court denied Ward’s motion, finding that it was barred by the three-year statute of limitations of the Uniform Post Conviction Collateral Relief Act (UPCCRA). The Mississippi Court of Appeals found no error and affirmed the judgment.

Investigators said Ward was an employee at Party City on County Line Road in Ridgeland in 2012. They said Ward’s co-defendant, Joshua Archie , planned and carried out a robbery of the store. Archie shot and killed store manager Robert Adams during the robbery.

Archie was found guilty of capital murder and conspiracy to commit armed robbery in August 2021 after he was tried for a third time. Archie was sentenced to life without parole on the capital murder charge and five years on the conspiracy to commit armed robbery charge. The state did not seek the death penalty in the case.

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