An order by a Mississippi Court of Appeals judge is the latest development in the ongoing Wilson v. City of Greenville suit in which former Greenville Police chief Delando Wilson alleged the city forced his January 2021 resignation.
A panel of judges consisting of P.J. Carlton, Jim Greenlee and J.J. McCarty reviewed the city’s Jan. 6, 2022, “motion to strike, motion for misrepresentation and reply brief, or in the alternative to order the deletion of scandalous and prejudicial materials and cross motion for imposition of sanctions against” counsel for the appellant.
Attorney Renetha Frieson serves as counsel for the appellant, Delando Wilson.
The panel found that the motion — filed by attorney Willie Griffin on behalf of the city — should pass for consideration with the merits of the appeal and Judge Greenlee ordered the motion to pass in such fashion.
Griffin filed the motion in response to allegations he was listed as counsel of record for the City of Greenville in the legal matter well before the time documented in a motion he filed requesting a deadline extension for submitting the “appellee’s brief” and that he misrepresented the expiration of Wilson’s legal contract with the city in an attempt to mislead the court.
Both claims were deemed as false in the city’s motion, as well as the accusation of perjury by two city employees who were questioned by Frieson during legal proceedings.
Wilson’s motion for leave to correct a Dec. 17, 2021, reply brief was granted and submitted within the seven days allotted by the court.
Along with the corrected reply brief, was a renewed request for oral argument after the case was submitted without oral argument on March 9.
“The facts of the appeals herein are intricate and certain details can become lost in the cold record. More importantly, the Appellee’s brief largely relies on the impending mootness of the case in the event a ruling is not issued before February 20, 2022,” Wilson’s brief stated, regarding details of the appeal issues as those of great public interest.”
