The Hinds County Sheriff’s Department has concluded no criminal activity took place when three people, including a staffer for state Sen. Chris McDaniel’s U.S. Senate campaign, ended up locked inside the county courthouse hours after everyone had left following the counting of votes from Tuesday’s primaries. Scott Brewster, Janis Lane and Rob Chambers were found locked inside the courthouse early Wednesday. They allegedly entered sometime shortly after 2 a.m. and, after realizing they were locked in, called for help. A member of the Hinds County Board of Supervisors is questioning the three being alone in the building.
“There is not a circumstance where any individual that doesn’t work for the county should be in a county building not accompanied by a county employee after hours,” said District 1 Supervisor Robert Graham. “Specifically, not accompanied by an election commissioner on election night. If you’re in the building and you have to do with elections, you should be with a commissioner.”
The situation took on added significance because of the hotly contested U.S. Senate Republican primary pitting McDaniel against incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran. McDaniel led Cochran statewide by a slim margin, but in Hinds County, Cochran held a 2-1 margin over McDaniel. The two will face off in a June 24 runoff.
Brewster is McDaniel’s campaign coalition coordinator. Lane is president of the board of the Central Mississippi Tea Party. And Chambers is a consultant with the Mississippi Baptist Christian Action Commission.
Full Article: Courthouse lock-in case closed without arrests.