Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens pleaded guilty Monday to federal conspiracy charges and announced his resignation, ending what prosecutors described as a sprawling bribery scheme that ensnared Jackson’s top elected officials and rocked Mississippi’s capital city.
Owens changed his plea to guilty just two weeks before he was scheduled to stand trial in a case stemming from an FBI undercover operation designed to expose public corruption. His resignation takes effect July 1, 2026. Brad McCullouch, the first assistant district attorney, will serve as interim leader of the office.
“This was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made,” Owens wrote in a social media post announcing his resignation. “While it hurts beyond measure to step away from a position I love, I believe this decision is what is best for me, my family, and the District Attorney’s Office.”
The case centers on what prosecutors alleged was an elaborate scheme operating between October 2023 and May 2024. Beginning in fall 2023, two undercover FBI agents posing as real estate developers sought to construct a convention center hotel in downtown Jackson on a plot of land the city had previously obtained a federal loan to develop. The agents enlisted Owens to connect them with powerful Jackson officials, including then-Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and then-City Council President Aaron Banks.
According to the indictment, Owens accepted at least $115,000 in cash for his role and facilitated more than $80,000 in payments to other officials. The scheme included extravagant enticements: private jet travel paid for by the FBI, cash payments, campaign contribution checks, visits to nightclubs, and protective detail services.
Prosecutors alleged Owens was ready to engage in bribery as early as October 16, 2023. The indictment quoted him boasting about his power over Jackson officials, saying “Everybody needs something. Every file comes to us. Everybody needs something fixed.” In meetings Owens held in what he called his “war room” at his office, he briefed the undercover agents on the city’s development plans and promised to leverage his influence over city council members.
The indictment included explosive allegations about Owens’ proposed role in facilitating bribes. Prosecutors claim he discussed using his position to help the purported developers gain access to city officials and directed associates to arrange various inducements. The scheme allegedly included payments disguised as campaign contributions to Lumumba—five checks for $10,000 each delivered during a yacht meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In that recorded encounter, Lumumba allegedly called a city employee to move a deadline for the hotel development project, a change prosecutors said was designed to benefit the FBI’s undercover operatives by eliminating competition.
When federal agents raided Owens’ office and his Downtown Cigar Company business in May 2024, they discovered approximately $20,000 in cash hidden inside a hollowed-out book designed to look like the United States Constitution. About $9,900 of that cash bore serial numbers matching funds provided by the undercover FBI operatives.
Owens was initially charged with eight counts including conspiracy, federal program bribery, wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements. Under his plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and three years of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III scheduled sentencing for October 15.
Former Jackson City Councilwoman Angelique Lee and Hinds County businessman Sherik Marve Smith, described as Owens’ cousin and associate, both pleaded guilty to related charges in 2024. Lee, who accepted approximately $20,000 in cash and gifts, resigned from the city council before her plea. Smith admitted to helping coordinate meetings between the confidential FBI sources and city officials to facilitate the bribery scheme.
Two other major figures remain in the case. Lumumba, Jackson’s former mayor, and Banks, a former city council member, both pleaded not guilty to multiple federal charges. Their trial was scheduled to begin July 13. The indictment alleges Lumumba accepted the $50,000 in campaign contribution checks and that Banks solicited and accepted cash bribes and employment benefits in exchange for their support of the development project.
Owens had previously fought the charges aggressively. In January 2026, he filed a motion to dismiss the case, claiming entrapment and alleging outrageous government conduct. He argued that undercover FBI agents had exploited his diagnosed alcoholism to coerce him into participating in the scheme. At one point, he characterized recorded statements attributed to him as “drunken, locker-room banter.” The federal judge rejected his motion to dismiss on entrapment grounds but allowed him to pursue that defense at trial.
The guilty plea represents a dramatic reversal. When Owens was originally arraigned in November 2024 following his indictment the previous month, he maintained his innocence, calling the investigation “a horrible example of a flawed FBI investigation” and characterizing it as “an assassination attempt on my character.”
Outside the federal courthouse after entering his guilty plea, Owens spoke briefly to reporters. “Prayer changes things and regardless of the outcome in any of these things, we need to make sure that we’re loving one another and praying for a positive outcome for this city, because we will rise together, we will fall together,” he said before leaving.
The guilty plea, combined with Owens’ resignation, removes one of three defendants from the remaining trial. Lumumba and Banks continue to maintain their innocence as they prepare for trial in two weeks. The federal government’s investigation has sent shockwaves through Jackson’s local government, demonstrating prosecutors’ commitment to pursuing public corruption at the highest levels of city and county leadership.