Calls grow for more transparency in Nolan Wells death investigation
By Mina Corpuz | Originally published by Mississippi Today
Requests by the family of Nolan Xavier Wells to preserve evidence is being mischaracterized, their attorney Ben Crump said Thursday.
Crump, a national civil rights attorney, said preservation letters were sent out to various people involved in Wells’ death investigation. He clarified that the Wells family hasn’t filed a lawsuit and said “click bait” has presented that action as more of a legal threat.
“We are on record that we want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” Crump said during a news conference held at the National Association for Black Journalists annual convention in Atlanta. “That is going to lead us. It is about the truth.”
Crump called on Black journalists and independent media to keep the focus on Wells and continue asking questions about his case and that of other Black men who have died under suspicious circumstances.
More than a month after Wells traveled by boat with friends to Horn Island on the Fourth of July, his parents Christine and Elmore do not have a clear picture of why the 18-year-old did not return with them, why he stayed behind or how he died. His death remains under investigation by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department and a cause of death hasn’t been released.
The Congressional Black Caucus has expressed similar frustration and highlighted a lack of transparency. On Monday, its members wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel to ask for a federal review of Wells’ death.
“The lack of answers thus far continues to fuel speculation and grief,” the letter states. “Neither the Wells family nor the public should be left to fill an information vacuum with speculation.”
Blanche and Patel were asked to respond within a week, said Georgia Rep. Lucy McBath at the Thursday news conference.
Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath, who has met with the family, has said results of the investigation and the state’s autopsy results wouldn’t be released until after Wells’ case is presented to a grand jury.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who also spoke at Thursday’s news conference, said the Wells family continues to be attacked and threatened for asking questions about what happened to their son.
Among those threats was an anonymous report made to the Mississippi Board of Nursing alleging professional misconduct by Christine Wonsley. In a previous statement, Crump said the timing of the complaint coincided with her speaking up about her son. The complaint was dismissed shortly after.
Arrests have been made against at least three out-of-state people who threatened to bomb or kill witnesses, Jackson County investigators and county court employees.
In the meantime, several connected to Wells’ case have hired attorneys to defend against defamatory claims that they had something to do with his death.
Over $170,000 had been solicited to hire attorneys to represent Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo and Morgan Seymour, who are the friends who took the boat to Horn Island with Wells and returned to Ocean Springs without him.
They and others have faced death threats and defamation from their names, pictures and personal information being shared online, according to the fundraiser started by Hudson’s father, Benjamin.
The fundraiser has two goals: defend the young men against potential wrongful death action filed by Crump and sue those responsible for libel and slander, specified as Crump, social media influencers, local provocateurs and national news outlets who continue to “invent and spread false narratives and lies with no accountability.”
This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Source: Original Article
