State will seek death penalty for all six suspects in 2021 murder of Lee County man
Oct. 6—TUPELO — Five men and one woman will face the death penalty for the killing a Lee County man during a December 2021 robbery.
Four of the defendants were arraigned on capital murder charges in Lee County Circuit Court Thursday. A fifth suspect was previously arraigned. The sixth person is in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and will be arraigned later.
Capital murder carries the death penalty, which District Attorney John Weddle plans to seek.
"As of right now, we will seek (the death penalty) on all six defendants," Weddle said after the short court proceedings.
The sextet is charged with the December 2021 death of Justin Mayfield, 39, who was shot and killed inside his County Road 746 Plantersville home during an armed robbery. Authorities have described the crime as "very organized, calculated and well-planned."
Peyton Bogan, 22, of Tupelo; Christopher Scott Clayton, 21, of Fulton; Shanery D. Hampton, 29, of Macon; and Gavin Jeffers, 29, of West Point; appeared before Circuit Judge John White during a formal arraignment in open court. Assistant District Attorney David Daniels read each indictment in full. The indictments list robbery as the underlying felony in the capital murder charge.
The four defendants spoke little during the arraignment. All said, "I do" when they were sworn in, and they each said, "Not guilty" when asked how they would plead.
Anthony Dixon, 32, of Guntown; and Dartonio Pinson, 32, of Shannon, have also been indicted for capital murder in the death of Mayfield. They are currently in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections on separate Lee County felony convictions.
Weddle said Dixon has already been arraigned. Officials are still trying to schedule Pinson's arraignment, working with his private defense attorney and DOC to schedule a date and transportation from the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County.
Lee County deputy sheriffs responded to Mayfield's residence south of Plantersville around 2 p.m. on Dec. 22, 2021, after someone called 911 to say "an accident, shooting or incident" took place. Responding deputies found an adult male with numerous gunshot wounds in the bathroom of the house. He was lying in the bathtub and was pronounced dead on the scene.
Officials believe the suspects' intention may have been to rob a drug house. There were still large amounts of cash and narcotics left at the scene when deputies arrived.
About six weeks after the crime, authorities made the first three arrests — Clayton, Hampton, and Jeffers. In mid-March, authorities arrested Dixon and Pinson. Bogan fled the area and was captured by U.S. Marshals in June in Texas.
In Mississippi, nearly all capital murder suspects are held without bond. That was the case for Bogan, Clayton, Hampton and Jeffers, who have remained jailed since they were arrested.
But during the initial appearance of Dixon and Pinson, bond was set at $5 million each. The fact they were given a bond could mean they are believed to have played a less active role in the robbery and killing of which they are accused.
"Some people actually went inside the home. Some planned it. Some acted as a lookout and passed along information," Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson said this spring following the arrests of Dixon and Pinson.
Following their arrests, both were subsequently convicted of separate charges. Dixon was sentenced to serve eight years in June for a Lee County grand larceny. Pinson was convicted in May of two counts of the sale of cocaine and accessory after the fact and sentenced to 17 years.
