The Hinds County Mississippi Sheriffs Department is disputing the account of three Tea Party activists in regard to how they gained access to the county courthouse after hours early Wednesday morning shortly after ballot counting stopped in the Tuesday primary election. Hinds County was one of the last Mississippi counties to post returns in the very hotly contested race between Chris McDaniel and Senator Thad Cochran.
Key to their account of how they entered the building is that when they arrived they were let in or shown where to enter by “uniformed personal?”. Hinds County Sheriffs Department Spokesperson Othor Cain ?it that the department does do security for the courthouse during business hours. He also told the Clarion-Ledger that off duty officers are hired to do security during elections but that at the time that Lane, Brewster and Chambers gained entry all security would have been long gone.
“It’s a fabrication that someone pointed them to a door. I think that’s a total misrepresentation of fact,” Cain said. “None of our guys let anybody in.”
Cain stated there are attorneys and courthouse employees with access to the courthouse that are not “uniformed personnel.”
The three Tea Party members?Janis Lane, Scott Brewster, and Rob Chambers were found locked inside the Hinds County Courthouse early Wednesday morning. ?They are all connected to the Chris McDaniel campaign.
The incident is ?under investigation by the Sheriffs Department. They have requested security footage from the building. ?Despite the McDaniel campaign claims of partisan attack Cain says it’s the three Tea Party members stories that led to the investigation.
“It’s important to note that Janis Lane’s story and the other officials’ stories continue to change through the investigation,” he said. “They changed within five minutes, which caused us to be even more deliberate and determined to find out what was going on.”
See video below.
