Prosecutors unsure if they’ll retry man over water tampering
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Federal prosecutors say they haven’t decided yet whether they will retry a man accused of tampering with a Bolivar County water system.
U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock declared a mistrial Friday in the prosecution of Michael Allen Tarver, the former manager of the Boyle-Skene Water Corp., after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Chad Lamar says prosecutors will meet this week to decide whether they will seek a second trial against Tarver.
Tarver was indicted in April on charges that he vandalized water lines and other equipment owned by the water provider during a dispute with the corporation’s directors. Prosecutors say Tarver was retaliating after directors cut his salary, then fired him. Tarver says directors set him up after he caught several stealing water from the corporation.
