Jim Hood: Who needs Jerry Mitchell?

Jerry Mitchell received a great honor for his work at the Clarion Ledger unearthing new facts about cold-case civil rights crimes. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation awarded him a "genius grant" of a $500,000 fellowship over five years which he will use to continue his investigative journalism and complete a book. He is the Clarion Ledger's most recognized investigative journalist and his efforts have led to the prosecution of criminals who otherwise would have never been brought to justice. The New York Times reported this interesting item.

Jim Hood, the Mississippi attorney general, who has handled some of the cold cases, said most of them would have been prosecuted eventually, even without Mr. Mitchell’s contributions, “but he’s kept the issue on the front burner out there for a lot of years now.”

Huh. So I guess Jerry Mitchell's work wasn't that important after all, as Jim Hood suggests the case 'would have been prosecuted eventually' anyway.

I wonder what other people think. I wonder about the case of Medgar Evers.

"It never would have happened without Jerry," Evers' widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams, said.