Willie Mae Fields said her brother enjoyed fishing and shooting the breeze on his front porch. He could often be found over his grill, eager to try a new recipe.
“He would call me all the time while he was cooking,” she said. “He often would oversalt his food, and he would call me to ask me how to fix it. He was a beautiful young man, who was so full of life.”
But Willie Mae chokes up when she mentions her brother, Stanley Washington, in the past tense. He was only 44 years old when he died during surgery at the University Medical Center in Jackson about four hours after being shot multiple times at his home in Delta Circle Apartments in Yazoo City.
The grief for Willie Mae is certainly focused on the fact that she lost her brother to gun violence and that his children have grown up without a father. But she admits that grief turns into frustration, despair and even anger when it comes to the lack of closure.
Willie Mae said Washington’s accused murderer has remained free for seven years on bond as the local court system waits for the state of Mississippi.
“Seven years later and this man is free,” she asked. “I have a hard time accepting that my brother was murdered seven years ago, and this man hasn’t even been to trial yet. He is walking around free just like anybody else.”
Osker Newton, then 67 years old, was charged with Washington’s murder in 2018.
Willie Mae said Washington was a good friend to Newton, adding that you would often not see one without the other. She said her brother took the man later charged with his murder shopping, and they enjoyed watching football games together.
She said she believes it was a football game that led to the deadly actions that September night in 2018.
“Losing a bet on a lousy football game led to my baby brother being shot eight times,” she said. “His murder left two young boys without a father. They will never see their daddy again over a football game. They need closure. We just need to know. Why did this have to happen?”
Willie Mae said what she believes started as typical male banter over a losing bet escalated to bloodshed.
“According to witnesses, the suspect asked everyone to leave his house,” said former Police Chief Ron Sampson, in a 2018 interview. “There was then a public exchange between the victim and the suspect that led to shots being fired by the suspect, striking the victim.”
Sampson said Washington was struck multiple times, including in his chest, lower abdomen and leg.
Willie Mae said she was unaware of what became of Newton, assuming he was still behind bars. But after attending a funeral service years later, it was revealed through a mutual friend that Newton remained free on a bond.
“The man charged with my brother’s murder has been walking around free for seven years,” Willie Mae asked.
The Herald contacted District Attorney Akillie Malone Oliver about the case, and she agreed that seven years was a concerning amount of time. Checking Newton’s case, she discovered why there was a delay in the court proceedings.
“The delay is because he is pending a mental evaluation,” she said. “He has been on the list for a while.”
But after another delay in waiting on Newton’s mental evaluation last month, The Herald asked that Malone-Oliver investigate a little further in the case file. That was when it was discovered that Newton’s case remains like hundreds of other cases within the state…waiting on Mississippi’s backlog in both autopsy reports and mental evaluations.
“This case has taken time on two folds,” Malone-Oliver said. “On one end, you were waiting on the autopsy report from the state pathologist. Now, you have the mental evaluation, and that is after the indictment and arraignment.”
Malone-Oliver said Washington’s autopsy was not completed until January of 2023, five years after his death.
“The autopsy in this case did not get released until 2023,” Malone-Oliver said. “Normally, law enforcement does not release any files until the autopsy is completed. That is when we normally get the file in our office.”
Incomplete homicide autopsy reports piling up within Mississippi’s system has made headlines for years. According to an Associated Press report in 2023, “the National Association of Medical Examiners, the office that accredits U.S. death investigations offices, dictates that 90 percent of autopsy reports should be returned within 60 to 90 days.”
The release of Washington’s autopsy report took five years, a far cry from the 60 to 90-day national recommendation.
After the release of Washington’s autopsy, Newton was indicted in March of 2023. He was arraigned in September of 2023 and was appointed an attorney after the arraignment. Malone-Oliver said defense counsel teams typically make the motion for mental evaluations of their clients, which is currently holding up the Washington case.
“With pending mental evaluations, you can’t go to trial until the defendant is deemed competent to go on trial,” Malone-Oliver said.
Malone-Oliver added that if a judge were to force the case forward without a mental evaluation, the case could ultimately get thrown out.
The wait for Washington’s autopsy took five years due to the state’s backlog. The wait for the mental evaluation? That delay comes with the lengthy state backlog as well.
“The delay in murder court proceedings is because of the major backlog with the state,” Malone-Oliver said. “It is typical for it to take two years to get results back. But it is not just here. It is all over the state. With pending mental evaluations, you can’t go to trial until the defendant is deemed competent to go on trial.”
Why is Mississippi so far behind when it comes to its forensic and pathology lab? Most cite lack of state funding, even though the AP reported in 2023 that state leaders held “tough-on-crime talks” for financial commitments.
Frustrated with the state’s backlog, many counties have opted to handle their own business. The DeSoto County Board of Supervisors moved forward with hiring forensic scientists to handle drug evidence in its county to cut down on the backlog of cases at the Mississippi State Crime Lab.
The DeSoto Times-Tribune reported last year that the move would “cost about $250,000 or about $59,000 each from the county and the cities to cover the salaries, and an additional $55,000 a year to operate a drug lab.” That same report stated that Jackson County, on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, spent $320,000 on its own crime lab.
With Yazoo County, which includes the municipalities of Yazoo City and Bentonia, a move like DeSoto County and Jackson County is perhaps financially out of reach.
For now, Willie Mae and her family are forced to wait again on the closure of her brother’s murder case. Malone-Oliver assures them that once the necessary reports from the state arrive, her office is ready.
“Once we get the results we need, we are taking it forward,” Malone-Oliver said. “If it’s ready to go, we are going to trial. We will get moving.”
But for seven years, Willie Mae said the case’s momentum should have already started.
“I understand that two to three years is typical in these situations,” she said. “But my brother’s killer has been walking free for seven years. My patience has run out. Stanley’s sons need closure. We need closure. Killers in our state are walking around free because somebody dropped the ball. The can has been kicked down the street long enough.”
