Oktibbeha woman sentenced to life after murdering her husband
OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – An Oktibbeha County woman convicted of murdering her husband will not be getting a new hearing any time soon.
The Mississippi Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court’s order denying post-conviction collateral relief for Verina Childs.
In 2011, Childs was convicted of murdering her husband, Doug Childs, while the two were hunting.
She was sentenced to Life in Prison.
Childs appealed her sentence on several grounds, but the State Supreme Court upheld both the conviction and the sentence.
She then asked the State Supreme Court’s permission to file for Post-conviction Collateral Relief in the Circuit Court.
She filed her PCR motion in Oktibbeha County Circuit Clerk, citing additional discovery and other issues.
In 2018, the circuit court ordered a new trial.
The State appealed that order, saying the lower court had erred.
The Court of Appeals found that the Circuit Court was without jurisdiction to consider Childs’ new claim because it was not the claim she had cited when she originally requested PCR.
She then went back to the Supreme Court to request PCR on the new claims.
The circuit court held an evidentiary hearing on her motion and denied her PCR motion.
Childs appealed that outcome to the Court of Appeals.
The appeals court found no errors and affirmed the Circuit Court’s ruling.
