Video: Bowling Can Appeal 300-Month Sentence

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Click to read Judgment | Click to read Memorandum Opinion | Click to read Final Judgment

ABERDEEN, Miss. (WCBI) — A “peculiar set of events” will allow convicted child sex offender and disgraced high school football coaching legend Dwight Bowling to appeal his 300-month federal prison sentence related to his crimes of having sex with teenage boys.

Senior U.S. District Judge Glen Davidson issued his ruling today following a hearing last week.

Davidson ruled that Bowling’s court appointed defense attorney, Christi McCoy, had a responsibility to file his initial appeal despite the heated exchanges between the two in which Bowling appeared to have fired her.

Davidson ruled that under federal court rules, Bowling doesn’t have the right to fire his court-appointed attorney and the attorney doesn’t have the right to step down without a court order.

While Davidson praised McCoy’s service to Bowling and her long service as a federal public defender but said the many cases in which she represented Bowling, including the federal charges, his divorce and state civil cases, may have contributed to confusion over how and when to act on the appeal.

In his ruling, Davidson reinstated Bowling’s conviction and 300-month sentence. As soon as that officially is recorded, the 14-day clock starts running on his deadline to file an appeal with the Fifth Circuit Court in New Orleans.