Video: Tyler Edmonds’ Attorney Weighs in on Supreme Court Ruling

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) –For the second time in his life, the Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Tyler Edmonds.

This means Edmonds can now seek compensation from a jury for the time he spent in prison.

Edmonds was only 13 years old when he was charged with the murder of his brother-in-law, Joey Fulgham.

Fulgham was married to Edmonds half-sister, Kristi.

Tyler Edmonds confessed to shooting Fulgham in 2003.

But soon after, and ever since, he says his sister manipulated him into the confession.

Edmonds was 14 when a jury convicted him and sentenced him to life without parole.

But in 2007 the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed that conviction and set Edmonds back for a new trial.

That Oktibbeha County jury found him not guilty. And, he was released.

It had been 5 years since his nightmare began.

There is now a state law allowing people like Edmonds to be compensated – up to $50,000 for each year of wrongful imprisonment.

In 2015 the Oktibbeha County Circuit Court denied Edmond’s request for that money.

Edmonds appealed that ruling.

His attorney, Jim Waide, weighed in on the high court’s ruling.

“Mississippi has a statute of compensation for people wrongfully convicted. And the Mississippi Supreme Court just ruled that he has the right to a jury trial on whether or not he was actually wrongfully convicted. The judge can’t decide that without the intervention of the jury. That’s the most important part about the case. Because the right to a jury trial is the most fundamental right American Citizens have.”

Circuit Court Judge Lee Coleman will preside over the case. No date has been set.