John R. Young

Elected nine times beginning in 1975, John R. Young, a past NDAA vice president, has served as district attorney for the first judicial district of Mississippi for 31 years. “I’m the longest serving DA in the state of Mississippi, but I assure you, I’m not the oldest,” Young jokes.

Young runs two full-time offices covering seven counties in northeast Mississippi—one office in Corinth, his hometown and the other in Elvis’s birthplace, Tupelo. His jurisdiction is one of the largest in the state with a population of approximately 250,000 and spanning more than 100 miles. “I travel a lot,” he said. Young’s jurisdiction employs nine assistant district attorneys and seven support staff (including investigators, victim assistance coordinators, bad check coordinators and administrative personnel).

Thirty-one years ago, things were different in the Corinth District Attorney’s Office. “When I took office, we had two part-time assistants, one investigator and one secretary. And not only has our staff increased considerably, but so has our caseload. The crime rate, like everywhere else in the country, has increased. When I started, our jurisdiction handled between 600 and 800 felonies a year. Now we see close to 3,000.”

Young admits that the biggest problem his jurisdiction currently faces is keeping up with the caseload—and getting cases to trial. “Some cases take up to two years to go to trial. We handle a significant number of murder cases, so between psychiatric evaluations and continuances, they can take years to go to trial,” Young says.

One of Young’s most memorable cases was a capital murder case that he tried in 1976, early in his prosecution career. He got a conviction and the defendant was sentenced to the death penalty. After a Supreme Court reversal because of conflict of defense counsel, the case went to trial again in 1981 with the same outcome. Then, in 1996, the case went to trial for a third time, but this time, after a Supreme Court ruling concerning an aggravator, “heinous, atrocious and cruel,” the sentence was commuted to life in prison. “It took 20 years for this case to settle. That’s what happens with some of these capital cases.”

One problem contributing to the slow movement of cases through the system is the fact that Young’s jurisdiction has only three circuit judges handling the very large caseload—and they handle both criminal and civil cases. Young is anticipating improvement in the next year after a fourth judge joins the jurisdiction. “Hopefully having four judges rather than three will help speed things along.” Another problem in his jurisdiction, like many other jurisdictions throughout the country, is funding. “The state allowance is not enough to run the office.” But despite the lack of funding provided by the state, Young has been successful in obtaining necessary funds from the counties, the “bad check” unit, and other sources. “These funding sources have been extremely helpful and necessary. We have enough to cover our expenses.”

All of the crimes Young’s office deals with are felonies. A large part of the caseload involves drug crime and the remainder is predominantly drug-related. He also handles murders, armed robberies, sexual assaults, child abuse cases, other cases involving violent crime and property crimes. “We handle cases from the grand jury through trial and work closely with law enforcement during investigations to make sure the cases are properly prepared for the grand jury and trial.”

A number of murder cases fall onto Young’s desk each year and for many of them, he seeks the death penalty. “In some of these cases, seeking the death penalty isn’t even a question. There is no other option.” But for others, Young said that life in prison without parole is an alternate sentence, depending on the crime and the wishes of the family of the victim.

Young currently sits on NDAA’s Board of Directors after having served a three-year term as an active vice president. He was introduced to NDAA through the Mississippi District Attorneys Association where he served as state director to NDAA. He was elected to serve as director at large for NDAA and then served his term as vice president. He says that any prosecutor not currently an NDAA member, should be. His status at NDAA has helped him throughout his career.

In his free time, Young can be found at an Ole Miss football game or on the golf course. He is also trying to stay in shape. “I get up in the morning and walk three miles at 6 a.m. It keeps me active.” He and Susan, his wife, have a daughter, son-in-law and a three-year-old granddaughter.

To new law school graduates, Young lends this advice: “If you want a career that is interesting and rewarding and will remain that way on a day-to-day basis, become a prosecutor. From investigation to the grand jury to trial, you will never get bored. Assistant district attorneys become good trial lawyers. ADAs have the most interesting, exciting jobs of any I know and I recommend that anyone interested in a thrilling career seriously consider prosecution. You won’t get rich, but the income is decent, the retirement benefits are good and the job is rewarding.”

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