Sentencing Set For Former State Trooper

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) – A federal judge has set a July 15 sentencing for a former Mississippi state trooper who pleaded guilty to stomping a woman in the Lee County Jail more than five years ago.

Christopher Gary Hughes admitted during his change of plea hearing in February that he deprived the woman of her constitutional rights to protection from unreasonable force and search and seizure.

A complaint filed in October in U.S. District Court in north Mississippi alleged that Hughes threw the woman to a concrete floor of the Lee County Detention Center and kicked and stomped her on Oct. 14, 2007.

Authorities say Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson notified the Highway Patrol immediately after the incident.

It’s not clear why he wasn’t indicted for five years.