Attorney General Talks About Boykin Case

PRESS RELEASE

JACKSON- Attorney General Jim Hood announced today that a former Columbus police officer has been formally charged for manslaughter.

Canyon Boykin, 26, of Columbus, was indicted Wednesday by a Lowndes County Grand Jury for one count of manslaughter. He was arraigned today in Lowndes County Circuit Court before Judge James T. Kitchens, Jr. Judge Kitchens set Boykin’s bond at $20,000.

The indictment alleges that last October Boykin, while employed as a police officer for the Columbus Police Department, unnecessarily shot Ricky Ball while Ball was fleeing from Boykin following a traffic stop. At the time of the incident, Boykin had been working at the department for three years.

The District Attorney’s Office recused itself from the case. The case is being investigated by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and will be prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Stanley Alexander.

“Officer-involved shootings present challenges for every community in which they occur. A Lowndes County Grand Jury chose to indict Mr. Boykin for unnecessarily shooting a Columbus resident. The Lowndes County Grand Jury has given me my marching orders as a prosecutor. It is my duty to carry out those orders and present the case to a Lowndes County Circuit Court Jury at trial,” Attorney General Hood said. “Our police officers put their lives on the line for us every day. We owe it to them and to our citizens to see that the highest standards of conduct are always met.”

If convicted of the charge, Boykin faces up to 20 years behind bars.  As with all cases, a charge is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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