The Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- The results of a parole hearing for former Memphis, Tenn., police officer Leighton George Jr. may not be made public for about 10 days.
“We will first notify the inmate and then inform the victim’s family by letter,” Pat Miller, the state Parole Board’s chairman, said Thursday. “After that, the rulings will be posted for the public.”
George, 31, has served a little more than two years of the 12-year sentence he received for DUI assault. He was the driver of the car that knocked a Jeep driven by Hernando nurse Deena Vest off Interstate 55 on the night of March 16, 1999.
Vest, gravely injured, wasn’t found for more than eight hours. Her injuries and exposure to the cold weather left her permanently disabled.
Tracy Vest, Deena Vest’s husband, appeared before the board Wednesday to oppose parole for George.
When the hearing began, Miller said it was limited to just the file on George’s case, four board members and the recorder for the board. Board rules require only a quorum of three members to conduct hearings.
“No one else was in the room with us,” she said.
Miller said the board reviewed all comments that had been filed prior to the hearing.
George, an inmate at the Issaquena Work Camp near the Mississippi River north of Vicksburg, did not attend the hearing.
Miller said the board had three options: grant the parole; grant the parole with conditions, such as ordering the parolee to complete an alcohol or drug abuse program; and set-off, a specified time before which the inmate could not re-apply for parole.
She said the set-off period normally ranges from six months to the end of the sentence.
If parole is granted, she said Thursday, George would be under strict orders to comply with all requirements.
“This is not a court action. It does not require a trial or even a hearing,” she said. “Parole is a privilege; it is not a right.”