On Monday, May 13, 2024, a Simpson County jury found 26 year old, Jacquille Graves of
Braxton, MS, guilty of First Degree Murder in the death of Carlton Gray.
After a full day of trial, the jury took only nineteen minutes to find Graves guilty of murder.
Circuit Court Judge Stanley Sorey sentenced Graves to life in prison for this senseless crime. The trial team of Assistant District Attorneys Shannon Jones and Chris Purdum did an excellent job representing the State of Mississippi in presenting the evidence to the jury. Simpson County Sheriff’s Department Investigators Chris Wallace and Mark Herrin conducted a very thorough investigation and gathered the evidence necessary to develop Graves as a suspect. Their investigation proved that Graves planned the murder and then lured Gray to the cemetery where he brutally stabbed Gray twenty-five times and beat him with a shovel before concealing the body in a wooded area approximately a quarter mile from the crime scene. Mr. Gray’s body was discovered thanks to the diligence of Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Conservation Officer Chad Shows.
I want to thank Sheriff Paul Mullins and his department for the excellent work done in this case and for their continued dedication and hard work making Simpson County a safe place to live, work and raise families. I hope the prosecution and life sentence of Jacquille Graves will help provide some measure of closure to the victim’s family. My office will continue to aggressively fight to hold accountable the individuals that commit these types of heinous crimes.
