Angel Myers McIlrath, the district attorney for the 19th Circuit Court District of Mississippi, slammed prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump as “not worthy of our trust” after he challenged a grand jury’s finding that there is insufficient evidence to charge anyone in the July death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells on Horn Island, a barrier island off the Mississippi coast.
“My interactions with Mr. Crump, as well as his conduct in this case, have demonstrated that he is not worthy of our trust. I did not expect that his characterization and representations in this case would be any different today, nor do I expect anything better from him in the future,” McIlrath said in a three-page missive challenging Crump to provide her office with “evidence that Nolan Wells was murdered” if he has it.
“If the Crump team genuinely has new information or evidence that Nolan Wells was murdered, they should stop playing games and immediately provide it to me,” she declared.
McIlrath’s statement came after Crump and digital forensics firm Garrett Discovery presented phone-tracking data and what they described as contradictions in the timeline of Wells’ death during a press conference Thursday.
Andrew Garrett, a digital forensics examiner and CEO of Garrett Discovery, said Snapchat messages were deleted from Wells’ phone. The deleted conversations included descriptions of “sketchy” people.
“One of the Snaps, conversations talked about, ‘Do you all remember real sketchy looking guys behind us in two boats?’” Crump said, reading a recovered message.
Crump and the forensic investigators said the messages vanished between the time Wells last used his phone and when his family recovered the device, but they could not confirm how they were deleted.
The recovered data shows Wells last unlocked his phone with facial recognition at 2:18 p.m. on July 4, while it was still on the boat he took to Horn Island. The phone stayed locked after that. A video reconstruction of the phone’s GPS data also showed that it remained on the boat the entire time Wells was on the island.
Crump also shared details of the state medical examiner’s report, which he published on Facebook.
The report found two bruises, each about 2 inches, beneath the scalp at the back of Wells’ head, but no skull fracture, brain hemorrhage or other internal or external injuries. Although Wells was found face down in the water, the medical examiner did not identify drowning — or any other condition — as his cause of death. The medical examiner classified both the cause and manner of death as undetermined.
The grand jury concluded that the position, location and condition of Wells’ body when it was found on July 6 “is consistent with drowning,” even though the autopsy found no water in his lungs.
Wells’ parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, and their attorney have called for an independent federal review of the case. The grand jury said the case should be revisited “[i]f credible evidence comes to light in the future that suggests Mr. Wells’ death was non-accidental.”
In her response to the press conference, McIlrath said her office never received the full phone data Garrett described.
“The Grand Jury report references the cell phone extraction reports our office received and their consideration of them. The 30-hour digital download that Mr. Garrett discussed during the press conference today was never provided to the State as Mr. Garrett suggested,” she said.
“All that was provided to us were two emails containing around 300 pages of selected findings from Nolan’s cell phone. However, the information they provided in their press conference today and what they provided to my office prior to grand jury was that no one physically accessed Nolan’s cell phone after his last known use and before his parents received it.”
McIlrath further accused Crump of strategically releasing information to manipulate the public narrative about the case.
“The Crump team made a decision to wait until the 11th hour to do a private phone extraction and only provide the Grand Jury with certain portions of the results. That is not the State of Mississippi failing to be thorough in its investigative efforts, that is the Crump team making strategic choices to control the public information on Nolan’s phone and create a misleading public narrative,” she said.
The district attorney also said that the Crump team had previously told her office that “they had no evidence of a crime against Nolan Wells” and “never advised anything differently.”
“The Crump team is asking the public to ask questions that the Crump team has the answers to. They are the only ones who have had access to Nolan’s phone and full extraction. Mr. Crump, why are you asking the public to ask us, what was deleted?” she asked. “Which alleged Snap deletion do you claim is related to Nolan’s death, Mr. Crump? What witness or piece of evidence on the phone or otherwise supports what you keep claiming, Mr. Crump? Tell us. The Crump team and Nolan’s family have had my personal cell and an open invitation to present anything they wanted to the Grand Jury from the begining.”
McIlrath also released a text message she sent Christine Wonsley ahead of the grand jury report’s public release, offering the grieving mother support and prayers.
“Christine this is DA Angel Myers McIlrath. I wanted to make sure you were aware that we sent Mr. Smith the Grand Jury report on Nolan’s death. If you would like I can email it to you directly as well. I wasn’t sure of your preference and wanted to be respectful of your representation,” the message said.
“The report was filed earlier today and will be out in the public tonight. The report along with my statement and correspondence will also be available on our office FB page. You continue to remain in my prayers. If I can support you in your grief please know that I will.”
Contact: [email protected] Follow Leonardo Blair on Twitter: @leoblair Follow Leonardo Blair on Facebook: LeoBlairChristianPost
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