JUSTICE SERVED | Free News
Racially charged case of ex-police officer who beat black man ends with prison term
It took almost four years for the first case against an ex-officer from the Laurel Police Department who was accused of beating a suspect after a chase to come to a conclusion in court.
It took a Jasper County jury less than a half-hour to find him guilty of aggravated assault. Bryce Gilbert, 28, was ordered to serve two years in the full-time custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections after jurors deliberated for just 25 minutes before finding him guilty for beating and kicking James Barnett when he finally stopped his vehicle in Jasper County after a 25-minute high-speed chase from Laurel back in May 2018.
The Laurel Police Department fired Gilbert and fellow suspect Wade Robertson immediately after an internal investigation, Chief Tommy Cox said.
“It was very unfortunate, and you have to have faith that the justice system will run its course,” Cox said. Gilbert was tried in Jasper County Circuit Court in Paulding in front of Judge Stanley Sorey. District Attorney Matthew Burrell served as prosecutor after DA Chris Hennis recused himself because of a family connection by marriage to Robertson.
Michael Mitchell represented Gilbert. Mitchell had no comment on the outcome of the trial, and Burrell said he could not comment because of the upcoming case against Robertson.
Sorey sentenced Gilbert to seven years, with two to serve in full-time custody, plus five years post-release supervision. Gilbert and Robertson were indicted in August 2020 for the beating of Barnett, which occurred on May 16, 2018. Barnett approached a “safety checkpoint” and turned onto Highway 15 in Laurel in an attempt to avoid law enforcement, officers said.
Gilbert and Robertson gave chase until it ended on Ebenzer Road near a bridge. Barnett stopped, exited his vehicle and the officers ordered him to get on the ground. The body-cam footage of the incident was played in court. In a suit filed against the city of Laurel that was settled out of court, Barnett claimed that Gilbert and Robertson forced him to lie face-down on the ground and repeatedly kicked him in the head with steel-toed boots. Barnett stated he suffered “permanent traumatic brain injury” and traumatic injuries to his face, eyes and nervous system from the assault.
“It was like I was coming up on a stop point,” Barnett told media in 2018. “They were checking licenses on Highway 15, and I was headed home and me thinking I had a warrant or whatever, I turned around from the checkpoint, and so they began to trail me. So, we ended up going on a high-speed chase (and) we ended up in Jasper County.”
Gilbert took Barnett to a hospital, preventing paramedics from transporting him, Barnett claimed in the lawsuit. Barnett said that Gilbert and other officers at the hospital threatened to frame him for having drugs if he told anyone about the beating and that he wouldn’t be released from jail until he admitted to misdemeanor traffic violations.
The city later dropped all charges against Barnett, including resisting arrest, failure to yield to blue lights after avoiding a safety checkpoint and leading police on a high-speed chase. The trial for Robertson’s aggravated assault charge against Barnett has yet to be set.
Robertson was indicted on another charge of manslaughter after shooting Dominic Ann Henry, 30, in Jasper County in November 2019. Robertson claimed self-defense, saying Henry was stealing his wife’s car and trying to run over him in front of their residence.
The trial was rescheduled last year after Jasper County Circuit Court Judge Eddie Bowen’s death, which was caused by COVID-19 complications. The case will likely be heard in August, before he stands trial for the manslaughter charge, after a motion of continuance was granted by Sorey.
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