‘96 murder conviction upheld

The 1996 murder conviction of Kenneth C. Clemons Jr. was upheld by the Mississippi Court of Appeals on April 16.

This decision came after Clemons appealed his life sentence based on the Miller ruling, which says that it is unconstitutional to sentence juvenile offenders to life in prison without the chance of parole.

On July 15, 1996, a then-14-year-old Clemons and his brother, Bobby, murdered three members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians at the Nanih Waiya Cave near Coy off Mississippi 21 North.

The victims were 21-year-old Cecil Amos, 23-year-old Frankie Amos, and 23-year-old Shirley Ann Davis. 

The Clemons brothers and another person, Timothy Sudberry, met the victims at the Nanih Waiya Cave to drink beer, court records show. 

Sudberry testified that the brothers believed the victims had about $4,000 and planned to rob and kill them.

Kenneth Clemons approached their car with a hidden .25-caliber pistol and got into a dispute over $10  he claimed Amos owed him. 

Kenneth Clemons pointed his pistol and shot Amos in the head, later claiming he fired the shot by accident. He then intentionally shot the other two, court records show.

Bobby Clemons also shot one or more of the victims with a 9-millimeter pistol, court documents show.

The victims suffered multiple gunshot wounds and died as a result. The brothers and Sudberry, who remained in the car during the murders, then drove away from the scene. 

Kenneth Clemons confessed to his role in the murders three days later when he was arrested. 

He and his brother, Bobby Clemons, were convicted on three counts of murder by a Neshoba County jury and received three life sentences without the possibility of parole. 

Sudberry led officers to retrieve both guns used in the shooting and was later indicted along with the Clemons brothers and pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact. 

MDOC records show Sudberry is currently not incarcerated. 

In 2014, following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Kenneth Clemons was granted the opportunity to challenge his sentence under the Miller ruling.

In 2020, Kenneth Clemons filed a motion to vacate his sentence in the trial court, and a year later, the trial court held an evidentiary hearing in which he did not testify.

During the court proceedings, his mother, Sherry, and psychologist Dr. Criss Lott testified on his behalf. 

His mother testified that Clemons’ father was an alcoholic and could be abusive. She thought Kenneth Clemons was easily influenced at the time and looked up to his brother Bobby. She believed Kenneth Clemons had matured while in prison and was rehabilitated.

Dr. Lott interviewed Kenneth Clemons eight times for his Miller evaluation but did not review the transcript of his trial. Lott discussed research and the neuroscience of adolescent impulsiveness and his home life before the murders. 

Lott’s impression was that Kenneth Clemons was of low average intelligence, but understood his involvement in the murders was impulsive and harmful.

Lott admitted Kenneth Clemons was aggressive in prison early on, with rule violations like assaults and some sexual incidents, but said these had decreased recently. He believed Clemons could potentially be rehabilitated.

The trial court ultimately decided not to grant his parole eligibility under Miller. However, he appealed the decision, claiming the trial court was wrong in denying him parole eligibility.

The Court of Appeals upheld the trial court’s decision, stating that Kenneth Clemons had received a fair hearing, and the court had properly considered the Miller factors in its ruling.