A grand jury in Mississippi will review the circumstances around the death of Nolan Wells before the evidence is made public in the case of the Black teenager whose body was found in the water off an island he visited with white friends, a prosecutor said this week, but as of Friday did not say when jurors would take up the matter.
This week, an attorney for the teenager's family said a private autopsy could not rule out foul play. Civil rights leaders and social media amplified the family's calls for answers, feeding a debate about the safety of young Black Americans in predominantly white environments.
The district attorney for Jackson County said that, as a matter of routine, case information would be withheld from the public to protect the "integrity" of the grand jury, which will decide if there is evidence a crime took place and someone should be charged.
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"Every death in the county — except those of natural causes and non-criminal car wrecks — is presented to your grand jury," Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers Mcllrath said in a video message Thursday. "Nolan's case is being handled the same way."
The prosecutor did not respond to questions from Reuters about when jurors would be convened and what kinds of evidence they would consider.
She promised a thorough, careful and uncompromised investigation into a case that became a flashpoint for race relations in America.
Wells, 18, died after he went to a Fourth of July party on Horn Island with three white friends he knew since high school in nearby Ocean Springs, Miss.
The three friends returned to the mainland without him and had his mobile phone, according to the family's lawyer Ben Crump.
A pathologist who conducted an independent autopsy of Wells on behalf of his family could not draw conclusions, Crump told a news conference Wednesday.
Pathologist Roger Mitchell reported red discoloration on the back of Wells' head was of "great concern," Crump said. To determine the cause of the discoloration, Mitchell requested additional information from Mississippi authorities who carried out the first autopsy.
In his report, Mitchell said he was unable to directly examine Wells’ stomach and airways for the presence of water as they were removed from his body by the first autopsy. He found no fractures and no evidence of deep tissue injuries.
Among outstanding questions regarding Wells’ death were the circumstances that led him to enter the water, his body position when he was found, whether there was water in his airways and whether there was evidence of injuries to his neck and head, Mitchell wrote in his report. His body was found fully clothed and face down.
“This pathologist cannot rule out if any intervening non-accidental factors contributed to or caused the death of Nolan Wells,” Mitchell wrote.
Wells' mother, Christine Wonsley, said Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter told her less than an hour after her son's body was recovered July 6 that he believed the death was accidental and did not see foul play.
Ledbetter did not respond to requests for comment.
Crump, civil rights leader Al Sharpton and some Democratic lawmakers said the case highlights the lack of scrutiny given to deaths of young Black men.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, said in a statement Friday that authorities were conducting a thorough investigation and Crump and Sharpton were "stoking division for political gain."
Crump's office and Sharpton did not immediately respond to requests for comment. There was no one available for comment at Myers Mcllrath's office.
