A jury in Mississippi has found William Carl Sappington not guilty of threatening to kill Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker during an encounter with one of Wicker’s family members. The jury, made up of six women and six men, deliberated for about an hour and a half before unanimously reaching their verdict, as reported by the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.
Sappington’s attorney, Tom Levidiotis, argued that federal prosecutors did not provide sufficient evidence to show that the threat made by Sappington was credible. He emphasized that there was no indication that the alleged threat was related to Senator Wicker’s official duties and that the senator was unaware of Sappington’s existence.
Following the verdict, Sappington was released from jail for the first time since his arrest on the charge in May 2023. If convicted, he could have faced up to 10 years in federal prison.
The accusations against Sappington stemmed from an incident at the home of the senator’s second cousin, George Wicker, on April 26, 2023. Prosecutors relied on the testimony of George Wicker, 83, who claimed that Sappington inquired about their relation to the senator and then uttered threats against him.
Sappington, during an FBI interview, denied directly threatening Roger Wicker, citing a belief that the senator was involved in a conspiracy to conceal a past incident involving him. The incident in question dated back to 2014 when Sappington was arrested for assaulting his brother and was subsequently injured while resisting arrest.
While George Wicker expressed fear and described Sappington as a “crazy man” during a 911 call, details provided by the first responding officer indicated a different sequence of events than what was testified. The timeline of the incident also appeared to be in dispute, as George Wicker claimed it occurred in the morning, whereas a police report indicated it happened around 6 p.m.
Throughout the trial, conflicting testimonies and discrepancies in the reported events raised questions about the validity of the threats attributed to Sappington, ultimately leading to his acquittal by the jury.
