Columbus man gets life in prison for role in 2011 murder of disabled cousin

Published 3:21 pm Saturday, August 25, 2018

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for orchestrating the 2011 murder of his disabled cousin.

Attorney General Jim Hood, in a news release, said 41-year-old Derrick Bankhead, of Columbus, was sentenced Friday to life without parole by Lowndes County Circuit Court Judge Lee Coleman.

Authorities say Bankhead and three others robbed his cousin, Eddie Bankhead’s Columbus home, on July 11, 2011. One of those men then shot and killed Eddie Bankhead, who was wheelchair-bound and handicapped.

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The case was assigned to the Attorney General’s Office after the local district attorney recused himself due to a conflict of interest. Bankhead was originally convicted in 2016, but that conviction was overturned.

Derrick Bankhead’s accomplices are currently awaiting trial.