[02/28/02]Warren County Judge Gerald Hosemann is chastised by one of his Hinds County colleagues in an order filed Wednesday that tells Hosemann to stop publicly accusing the woman he is charged with beating of falsely accusing him.

“If Hosemann, himself a judge, requires a special court order for him to understand that he also is prohibited from making extra-judicial statements that would interfere with both sides receiving a fair trial, he now has it,” wrote Hinds County Judge Bobby DeLaughter in the order, his second instructing people in the case to stop offering opinions.

DeLaughter, who signed the arrest warrant for Hosemann on Dec. 28 and approved his release on $25,000 bond a day later, said he would put Hosemann back in jail if he continues discussing his case with the media.

Following a Feb. 20 hearing on a motion to dismiss the charge against him, Hosemann, 49, spoke in the courtroom to reporters, calling the charge that he beat his former court reporter, Juanita Johnston, 47, of Vicksburg a “hoax.”

DeLaughter, who recused himself that day from considering a defense request to dismiss the charge, noted the remarks were made a day after he issued his first gag order.

“It would be a serious mistake for Hosemann to make such statements under the belief that they are beyond the power of the Court to restrict,” DeLaughter wrote in the order filed in circuit court.

Johnston was found on Hosemann’s farm near Utica Dec. 6 and was hospitalized in Vicksburg and Jackson for five weeks. The Hinds County Sheriff’s Department investigated and, after interviewing Johnston, obtained an arrest warrant for Hosemann. His attorney, William Kirskey, sought the Feb. 20 hearing at which he planned to asked DeLaughter to declare the warrant invalid. The Hinds County District Attorney’s Office asked DeLaughter to step aside since it would be improper for him to hear, in essence, an appeal of his own ruling. Hinds County has two other county judges, but it was not known if either had agreed to hear the motion.

Hinds investigators have said the case will be presented to a grand jury for possible indictment when the file is ready. Aggravated assault carries a possible 20-year prison sentence.

Hosemann is Warren County’s only county court and youth court judge and continues hearing cases.

The Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance decided Feb. 12 that it would not recommend to the state Supreme Court that Hosemann be removed from the bench, citing an ongoing investigation and no indictment. The Warren County Bar Association has also taken no public position on the case.