Two Vicksburg Police officers accused of having sex with a 17-year-old girl in 2005 were officially fired by city officials in a 2-1 closed session vote Wednesday.

The vote followed a similar board decision last month to deny reinstatement to Anthony Lane, 29, and Bobby Jones, 32, who were criminally cleared following Lane’s acquittal on June 14.

The next step for the officers, who were on unpaid leave for nearly a year, is to appeal the terminations to the Civil Service Commission, a three-person council charged with keeping politics out of hirings and firings in the police and fire departments.

A jury of four men and eight women said Lane’s sexual relationship with the student while he was assigned to Vicksburg High School- to which she admitted during testimony during his trial – did not amount to a criminal act under state law. District Attorney Gil Martin dropped the case against Jones later that week.

The girl, now a graduate, testified she initiated the relationship with Lane, then a school resource officer. The law specifies the age of consent for sexual relationships as 16, or 18 if the relationship involves &#8220persons of trust or authority.” It lists 16 roles in that capacity, but doesn’t include &#8220police officer.”

A conviction could have resulted in a 30-year prison term.

Mayor Laurence Leyens and South Ward Aldermen Sid Beauman voted in favor of the terminations Wednesday. North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield, the lone dissenter in last month’s decision to deny reinstatement, was also the lone vote against the firings.

&#8220No one can say that what the two men did was not of low moral character. It was definitely immoral,” said Mayfield, who voted before the trial to suspend the officers. &#8220But I felt that the vote of the board was to suspend them pending the outcome of the trial…I can’t go back and reprimand these gentlemen twice.”

At Lane’s trial, Vicksburg Police Chief Tommy Moffett testified that, though he had suspended the officer for 20 days after hearing of the relationship, he did not believe state law defines people serving under him as &#8220persons of trust or authority.”

Moffett was present at the closed hearing Wednesday, but said he did not influence the board’s decision and would not give an opinion of whether he supported the terminations. &#8220I didn’t have any role in it,” he said. &#8220That was strictly a council decision.”