Circuit Judge Frank Vollor empanels his last Warren County grand jury today, swearing in people selected at random from voter rolls to review felony case files and inspect public buildings and services.

Vollor has resigned his elected position serving Issaquena and Sharkey as well as Warren effective May 31, which is 18 months short of the end of his four-year term. Gov. Haley Barbour is expected to name an interim replacement..

District Attorney Ricky Smith said he expects to present about 70 cases for jurors to review and decide whether to indict people identified by law enforcement agencies. Assistant District Attorney Dewey Arthur said many will be drug cases.

“We have a lot of methamphetamine cases to pre-sent,” Arthur said. “As far as violent crime cases, we don’t have as many this time.”

When grand jury deliberations, held in closed sessions, result in indictments, people are formally charged at arraignments and trial dates are set.

In his 16 months on the job, taking office in January 2008, Smith has overseen 660 felony cases and indictments on nearly 400 others, he told a civic organization at a recent meeting.

Fifteen jury trials have been held during Smith’s tenure, 13 ending with convictions and two in mistrials with hung juries. One of the convictions was recorded after a retrial.

The 13 jury convictions resulted in five life sentences and a total of 382 years in prison.

“We haven’t had an acquittal yet,” Smith told the group.

Smith has, however, had to accept dropped charges in two recent homicide cases, reportedly after witnesses could not be found to testify.

In addition, nearly $700,000 in fines, court fees and victim restitution have been collected so far, from a total of $1.2 million assessed to those found or pleading guilty to crimes.

“About $400,000 of that was restitution to victims of crime,” Smith said. “We are trying to put them back as close as we can to where they were before the crime was committed.”

Money collected from fines goes into the general fund of the county.

“I think we are making a difference,” Smith said. “The fact that we’re not afraid to go to trial, that we are requiring more jail time, I think we’re making a difference.”

Subsequent grand jury sessions begin Aug. 3 and Oct. 26 this year.

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Contact Pamela Hitchins at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com