A federal appeals court has declined to reverse the bribery conviction of former Hinds County interim sheriff Marshand Crisler.
On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court affirmed his conviction. A U.S. District Court jury convicted Crisler of accepting bribes and providing ammunition to a convicted felon. The court sentenced him to 2 ½ years, which Crisler is serving at FCI Beckley in West Virginia.
He is expected to be released next year.
The charges stem from his 2021 campaign for Hinds County sheriff. Crisler had been serving as the interim leader and was up against a dozen candidates who vied to fill the position after the death of Lee Vance.
Federal prosecutors said Crisler accepted $9,500 worth of bribes in exchange for favors for a former campaign supporter. That man, Tonarri Moore, testified at Crisler’s trial where it was revealed that he had been working with the FBI as an informant. Moore recorded conversations from in-person meetings and phone calls that were used as evidence against Crisler.
In his appeal, Crisler argued the federal government played on his relationship with Moore to entrap him and alleged the FBI directed Moore to get Crisler to accept bribes using money that agents provided. The 5th Circuit panel rejected the entrapment argument.
“By instructing Moore to approach Crisler, the government did no more than provide him with an opportunity to commit the crimes at issue here,” the court wrote.
The appeals court said trial evidence demonstrated he was “ready and willing” to participate when he asked Moore for campaign money during their first meeting, continued to meet with Moore and told the man multiple times how much money he wanted.
Federal agents began investigating Crisler in September 2021 when Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided Moore’s home and found drugs and firearms. An FBI agent called to the home went through Moore’s phone and saw Crisler had called a day earlier.
That was when the agent asked if Moore was bribing Crisler. Moore said no, so the agent asked if he would do it. Moore agreed and wore a wire to meetings with Crisler in Jackson and around Hinds County.
Between September and November 2021, Moore made several requests of Crisler and money was exchanged. He asked Crisler to move a cousin to a different part of the Hinds County Detention Center, to get Moore a job with the sheriff’s office and to let Moore know if law enforcement was looking into him, according to trial testimony and court records.
“There was ample evidence supporting the jury’s conclusion that these were promises to be influenced or rewarded in connection with Crisler’s official business,” the court wrote.
Moore was sentenced by the same district court to four years in prison for being a felon in possession of ammunition. He also appealed his conviction, which was denied by the same appeals court last year. Moore is also expected to be released next year.
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