OXFORD – Tyler Edmonds’ attorneys want to question Chief U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills about whether Circuit Judge Jim Kitchens of Columbus was impartial when Edmonds was tried for murder in July 2004.

Edmonds was indicted with his stepsister for the 2003 shooting death of her husband, Joey Fulgham. He was found guilty and sentenced to life without parole.

But in 2007, the Mississippi Supreme Court found sufficient trial errors by Kitchens to order a new trial. That jury found Edmonds not guilty and set him free.

Now, Edmonds and his mother, Sharon Clay of West Point, are suing Oktibbeha County for wrongful prosecution.

Wednesday, they asked Senior District Judge Neal Biggers Jr. to allow Mills’ questioning under oath about a March 3, 2004, telephone conversation he had with their attorney, Jim Waide of Tupelo, and others.

From 2003 to mid-2005, Mills presided over several Edmonds’ complaints challenging his conviction, his confinement and that Oktibbeha County had violated his civil rights. The cases were dismissed for various reasons.

An attached letter to Mills from Waide reportedly restates the conversation during which Mills said Kitchens placed an angry call to him and accused him of inappropriate communications with Waide about Edmonds’ appeal.

Waide’s 2004 letter said he was questioning whether to ask Kitchens to withdraw as the judge in Edmonds’ upcoming murder trial.

In Wednesday’s motion, Edmonds and Clay note that Oktibbeha County has told the court that they cannot show Kitchens lacked impartiality.

That’s why they want to question Mills, they say.

Judge Kitchens was not available to comment.

Contact Patsy R. Brumfield at (662) 678-1596 or patsy.brumfield@djournal.com