Circuit Court Judge Forrest &uot;Al&uot; Johnson said Adams County has been successful in clearing up much of its &uot;backlog&uot; of unserved grand jury indictments.

&uot;Everybody has been (putting) forth a good effort in getting the grand jury indictments served,&uot; Johnson said.

Prior to April, more than 300 Adams County grand jury indictments — some dating from 1997 — had not been served to the defendants.&160;

Twice this year, circuit court judges dismissed charges against defendants because their indictments had not been served in a timely manner.

Circuit Court Judge Lillie Blackmon Sanders dismissed a charge against drug suspect John Anthony Lewis, who was said to have been living in Natchez for the past few years. He was indicted in June 1995 but was not served his indictment until July 1999.

Johnson dismissed a drug charge against E’Dale Minor. Minor, who served the last few years in a state prison, was indicted in July 1997 but was not served the indictment until February.

But Johnson said even many of the older indictments have now been served.

&uot;I think we’ve pretty much narrowed it down (and) the ones that could be served have been served,&uot; he said.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Department is responsible for serving grand jury indictments, and Johnson believes sheriff’s deputies have been doing a good job in recent months.

&uot;I have seen a diligent effort on the part of the sheriff’s office to get these indictments served,&uot; Johnson.

Adams County Sheriff&160;Tommy Ferrell said his department has not changed its procedures on serving indictments so he cannot say why more indictments have been served recently.

&uot;It just comes in cycles like that,&uot; said Ferrell, who added it often depends on the availability of the suspects.

And serving indictments is a daily routine for the sheriff’s department.

&uot;We follow the procedure of the law, always have, always will,&uot; said Ferrell, who said his department takes pride in the small number of indictments that have not been served.

&uot;Your rate of execution is extremely high for this district,&uot; he said.

Prior to May 15, officials have been unable to serve 225 people who represent 278 charges their indictments. Of those people, 166 were charged with writing bad checks and have never been arrested for the offense; instead, their cases were presented straight to the grand jury.

Those people are difficult to locate, Ferrell said. &uot;Unless they’re local, we rarely every find a big percentage of them,&uot; he said.

The other 59 unserved indictments include charges such as arson, shoplifting and drug possession.

Only about 20 of those people have been arrested for the charges against them and about 20 of the 59 are not actually indictments but bench warrants, Ferrell said.

And between 10 to 15 of the 59 are currently serving time in jail for other offenses, he added.

The sheriff’s department does not serve indictments to people in jail because that person’s case would need to go to trial within 180 days — something that can be difficult with the defendant incarcerated and so many past and present charges involved, Ferrell said.

To assist in the serving of indictments, Johnson has also issued an order requiring the district attorney’s office to submit a list of all grand jury action — which is not public information — to the Adams County sheriff and the Natchez police chief.

Since Johnson signed this order, Natchez Police Chief Willie Huff said his office has been receiving the list.

The list helps police know who’s been indicted, said Huff.

He said officers do not come across these suspects often, but if they do, police contact the sheriff’s department, he said.

And to further assist in the serving process, prosecutors are making sure more cases go through a lower court — such as the Adams County Justice Court — before being presented to the grand jury.

This is a measure to make sure people will be arrested, assigned a bond and an attorney before they are indicted.

Johnson and Sanders are working on an order requiring more of these cases to go through the lower court.