NATCHEZ &045; Both Adams County Circuit Court judges have recused themselves from hearing a case involving the rehiring of former police Officer Willie B. Jones.

Aldermen voted 4-3 in October, with Mayor Phillip West breaking the tie, to rehire Jones at his former rank of patrolman. Brown had told the board that under state law, the authority to rehire a police officer or firefighter rests with the Civil Service Commission, not aldermen.

In November, Courtney Aldridge and Kevin Colbert filed suit against West and all six aldermen in Circuit Court to reverse to decision to hire Jones.

Now, in an order received by the Circuit Clerk’s Office last week, both Judge Forrest &uot;Al&uot; Johnson and Judge Lillie Blackmon Sanders have said they cannot not hear the case &uot;due to parties involved in the litigation.&uot;

While Sanders could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon, Johnson said he did not feel comfortable hearing the case because he knows the city officials listed in the complaint.

&uot;It’s an unusual case, to say the least,&uot; Johnson said, adding that he could speak for Sanders. &uot;And I believe the parties in the case would be more comfortable with someone else hearing the case, too.&uot;

Johnson said he expects the chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court to appoint a special judge, using a sitting judge in another jurisdiction, this week to hear the case.

Johnson said he and Sanders couldn’t remember another case in the last 10 years in which they both recused themselves.

In addition Joe McCoy and Lee McCoy of Ridgeland, attorneys for the city officials named in the case, have filed a motion in Circuit Court to dismiss the case.

That motion states that the meeting in which the vote to rehire Jones was taken was held Oct. 22 and that state requires an appeal of such a vote to be filed within 10 days of the meeting. Aldridge and Colbert filed their complaint on Nov. 22 and filed an amended version last month.

In 1997, Jones allegedly offered a fellow officer $260 not to pursue a drug charge against a relative of Jones’ then-fiance.

Jones resigned before an investigation into the matter was finished and was later arrested in the case. Jones was charged with felony obstruction of justice but pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge.

The charge was expunged, or wiped from his record, late last year.

But a person who been out of law enforcement for two years or more must be approved by the State Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Training Board to attend a refresher course prior to being re-certified.