Binkey made money off his indictment.

Hard to digest, but true.

It&8217;s all part of the truly inspired payment system that can pad the pockets of the circuit clerks and chancery clerks of our great state.

Here&8217;s how it went down: In July the office of Adams County Circuit Clerk M.L. &8220;Binkey&8221; Vines sent out letters to a large pool of citizens notifying them of their upcoming jury duty.

Typically, a jury pool consists of approximately 200 people. For every jury summons his office sent out Binkey made $1. The money comes from the county.

The pool convened later, and 20 were chosen for the grand jury&8217;s July term.

Because the grand jury was seated, Binkey received a flat rate fee of $700, according to Mississippi Code 25-7-15. Again, that&8217;s county money.

A grand jury &8212; different from a one-time jury chosen for a regular court case &8212; hears approximately 80 cases each time it convenes. Grand juries usually meet six times a year.

Its job is to decide whether or not enough evidence exists against a suspect to file formal charges.

In Binkey&8217;s case, the grand jury chosen in July didn&8217;t hear his case until it reconvened two weeks ago.

Keep in mind as we go along here that the person responsible for overseeing the jury pool from which the grand jurors are picked, the man answering their questions, the one providing them with coffee and the elected official essentially catering to their every need in our county is Binkey.

He&8217;s also the one making money off their mere presence.

Circuit clerks in Mississippi don&8217;t get a salary like most folks. The $1 for every potential juror summoned, the $700 every time the grand jury meets, that money goes directly into an account that is more or less the circuit clerk&8217;s personal checking account.

Sure, there are rules on how he can spend the money, but no one is likely to watch his transaction register until next spring when the state auditor comes knocking.

It&8217;s called &8220;fee paid.&8221; And it applies to circuit clerks, chancery clerks and constables (though they are slightly different) in Mississippi.

The clerks collect fees from marriage licenses, lawsuits, subpoenas, judgment rolls, certified copies, etc. Some of the fees are paid by the county, some paid by citizens, some paid by defendants. All the fees go into the account. Money comes out of the account to pay the salaries of deputy clerks to buy office supplies and to pay bills. A portion of some fees also goes to the county and the state.

What&8217;s left is the clerk&8217;s paycheck. Up to the state cap of $90,000, that is.

It&8217;s been this way forever; only it used to be worse. Prior to 1996 no cap existed, so clerks who knew how to run a tight ship and lived in counties with lots of trials and citizens with fees to pay could literally rake in the money.

In the 1990s the state realized how absurd this was and passed the cap. But the absurdity isn&8217;t over yet.

Because the circuit clerk doesn&8217;t have a board looking behind him, an accountant watching his numbers or a boss counting expenses, he lives how he wants to from audit to audit. When the audit findings come, if he&8217;s been a bad boy, there will be money to repay. Unless he&8217;s a really bad boy, he&8217;s given the opportunity to repay the money and begin another worry-free year of spending &8212; no strings attached.

Clerks thought to be intentionally misappropriating funds are turned over to investigators. If investigators find enough evidence, a grand jury presentation and possible indictment may occur.

If there&8217;s an indictment it stands to get interesting again.

According to Mississippi Code 25-7-13, &8220;docketing, filing, marking and registering each complaint, petition and indictment&8221; earns the circuit clerk $75. That fee is only paid if the state wins its case. The defendant does the paying.

So if Binkey is found guilty, well, he&8217;ll owe himself $75.

Julie Finley

is the managing editor of The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at 601-445-3551 or

julie.finley@natchezdemocrat.com

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