Attorney General Jim Hood didn’t have much to do with the end result of Circuit Clerk M.L. “Binkey” Vines’ case, he said Tuesday.

“The prosecutor doesn’t do the sentencing,” Hood said. “We made the recommendation for the required sentence,” one year of jail time for each offense.

Vines’ attorneys said they wouldn’t agree to that, Hood said.

“The judge announced he would take an open plea, and the prosecution can’t do anything about that at that point,” Hood said.

In an open plea, the state makes no recommendation, and the defendant is at the mercy of the court, Hood said.

The judge said he would accept a guilty plea on three of the 13 counts of embezzlement, Hood said.

“We agreed to discount the other 10 counts,” Hood said. “It’s not uncommon when you have that many counts. The defendant was ordered to pay back all he owes. So, (the extra counts) were kind of redundant.”

When the judge said he would accept the guilty plea to three counts, which established Vines as a habitual offender, Hood said his office didn’t object too loudly. Habitual offenders usually receive jail time.

“I can’t do like Nikita Khrushchev did in the U.N. and beat on the table with my shoe,” he said. “We just have to do a job and move on to the next case.

“Once you know a judge’s intent and what the end is likely to be, you move on to the next case.

“We did what we were supposed to do, and we did it in a professional manner.”

Hood said the decision by Judge Joe Webster to withhold accepting Vines’ guilty pleas was not uncommon.

“It’s usually reserved for first offenders,” Hood said.

Once an offender is under the supervision of the court, the department of corrections usually keeps an eye on him, Hood said. Since the judge ordered “unsupervised good behavior,” Hood said someone would have to bring any violations to his office.

Hood said he has heard recently that Vines has bounced and repaid checks to the county and not filed the past two years’ fee reports, but could not comment on whether his office would be investigating any of the claims.

Vines recently said the state auditor’s office still had the paperwork required to complete those reports. Representatives from the auditor’s office have said they have no such paperwork.

“I’m aware of (the reported bounced checks),” Hood said. “We will verify it. We would have to prove intent to bounce a check or defraud.”

Joe Webster, a special judge from Coahoma County appointed after both local judges recused themselves, said Tuesday he would not comment on the case.

Webster withheld accepting Vines’ guilty pleas on three counts of embezzlement and put him under “unsupervised good behavior.”

Webster said he would know when his order putting Vines on “unsupervised good behavior” was violated when he saw it.

“I would know when it wasn’t (good),” Webster said. For now, the question was hypothetical, he said.

Vines was indicted by an Adams County grand jury in September on 13 counts of embezzlement of more than $200,000. He pleaded guilty to three counts earlier this month. Webster withheld accepting Vines’ plea.

Because of the judge’s decision, Vines is allowed to remain in office and run again for elections in the fall.

If Vines repays court costs and interest on the amount embezzled, then his case will be dropped.