Greenville, MS— Jeremiah Hair., 37 yoa, of Greenville was sentenced to thirty years following his guilty plea today, District Attorney Dewayne Richardson announced.
In May of 2021, officers of the Greenville Police Department were called to Delta Regional Medical Center in reference to a missing child. Upon their arrival, they made contact with the victim’s mother and hospital security who advised that surveillance video showed Hair approach the victim after her relative stepped to the patient area of the ER, and eventually leave with the victim. Detectives with the department’s Criminal Investigation Division were notified and arrived to start their investigation which began with a city wide search for both Hair and the victim. A few hours later, officers saw the victim walking back toward the hospital where her mother ran to embrace her. Investigators noticed that she was wearing different clothes than what she had on earlier. She disclosed that Hair had threatened to harm her if she did not come with him and that after he drove her to a residence, he raped her before making her change clothes. The clothes and other forensic evidence was collected that would later corroborate the victim’s disclosure.
Hair was later indicted by a Washington County Grand Jury and set to go to trial this week. Last week, he advised the Court that he would plead guilty and appeared Wednesday morning to enter his plea. He was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Carey-McCray to the District Attorney’s recommendation of thirty (30) years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. This sentence is scheduled to begin in 2029 following the completion of a sentence he is serving for a previous conviction that he was on parole for at the time of this offense.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Kaylon McCou and Austin Frye. “Neither the defendant’s admission of guilt, nor the three-decade sentence will undue his crime or resolve the life-long trauma he has caused to the victim, but we do hope that she can find some solace in the knowledge that he has been held accountable and use it as a stepping stone on her path toward healing,” McCou added.
The District Attorney’s office is thankful for the swift response and mobilization of the Greenville Police Department and the Delta Regional Medical Center Security Team that led to the victim being let go sooner than later, as well as the strength and resolve of the victim throughout the prosecution process.