By Anita Lee, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.
Jan. 30–BILOXI — Novelist, journalist and television show host Dominick Dunne takes on Biloxi’s most notorious murder case Wednesday night on his Court TV show, “Power, Privilege and Justice.”
The one-hour segment, called “Biloxi Confidential,” reminded Dunne of his own sojourn on the Coast, where he was stationed while in the U.S. Army during World War II.
Longtime Biloxians will enjoy the show just to see what everyone looked like almost 20 years ago, when a hitman gunned down Circuit Court Judge Vincent Sherry and former Councilwoman Margaret Sherry in their North Biloxi home. Those new to the area will be treated to a slice of the city’s history many would just as soon forget.
“These were prominent people,” said Dunne, who has covered the O.J. Simpson trial and other cases for Vanity Fair magazine. “I’m always interested in well-to-do people, and they were well-to-do. They lived in a lovely house. They’re public figures there.”
Many viewers will hear for the first time from the lead investigator on the Sherry case, retired FBI Agent Keith Bell, who is interviewed at length. Former U.S. Attorney George Phillips, whose office first prosecuted the case, is also featured.
“Biloxi Confidential” focuses on Pete Halat, who took office as Biloxi mayor in 1989, less than two years after the murders. As the show points out, Margaret Sherry had intended to run for the office.
The show traces the connections that led to the murder: a Louisiana inmate represented by Halat had been scamming homosexuals from behind prison bars, posing in classified ads as a young man looking for love. Halat held the inmate’s scam proceeds in a trust account. When money came up missing, Halat blamed Sherry, who had by then left their Biloxi law practice for his Circuit Court judgeship.
The murders were set up by Biloxi striptease lounge owner Mike Gillich Jr., a friend to Halat and Sherry, and a longtime acquaintance of the Louisiana inmate’s. Gillich and the inmate, Kirksey McCord Nix Jr., were convicted in the federal case in 1991. After two years in prison, Gillich decided to talk and implicated Halat, who was convicted after a second trial in 1997 for participating in the conspiracy.
“It was an interesting group of rotten people,” concluded Dunne, interviewed Monday by telephone.
Halat is not scheduled for release from prison until 2013. Dunne said that Halat declined to be interviewed for the Court TV show.
Who’s who
Here is a list of some of the key players in the murders of Vincent and Margaret Sherry and where they are now:
–Pete Halat, one of six people convicted in the 1987 murders of Vincent and Margaret Sherry, had his claim rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals in December 2005. The former Biloxi mayor is serving an 18-year sentence for conspiracy to commit racketeering, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
–Kirksey McCord Nix Jr. is serving life without parole in a federal prison in Florence, Colo. Nix was convicted of masterminding the conspiracy from a Louisiana prison cell, where he was serving a life sentence for a New Orleans murder.
–Thomas Leslie Holcomb, the triggerman in the 1987 Sherry murders, died April 8, 2005, while serving a life sentence in federal prison in Beaumont, Texas.
–John Elbert Ransom, a Nix associate from Georgia, was released from a federal prison in Georgia on Nov. 7, 2003. He had been sentenced to 10 years for conspiring to murder the Sherrys.
–Sheri LaRa Sharpe was released June 13, 2002, from a federal prison in Tallahassee, Fla., after serving five years for obstruction of justice.
–Mike Gillich Jr., a former owner of striptease lounges in Biloxi who became a government witness, was released from prison in July 2000 after serving nine years for his role in the conspiracy.
——
‘Biloxi Confidential’
Biloxi’s Sherry murders will be featured on Court TV.
When: 9 p.m., Wednesday, Dominick Dunne’s “Power, Privilege and Justice” will feature the Sherry murder case in a segment called “Biloxi Confidential”; repeats at 1 a.m.
—–
Copyright (c) 2007, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Comments