IUKA, Miss. — Veronica Gillespie pleaded guilty April 8 to attempted murder and aggravated assault in cases arising in Prentiss County, the District Attorney’s Office said in a press release.
Circuit Court Judge Kelly Mims accepted the guilty pleas and sentenced Gillespie to 40 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections on the attempted murder charge, with 10 years suspended, leaving 30 years to serve, the release said.
Gillespie also pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault from a Nov. 8, 2022, incident, the release said. For that charge, Mims sentenced Gillespie to 20 years with all 20 years suspended; that sentence was ordered to run consecutive to the attempted murder sentence, the release said.
The District Attorney’s Office credited Detective Karl Courtney of the Booneville Police Department for investigation work and said the cases were prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Joel Baldwin and Reagan Wise on behalf of the state, the release said. Jason D. Herring is district attorney for the First Circuit Court District.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more details emerge.
Jon Ross Myers founded Mississippi News Group in 2013. Before founding the organization, he worked at The Daily Mississippian, The Marion Salute and The Southern Sentinel. A Mississippi journalist and writer based in Ripley, he received second place in poetry in the 2025 William Faulkner Literary Competition for "The Garden."
Stay connected
Mississippi, wherever you are.
Follow our coverage on Facebook and watch Mississippi News Group on YouTube.
