Former Hinds County interim sheriff Marshand Crisler has been sentenced to 2 ½ years in federal prison for soliciting and accepting bribes during his unsuccessful 2021 campaign.
U.S. District Court Judge Tom Lee sentenced him Tuesday for the two counts he was convicted of in November. Crisler received concurrent sentences of 30 months in custody of the Bureau of Prisons, followed by three years of supervision and an order to pay a $15,000 fine, according to court records.
Crisler faced up to 10 years in prison. He remained out on bond until his sentencing.
The court recommended Crisler to be assigned to the nearest facility to Jackson. Nearby federal facilities are in Yazoo City, Aliceville, Alabama, central Louisiana and Memphis.
Crisler was charged with soliciting and accepting $9,500 worth of bribes during his 2021 campaign for Hinds County sheriff in exchange for favors from a man with previous felony convictions and giving ammunition the man can’t possess as a felon.
The jury heard from several witnesses, including Crisler himself and Tonarri Moore, the man with past felonies and pending state and federal charges who the FBI recruited as an informant.
Parts of recorded conversations between the men, which Moore made for investigators, were played in court.
During several meetings in Jackson and around Hinds County in 2021, Crisler said he would tell Moore about investigations involving him, move Moore’s cousin to a safer part of the Hinds County jail, give him a job with the sheriff’s office and give him freedom to have a gun despite prohibitions on Moore having one.
Crisler was found guilty after a three-day trial in Jackson. The jury took about two hours to reach a unanimous verdict for both charges .
In November after the verdict, his attorney, John Colette, told reporters his client and family were disappointed in the decision and Crisler planned to appeal.
Crisler was indicted in April 2023 – the same year he ran again for Hinds County sheriff. He lost in a runoff election to Tyree Jones, the incumbent Crisler faced two years earlier.
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