Ex-cop charged with attempted murder

A former local law enforcement officer already jailed without bond on a forcible rape charge has been charged with two counts of attempted capital murder in a murder-for-hire scheme he allegedly tried to orchestrate from his cell.

Averal “Junior” Burnett, 47, who had 22 years in law enforcement, the majority with Hattiesburg Police Department and less than a year with Lamar County Sheriff Department, is accused of giving money to a former inmate at Pearl River County Jail to kill two people who were tied to the rape case.

Burnett had been denied bond on June 16 in 15th District Circuit Court on the rape charge.

District Attorney Hal Kittrell said Burnett, if indicted by a grand jury, will face trial on the rape charge in Lamar County. Because he had once worked in Lamar County, Burnett had been moved to Pearl River County Jail and, if indicted, would face trial there on the two counts of attempted capital murder.

“They are two separate and distinct cases,” Kittrell said.

Burnett could face up to life in the prison on the rape charge. The attempted capital murder charge could carry up to a life sentence if decided by jury. If it went to a judge, the sentence would range from no less than 20 years up to “one day less than life.”

If the maximum was imposed by the judge, an actuarial table similar to an insurance company’s would be used to determine Burnett’s lifespan, Kittrell said. He then would be sentenced to that age, less a day.

The case evolved after the former inmate allegedly tipped off Picayune Police Department to Burnett’s scheme.

Warren Strain, public affairs officer with the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, confirmed that agents with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation had been assisting the Pearl River Sheriff’s Department with the investigation.

The investigation is ongoing.