Murder trial set to begin Tuesday

The trial for murder suspect Ray Allen Thompson is expected to get underway Tuesday in 12th District Circuit Court in Forrest County.

Thompson is accused of the April 27, 2014, shooting death of  38-year-old Oliver Griffin at Pinehaven Apartments, 571 Helveston Road. Hattiesburg police responded to a report of gunshots fired at the apartment complex.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found Griffin on the ground "suffering from at least one gunshot wound" amid a group of people in the parking lot. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Thompson, who had been working as a courtesy officer at Pinehaven, told police he had responded to a domestic dispute that involved Griffin. The incident wound up in the parking lot, where Griffin was shot and killed.

After Thompson was identified as the shooter, he was taken into custody and charged with second-degree murder.

Forrest County Deputy Coroner Lisa Klem told the Hattiesburg American in an earlier story an autopsy determined Griffin had died from a single gunshot wound to the left chest.

Thompson at the time also worked as a Mississippi Department of Corrections field officer. He was hired by MDOC in March 2013 to supervise offenders on house arrest. Soon after his arrest, Thompson was suspended without pay from his job with MDOC, but he no longer is employed with the agency, an MDOC spokeswoman said.

He was booked into the Forrest County Jail, but was released April 28, 2014, on a $50,000 bond.