Trial set for Nov. 7 in Jackson in Vicksburg man’s slaying

Published 11:42 am Tuesday, September 20, 2011

A 21-year-old Jackson man charged with capital murder in the 2010 hit-and-run death of a Vicksburg man will go to trial Nov. 7, the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office said.

Julius Lamont Reed Jr. is accused of running down Franklin Salas, 52, in the parking lot of Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium June 12 after attempting to break into Salas’ Ford Explorer, police said.

Salas came out of a nearby restaurant and interrupted the burglary in process, authorities said. Reed jumped in his own vehicle and, speeding out of the parking lot, struck Salas. Salas was taken to University Medical Center where he died the next day.

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Reed was arrested July 9. Records showed he had multiple convictions, including one on June 5, 2009, for auto theft and auto burglary in Warren County that year. Circuit Judge Isadore Patrick sentenced Reed to serve two years in prison, suspending five years of the total seven-year sentence.

Reed, whose address at the time was 5600 Woodroad Terrace, Jackson, was to be on supervised probation for five years after his release.

He was given an identical sentence in Rankin County Circuit Court on March 1, 2010, for two auto burglaries dating to 2008, a spokesman there said.

The Warren and Rankin county sentences were to be served concurrently.

Records showed Reed was given “earned released supervision” less than two months later, on April 25, 2010.

In addition to capital murder, Reed also has pending charges of receiving stolen goods, possession of cocaine and five counts of auto burglary.

Salas was the owner of South Mississippi Signs and did business with Vicksburg and Gulf Coast casinos, as well as casinos in Louisiana and Florida. He was originally from Spokane and had lived in Biloxi from the early 1980s until his move to Vicksburg.