Indictments charging murder, shooting into an occupied dwelling and aggravated assault have been delivered to Carl Brandon in his jail cell.

Brandon, 52, has been in the Claiborne County Jail since March 17, the day the attorney for the board of supervisors was gunned down, the home of the county administrator was strafed and a county employee was wounded at her desk in the maintenance office.

In one court appearance, Brandon – fired from his county job eight years ago – has said he’s innocent and that the county’s unfair actions against him made him a criminal.

The indictments, returned by a grand jury last week, clear the way for an arraignment and possibly setting a trial date, although it is expected Brandon will undergo a series of mental exams before a trial jury is summoned.

Killed that morning was Allen Burrell, who was 54, and had a private practice in addition to his public role. Brandon waited for Burrell to arrive at his Main Street office that morning and shot him at close range with a shotgun, a witness said. Burrell died at the scene.

Next, shots were fired into the home of James Miller, county administrator, who was home alone and not struck.

Then, county road-department employee Loretha Porter was wounded in her office.

Sheriff Frank Davis has said that after the 20-minute spree, Brandon surrendered at the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Department.

Brandon’s 1997 firing as county road manager followed an investigation into allegations that he had sexually harassed a woman employee, which he denied.

He appealed the case unsuccessfully through the state’s court system, ending with an October 2002 refusal by the Mississippi Supreme Court to hear the case.

Brandon is being represented by attorneys Ed Blackmon and Frank C. Jones of Canton. District Attorney Alexander Martin is the prosecutor.

A July request from Jones that Brandon be allowed to undergo psychological testing at University Medical Center in Jackson on Sept. 5 is believed to have been approved.

In an answer to Jones’ request, Martin’s office requested, &#8220in anticipation of an insanity defense or allegations of incompetency,” an independent examination of Brandon by a psychiatrist at the Mississippi State Hospital.

The circuit judge for Claiborne County, Lamar Pickard, has recused himself from hearing at least preindictment matters in the case. The Mississippi Supreme Court has appointed Judge Frank Vollor of Vicksburg, a separate district, to hear pretrial matters.