The Mississippi State University Student Association Senate found Vice President Layton Little not guilty of both charges, misuse of lawful authority and misconduct of public affairs. 
On March 6, College of Engineering Senator Peyton Parker brought up impeachment charges against Little for misuse of lawful authority, which began the process leading to Tuesday night’s trial.
David Cuevas, Little’s roommate, claimed he overheard Little speaking to someone about the campaign platforms of Mayah Emerson, Little’s opponent in the SA presidential race, and Jake Manning, current senator and candidate for vice president.
Cuevas then contacted Manning to confirm Little should not have such access to campaign information, and eventually, Cuevas appeared before the Senate to testify.
Little confessed to seeing the campaign information on OrgSync, after repeatedly asking his access to the information be revoked, and he called to share the information with Bailey Walhood, Little’s campaign manager. Little denied sharing the information with anyone else.
The Senate voted to hold a trial on March 6, but senators were divided on whether Little was guilty. Senators Adam Sabes and Alex Bedwell both expressed their sadness at the trial’s occurrence, but also expressed their concerns with his supposed activity.
College of Arts and Sciences Sen. Emily Case, a member of Manning’s committee, sees the charges as socially motivated.
“Vice President Pro-Tempore, Jake Manning, is the chairman of my committee. Ever since I was elected to be a Senator (February 2017) I have heard Manning express his distaste for the Vice President,” Case said. “Manning frequently speaks out against Vice President Little on the Senate floor and makes remarks in our committee meetings to the same effect. Senator Parker, the senator who made the motion for impeachment, is one of Manning’s friends who has also expressed his grievances with Little.”
Similarly, Graduate Sen. Abdullah Sherif cautioned judgement against Little prior to the judiciary decision and a proper trial.
“I would like to remind everyone, especially those within the Student Association that this matter must be handled first by the Judicial Council and that passing judgement before a fair trial is conducted can lead to real and irreversible personal damages on the part of Vice President Little,” Sherif said.
The Judicial Council ruled on March 19 that Elections Commissioner Kennedy Moehrs is to issue Little’s campaign a minor violation, and denied Manning’s request for an invalidation of the election and an issuance of a major violation.
Major violations are outlined as including, but not limiting to disregard to local, state or federal law to any degree; voting fraud; forging or falsifying documents, including the expense report; damage of or sabotage to other campaigns or campaign materials; and Code of Student Conduct violations. The court decided in favor of Little.
Chief Justice Joseph Kerstiens delivered the opinion of the Council.
“Breaking the law, fraud and forging documents are in no way culpably similar to the almost childish pre-campaign act of comparing one’s platform to another,” Kerstiens said.
The trial began with Appointed Sen. Josh McCoy representing Little, and Transfer Senators Ryan Jeffries and Dee Stegall, as well as Peyton Parker, representing the prosecution.
The plaintiff presented three witnesses: Cuevas, Deputy Chief of Staff Gipson Clark, and Walhood. Cuevas’s testimony was the same as he had given at the prior Senate meeting. Clark testified Little did not discuss any specific campaign points with him on March 2, which is the day Little saw the private campaign information.
Finally, Walhood testified Little only discussed Emerson’s platform points and only for a short while. In addition, McCoy raised the point a date party took place on March 2 as well, and alcoholic beverages were most likely consumed at Little’s duplex. Walhood agreed with the presumption, and agreed with McCoy’s assertion that any person who was intoxicated at the time cannot be considered an accurate witness.
The defendant’s only witness was Jessica Tranum, who lives in the same style apartment as Little and Cuevas. Tranum testified, though the building is rundown, you would be unable to discern conversations through walls, which would nullify Cuevas’s testimony.
Jeffries gave the prosecution’s closing statement, which reiterated the prosecution’s position that Little admitted to viewing private information and was only able to do so because of his administrative access. Therefore, Jeffries claimed Little misused his lawful authority in order to gain advantage against Emerson in the presidential race. Jeffries asked to look to the Judicial Council statement.
“The allegations brought by Senator Manning—that the Vice President informed his own campaign and others’—if proven to be true, would surely be a violation of this duty and would warrant appropriate action by this council,” Jeffries said.
On the opposite side, McCoy’s closing statement centered on the idea that nothing can be definitively proven in this case, and without definition, it would be irresponsible to use the “nuclear option” of removal from office. Additionally, McCoy also asked to look to the council, and said the senators should follow the council’s decision to give Little only a minor violation.
After the trial, the Senate had to vote on whether the charges would be applied. The prosecution added the “misconduct of public affairs” charge to the existing “misuse of lawful authority” charge, and the Senate began to debate the merits of the testimony and the charges in general.
Several senators argued, due to Little’s inability to change his own platform after viewing others, Little’s actions did not and could not affect the election, and therefore, the charges were moot. Recreational Organization Sen. Allison Young asserted if Little was truly trying to sabotage the election, he would have done so when he could have still changed his platform.
Sen. Logan Timmis pointed out the information would have been immediately available to Little on OrgSync, so he would not have had to search maliciously for it.
Other senators, such as College of Engineering Sen. Reed Bigham, argued whether the intent was good, Little still admitted he saw information he should not have been able to see, and this was made possible by his position as vice president.
“Regardless of what his intentions were, I am sure he did not intend to do this, but he has sort of voided our trust of him,” Bigham said. “This is the most I’ve seen Senate divided ever, so regardless, there has to be some sort of repercussion for that violation of trust. Because there is no way he can fully do his job without our full backing of him.”
Finally, the charge was put to a vote. With 30 passes, 30 fails, and 2 abstentions, Little was found not guilty, because a simple majority was not reached.
The second charge, misconduct of public affairs, is applicable when someone is seen to have acted in a way contrary to the benefit of the student body.
“Misconduct of public affairs is, in Layton’s public life, has he done something so gravely out of conduct and out of line that constitutes impeachment,” Chief Justice Kerstiens clarified.
The charge of misconduct of public affairs was put to a vote without much debate and failed with only five passing votes.
The trial ended with Chief Justice Kerstiens’s declaration of Little not guilty on both charges.
Sen. Case shared her thoughts on the verdict.
“Why should Little be convicted, and potentially removed from office, for something having almost entirely to do with elections and not his duties as the Vice President, especially considering that the Judicial Council’s ruling of a minor infraction was as Senator McCoy put it, ‘a slap on the wrist’?” Case said. “This matter was dealt with by the Judicial Council, as it was an elections issue, and after seeing their verdict, I was even less inclined to convict Vice President Little.”
Following the verdict, Little said he was thankful for the support he was shown, but acknowledges he made a mistake.
“I want the student body to know that, yes, I made a mistake; however, I did not make this mistake with the intention of using the information gleaned to demean or belittle my competitor or any other candidate,” Little said. “I have working relationships with each candidate, and I would not risk hurting those relationships with knowledge I inadvertently had access to, due to my administrative access to OrgSync not being revoked as I had requested be done multiple times.”
Little continued and said throughout his career as a senator and vice president, his focus has and always will be MSU and the Starkville community.
“I have worked diligently on behalf of the students of Mississippi State University for the past three years in multiple capacities within the Student Association,” Little said. “The students, faculty and administration that I work with, both directly and indirectly, know my character and know that I continue to put students first in each decision I make, because it is my goal during my undergraduate career to give back to the university and the community that have given me so much in my years here.”