Sheldon Timothy Herrington, Jr., left, is escorted from a bond hearing, in Oxford, Miss., Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. Bond was denied. (©Bruce Newman)

The upcoming capital murder trial of Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr. will not be held in Lafayette County, where the 2022 disappearance and death of University of Mississippi student Jimmie “Jay” Lee first captured national attention.

Circuit Judge Kelly Luther granted a motion Monday afternoon to move the trial to a different location, agreeing with Herrington’s defense team that pretrial publicity in the Oxford area could make seating an impartial jury difficult. State prosecutors did not oppose the request.

While the order said that the venue will be moved, it did not state where the trial will take place, stating only that it will be “determined prior to trial.”

The trial is currently scheduled to begin on Oct. 13.

Herrington, a native of Grenada, is charged with capital murder in connection with the death of 20-year-old Lee, a well-known LGBTQ+ advocate and recent graduate of the University of Mississippi.

Lee was last seen leaving his Oxford apartment on July 8, 2022. After months of public appeals and search efforts, human remains were discovered in February 2025 by hunters in rural Carroll County. DNA testing later confirmed the remains belonged to Lee.

Herrington was arrested in July 2022, two weeks after Lee’s disappearance, and charged with capital murder. In December 2024, his first trial ended in a mistrial after a jury, brought in from Hattiesburg, failed to reach a unanimous verdict.