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| Jim Hood | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 13, 2004 |
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| Preceded by | Mike Moore |
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| Political party | Democratic |
| Profession | Attorney |
Jim Hood is the Attorney General of Mississippi. A Democrat, he was elected in 2003, defeating the Republican nominee Scott Newton. Hood, a former District Attorney, succeeded Mike Moore. He is a native of New Houlka, Mississippi in Chickasaw County. In 2005, Hood prosecuted former Klansman Edgar Ray Killen for orchestrating the murder of Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney in Philadelphia, Mississippi over forty years ago. He has been active in the legal aspects of the recovery of Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. Shortly after Katrina, Hood partnered with Mississippi plaintiff attorney Dickie Scruggs to file suit against numerous high profile insurance companies. Hood's leadership has been praised by some as allowing homeowners a better opportunity for recovery than in neighboring Louisiana,[1] but Scruggs and Hood have also been criticized for over-zealously prosecuting insurance companies and because Scruggs helped convey confidential documents, which Hood used in a criminal probe, supposedly to pressure State Farm Insurance into settlement.[2] Hood was reelected on November 6, 2007.
References
Education
Hood received his J.D. from the University of Mississippi in 1988. As an undergraduate, Hood was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha.
