State Representative Jeffrey Hulum III issues statement on Nolan Wells case
State Representative and Democratic Congressional candidate Jeffrey Hulum III is calling for transparency in the investigation into the death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells and pushing back against threats local elected officials have received since Nolan’s death.
In a statement released Thursday, Hulum also urges the general public to avoid drawing conclusions before the investigation is complete, saying that premature statements do a lot of damage.
Hulum went on to say the focus should remain on determining what happened to Wells and giving his family answers and that transparency is the only thing that will establish trust in the process.
Hulum’s full statement can be found below:
“Elected officials on the Mississippi Gulf Coast have received threats of defamation lawsuits from private citizens over this case. The public should understand what that means. There is a long list of questions about the process surrounding the death of an eighteen-year-old young man, officials have a duty to respond to them, and they are now being threatened for doing exactly that.
When elected officials promise to hold people accountable for threats, that promise should cover everyone. Not only the law enforcement community, but the family and anyone else involved.
Protection does not depend on your job title. As a citizen of the state of Mississippi, you have the right to be protected from harm, from danger, and from credible threats, whether you know they are coming or not.
Two autopsies have been performed. The state medical examiner’s report has not been released. The independent examination commissioned by the Wells family came back undetermined pending investigation. Those are the public facts, and they do not support anyone saying that Nolan Wells drowned or that Nolan Wells was murdered. The honest answer today is that no one outside that process knows exactly what happened to him, and anyone claiming otherwise is replacing the judicial process with a false narrative.
That is exactly why premature statements do so much damage, whether they come from officials or from private individuals. When a person with a platform characterizes the cause of a death before the evidence supports it, or blames the public for reacting instead of answering the substance of what the public is asking, that person is not lowering the temperature. They are spending trust they did not build and cannot replace. And a family that is already grieving ends up with less than they had before.
This is not a red herring and it is not a political football. It is about the tragic death of a bright young man who lost his life far too soon. It is about the fact that every mother should know, to the fullest extent possible, what happened to cause the death of her child.
With this many rumors circulating and this many unclear narratives, transparency is the only thing that will establish trust in the process.
No state official should characterize the cause or manner of Nolan Wells’ death before the medical examiner’s findings and the grand jury process are complete. Neither should anyone with potential firsthand knowledge of this case or a working relationship with those handling the investigation. Speculation from people that close to it blurs the lines and limits the public’s ability to trust any information at all.
A community does not get frightened without a reason, and it does not calm down because someone tells it to. The Coast needs what the Wells family needs. An answer, arrived at honestly, and the ability to ask for it without being threatened. Let us not get lost in the process of seeking justice. A young man lost his life. Lady Justice cannot afford to look away. True transparency and accountability are a must, and everyday citizens deserve protection from the same law enforcement community their tax dollars provide.”
