Prisoner Entitled to Workers’ Comp, Mississippi High Court Rules

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A former utility worker who lost his hands when he was shocked by power lines can receive workers’ compensation, even though officials argued he tried to hurt himself to avoid a homicide investigation, the Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled.

Lonnie Smith pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the homicide case and is serving a 12-year prison sentence. Smith, a former alderman in Ripley, Miss., was injured in April 2010 while working in a bucket-lift truck for the Tippah Electric Power Association.

The Supreme Court ordered the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission to determine Smith’s benefits. The court’s majority rejected the power association’s claim that Smith intentionally grabbed the power lines to injure himself or commit suicide.

According to court records, no one could say they saw Smith grab the power lines in a deliberate manner. Smith said he got entangled in the wires after he dropped a knife in the bucket and reached down to get it.

Smith applied for workers’ compensation benefits shortly after the incident. The Workers’ Compensation Commission judge ruled that Smith intentionally injured himself and was not entitled to compensation. The Mississippi Court of Appeals upheld the ruling last May.

The judge and the commission found the power association had proved its argument, presenting evidence that Smith was being investigated for his role in a man’s killing, that co-workers reported his unusual behavior and that several witnesses saw Smith grabbing the power lines.

Justice Ann Lamar, writing for the majority, said Tippah offered nothing but speculation. She said without an eyewitness, “there was simply insufficient evidence to support a finding that Smith intentionally grabbed both the primary and neutral lines in an attempt to commit suicide.”

Justice Josiah Coleman, in a dissent, said there was evidence Smith was the subject of a homicide investigation, and law enforcement officials had obtained a DNA sample from him just days before the injury.