The start of the federal murder trial of Roland Mitchell Dampeer, 28, in the Northern District Court of the United States District Court has again been delayed at the request of the defendant’s counsel. Originally set to begin Apr. 13, proceedings were first postponed to June 1 and now to July 20, 2020.
“Voluminous discovery has been received from the government, and undersigned counsel has been unable to investigate and complete an adequate review of the same,” wrote M. Scott Davis, the assistant federal public defender, who has been assigned to represent Dampeer. “Defense counsel requests a continuance in order to continue meeting with defendant, complete inspection of discovery material, prepare any necessary pretrial 
motions, and adequately prepare for trial.”
Dampeer was charged in the Jan. 16, 2020, shooting death of Sherry Ingold, a rural postal worker delivering mail along Highway 35 in Hesterville. The suspect also faces a federal charge for discharging a firearm — a 9mm Ruger LCR pistol — in the incident.
Ingold, the mother of three grown children and a Hesterville native living in Lexington, succumbed to her injuries at the University of Mississippi Medical Center several weeks after the incident.
Dampeer is also accused of attempting to kidnap Andrea Goss of Carmack from inside the Sunflower supermarket on Highway 12 a short while before shooting Ingold.
Dampeer has been indicted in Attala County Circuit Court on both the Goss kidnapping and Ingold murder charges, according to District Attorney Doug Evans, but the district attorney indicated that Dampeer will only eventually face the murder charge in one court or the other.
