What was intended to be a customary procedure in Carroll County Circuit Court turned out to become a brief hearing involving former Carroll-Montgomery Regional Correctional Facility employee Pete Misskelly's lawsuit against the county.

Tuesday morning's docket setting in Vaiden ended up with Misskelly, 64, the former warden of CMRCF, on the stand.

According to Carroll County Circuit Clerk Durward Stanton, oral arguments in the court, where circuit judge Clarence Morgan presided, took place involving insurance attorney Silas McCaharen and Misskelly's attorney Webb Franklin of Greenwood. McCaharen is an attorney with Daniel Coker Horton and Bell of Jackson. He was accompanied by CMRCF attorney Devo Lancaster who represented the county to determine if Pete Misskelly was properly compensated by the county. McCaharen, an experienced attorney with three decades of law practice, specializes in labor and employee laws with counties and municipalities.

According to Stanton, Morgan took the case and the exhibits under advisement. No later date has been set for the hearing.

Last year, Misskelly was terminated after then-newly elected Sheriff Jerry Carver replaced him with Arthur Smith, who is currently the warden of CMRCF.

In the lawsuit, Misskelly names the correctional facility, the Mississippi Department of Corrections and the county as the parties he is seeking actions against. Since then MDOC was excused from the lawsuit stating they were not in charge of Misskelly's release in 2007.

"We don't know what's next," Franklin said Tuesday afternoon. "The judge took it under advisement. But it is obvious I want him to get what he deserves out of this."

Misskelly, now the mayor of North Carrollton, spent nine years as warden and was granted a catastrophic leave at a November 2007 county supervisors meeting. Even today, Misskelly is hobbled by nagging knees and a healing hip, and he spends a great deal of time back and forth to the physicians.

Misskelly submits he is entitled to damages from mental suffering and emotional distress in an amount to be determined by the Carroll County Circuit Court.

According to the suit, the estimated reduction of Misskelly's retirement benefits, based upon the county's actions to terminate his catastrophic leave was at $19,000 per year. The suit states Misskelly will have suffered a monetary loss of approximately $323,000 over the life of his retirement over the next 17 years.

According to jail records, Misskelly earned over 2,000 hours for usage of the leave. The records define a catastrophic injury or illness as a severe condition affecting the mental or physical health of an employee or member of an employee's immediate family. It also states all unused catastrophic leave shall be carried over into subsequent calendar years and any unused leave shall be counted as credible service for the purpose of the retirement system upon termination of employment.