She exposed how the nation's poorest state spent federal welfare money. Now she might go to jail.

Thanks God for m... Wait!

There is no prosecutor involved here. She is being civilly sued for defamation. She might go to jail if she defies a subpoena to turn over internal records that include confidential sources.

Overall it seems like the ex governor might actually have a leg to stand on in court, but the bar for defamation is high. I think it's unlikely that, if this went to court, the ex governor would win. I expect this to be settled before actually being argued in court, though.

I learned that judges in Mississippi are elected and not required to actually be a lawyer or know the law. The story i saw was about an armed off-duty cop who threatened to kill a man and two children who were trying to catch a loose dog and stepped on his property. He called his cop buddies and told them that he was threatened and the cops arrested the man for aggravated assault. He went to trial and the 30 year old judge who'd never practiced law convicted him. It wasn't overturned until the news started reporting on the situation and exposed what was going on.