Former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Jess Dickinson was the new judge and managed the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services. Davis was the director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services. Both Dickinson and Davis managed the two agencies. They used to work together until 2016, when the Legislature split CPS into its own department. CPS receives funding from the welfare agency. Child Protection Services, the state agency that oversees foster care, depends on MDHS sharing a portion its Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant (TANF). This helps to meet its annual budget. TANF is the federal welfare program Davis allegedly fraudulent. There is a possibility of a conflict of interests due to the connection between Davis and Dickinson. Due to a gag order in this case, the parties won’t say what caused the reassignment. It is possible that Dickinson will reassign again. Dickinson was one of several special judges that the Mississippi Supreme Court appointed in 2020 to clear Hinds County’s backlog. This is how Dickinson ended up preside over his contemporary’s case. Dickinson, who was reached Tuesday evening, said that he hadn’t yet learned that Davis had been assigned to his case in a group of cases Hinds County is transferring. Davis is being accused by the State Auditor’s Office of facilitating a scheme to funnel $70 million in federal money away from the poor between 2016 and 2020. Prosecutors have charged Davis criminally over a small portion of the misspend. Prosecutors claim that he defrauded state funds by paying Brett DiBiase (a former pro-wrestler) for work he did not conduct, and conspiring to use welfare funds embezzled to send DiBiase into rehab with Nancy New, a nonprofit founder. According to federal figures, Davis’ department reported that $42.5 million was transferred to child welfare services between 2016 and 2019. Then-Gov. Phil Bryant named Davis welfare director in January 2016 and Dickenson head of CPS in Sept 2017. His tenure was marred by budget deficits and threats from the federal government. CPS failed year after year to adhere to the terms of a long-running federal suit settlement. In 2004, Mississippi was accused of failing to provide protection for children under its care. According to media reports, the plaintiffs claim that foster children are still being abused and neglected even though they were placed in their care as recently as 2019. Mississippi could have used money Davis’ agency and its contractors to strengthen supports for children and reduce neglect. This is a direct link between the welfare scandal and the state of Mississippi’s foster care system. The majority of the alleged misspends — including a promotional gig for Brett Favre and a $5 million new volleyball stadium, $2,000,000 in personal investments in an pharmaceutical startup, Marcus Dupree’s horse ranch, and many others — were part of a program called Families First Mississippi. Families First was widely publicized as the programmatic arm a judicial initiative called Family First. Family First was supposed to protect children from being removed from their homes. It delivered very little for tens and millions of dollars. Davis announced his retirement on July 19, 2019, only a few weeks after some of his employees reported agency misspend to Gov. Bryant relayed the information on to Shad White, the State Auditor. Bryant’s administration ended in January 2020, and Dickinson was released. Three months later, agents arrested Davis. The auditor then released a report that questioned $94 million in purchases made by his agency, mainly from the TANF funds. Davis was accused of conspiring in the state’s largest public embezzlement conspiracy. Dickinson, however, struggled to maintain operations at an agency already cash-strapped and with a shrinking budget. Dickinson could now have a significant impact on Davis’s fate. Tomie Green, Senior Hinds County Circuit Judge, signed the order placing Dickinson in charge of the case. It only contains one sentence. It only contains one sentence. On Jan. 28, Davis’ counsel and the state prosecutors requested another extension. Wooten’s administrative assistant said that she couldn’t give a reason for the reassignment. The office of the district attorney declined to comment. Mississippi Today called Tuesday’s Judge Green and Merrida Davis’ attorney Merrida Cooper but they did not return our calls. The case was closed by Davis’ attorneys, the auditor’s office and the prosecution. They have previously stated that they were unable to answer questions from the media due to a gag order. Nancy New was indicted in January for partially running Families First. She claims that the four $40,000 she paid to the Malibu luxury rehab center where DiBiase was being treated were bribes. Prosecutors claim that Davis extinguished $160,000 of debt and, in return, he agreed for the New non-profit to extend its TANF grant. New helping DiBiase is alleged to have benefitted Davis, which is a new theory in this case. Davis was not charged with bribery.