Meet The U.S. Attorney

Acting U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner

Mr. Joyner is a graduate of the University of Mississippi and the Mississippi College School of Law.  He began his legal career in 1996 as a Special Assistant Attorney General at the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office.  He then worked as an Assistant District Attorney in Tupelo for the First District Circuit Court from 1997 to 2008 during which time he served as president of the MS Prosecutor’s Association.  In August, 2008, he joined the United States Attorney’s Office prosecuting drug trafficking, financial crimes, crimes against children, and terrorism offenses.  From February, 2011 through August 2012, Joyner was detailed by the Department of Justice as an Attorney Advisor and then Justice Attache' at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. While at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Joyner has served as the Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council Coordinator, Senior Litigation Counsel and was named First Assistant United States Attorney in 2017 by then U.S. Attorney Chad Lamar.  He will serve beginning March 1, 2021, in an acting capacity until a new United States Attorney is selected and confirmed.