State Rep. Doug McLeod, R-Lucedale, facing charges of misdemeanor domestic violence in connection with an alleged incident involving his wife, has been asked to resign by House Speaker Philip Gunn.
“I have attempted to contact Rep. McLeod to request his resignation, if in fact, these allegations are true,” Gunn said. “These actions are unacceptable for anyone.”
The details of the arrest, reported by the Biloxi Sun Herald, say McLeod punched his wife in the face, bloodying her nose, after he thought she was undressing for sex too slowly. Deputies with the George County Sheriff’s Department who arrived at McLeod’s home report the lawmaker was visibly drunk, slurring his words and unable to stand without leaning on a guardrail.
McLeod, first elected to the House in 2011, is unopposed this year in his re-election bid to south Mississippi District 107.
A Mississippi Association of Educators event with McLeod, originally scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, will be rescheduled, according to a representative for MAE.
McLeod is not the first Mississippi lawmaker to be arrested this year. In January, Sen. Terry Burton, R-Newton, was arrested for a third DUI. And in September, police arrested Rep. Greg Snowden, R-Meridian, on suspicion of a DUI after he rear-ended another car and refused a breathalyzer.
Although neither lawmaker resigned his seat, Burton, who had a stroke in January, stepped down as president pro tem of the Senate after his arrest and will not seek re-election. Snowden remains speaker pro tem in the House.