 On February 21, 1989, former Neshoba County sheriff Lawrence A. Rainey filed a lawsuit against Orion Pictures, claiming defamation and invasion of privacy.The lawsuit, filed at a United States district court in Meridian, Mississippi, asked for $8 million in damages.Rainey, who was the county sheriff at the time of the 1964 murders, alleged that the filmmakers of "Mississippi Burning" had portrayed him in an unfavorable light with the fictional character of Sheriff Ray Stuckey (Gailard Sartain).