The Associated Press
JACKSON (AP) — A federal judge refused Tuesday to dismiss the civil rights case against Jackson Mayor Frank Melton in a sledgehammer attack on a duplex that the self-proclaimed get-tough-on-crime politician considered a crack house.
Melton, 59, and his police bodyguard, Michael Recio, 39, are each charged with three federal felonies for leading a group of young men to damage the home in August 2006.
Defense attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan III to dismiss the civil rights charges and acquit the men on a firearms charge. Jordan refused to dismiss the charges and said he would rule later on the weapons violation.
In opening the defense’s case Tuesday, Melton’s attorney, John Reeves, told jurors that the duplex was a haven for drug distribution and other illegal acts and that for them to convict Melton and Recio, they must believe the first-term mayor willfully violated the civil rights of those involved.
“The acts the mayor took were not a crime … Mayor Melton did not intend to violate the Constitution,” Reeves said.
Prosecutors say Melton was drunk the night of the vigilante-style raid and violated the rights of the home’s owner and tenant. Melton said he was only trying to help the city and the tenant, who he says is mentally ill with a history of substance abuse and other crimes. Melton claims the tenant was being bullied by dealers who wanted to sell drugs out of the home.
Besides the civil rights violation, a separate charge alleges Melton and Recio violated those rights under color of law. A third count alleges the men committed a crime of violence while in possession of a firearm.
Reeves repeatedly made references to crack cocaine in trying to paint the ramshackle structure in a poor Jackson neighborhood as a blight on the community.
The defense’s first witness, Tammy Evans, who said she was a former alcoholic and drug abuser, said she told Melton two different times that crack was being sold at the house.
Prosecutors, who rested their case last week, have said Melton had no legal authorization to damage the house or its contents.
As for the firearms charge, Reeves said the government’s own witness testified that Melton did not use a gun during the raid. Melton’s other former bodyguard, Marcus Wright, who struck a deal with prosecutors and is a key witness in the case, testified last week that he was the one who pulled a gun and that mayor did not direct him to, Reeves said.
Melton, Recio and Wright were acquitted in April 2007 of state charges related to the duplex attack after making a similar argument. This time, however, federal prosecutors persuaded Wright to turn on his former boss.
Melton is a former television executive and one-time head of the state narcotics agency who made a name for himself with an opinion segment called “The Bottom Line” on the television station he ran for years. He was elected by a landslide in 2005 after running on a tough-on-crime platform.
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