Ellington

More than two years after Mayor Frank Melton and police bodyguard Michael Recio destroyed a duplex on Ridgeway Street, they may finally answer for their crimes in federal court.

The Ridgeway rampage was the inevitable culmination of a paranoid police crusade pursued by Melton and his henchmen. The mayor had already ordered police officers to break in a hotel door without a warrant. He had illegally burned down unoccupied homes. He had searched cars at roadblocks and concocted criminal charges against his enemies. Melton ran for office boasting of his contempt for due process, and as advertised, his administration was all posse, no policy.

When the Jackson Free Press broke the first story describing what had happened on Ridgeway that night in August 2006, readers were amazed but not surprised. I was with JFP reporter Adam Lynch when he interviewed witnesses to the mayor's mayhem. Most were too frightened of Melton's return to go on the record about what they had seen. They were skeptical that anyone would make the mayor answer for his crimes. He had already gotten away with it so many times. Still, witnesses did step forward, and a Hinds County grand jury soon indicted Melton, Recio and police bodyguard Marcus Wright on multiple felony counts.

In the state trial that followed, Melton bet all on an assault squad of lawyers led by former Mayor Dale Danks and Merrida Coxwell. The mayor's defense was complicated by the fact that he never denied destroying the duplex on Ridgeway. Instead, he has always pled "guilty with a good explanation." Facing this challenge, Melton's lawyers made the trial a hearing on the mayor's pure heart, rather than his criminal mischief. They accused the duplex of having a drug habit. They ran rings around hapless Judge Joe Webster, and in the end, their circus act confused the jury into ignoring the law. But even as Melton, Recio and Wright left the Hinds County courthouse in victory in April 2007, Jackson was already crawling with FBI agents investigating the mayor.

Now, Melton and Recio face federal charges, and acquittal will not come so easily. In this trial, Wright will testify for the prosecution. Melton has long described the Ridgeway incident as a "procedural error," as if he merely neglected to file the paperwork required for assuming dictatorial powers, but Wright's testimony will make it much harder for Melton to sell the myth of Ridgeway as urban renewal. Wright will testify that Melton was liquored up, guzzling the Chivas Regal his associates say has fueled much of his extrajudicial police work. He will testify that Melton was so drunk that he cut his hand while smashing windows, and that he lied to his own police chief about how he was injured. They will hear that when the duplex was finally destroyed, Melton boasted to terrified neighbors, "Are there any other houses around here I need to knock down?"

In the justice system, we rely on the impartiality of juries, but the outcome often turns on what jurors are allowed to hear. Melton's attorneys want to bring the circus to town once more, arguing that Melton's felonies were legal because his motives were pure. They want jurors to hear that the duplex was evil, the neighborhood to blame. But will that fairy tale prevail against Melton's scotch and water? Will jurors find Melton blameless when they hear that he unleashed troubled teenagers to do his dirty work, boys who taunted: "We're Wood Street tearin' up Virden. We're tearin' sh*t up!" What will jurors think if they hear that Melton tried to bribe law enforcement officials who might testify against him? As Mississippi law professor Matt Steffey told the JFP, "Trying to put pressure on witnesses before a grand jury is the sort of thing that mobsters do, not mayors."

As for Recio, he has long been an enthusiastic enforcer for his "boss," aiding and abetting Melton at every opportunity. He had to know that the Ridgeway rampage was unconstitutional, but his career has flourished from cleaning up the mayor's messes, leading to his brief appointment as deputy police chief. Years earlier, Recio allegedly wrote a false police report to protect Melton from charges that he illegally seized a car. In a police department so corrupt that crucial files on Melton have disappeared without a trace, we may never know all that Recio may have done to protect his patron.

A month before Ridgeway, I rode with Melton on a manhunt for drug fiend Vidal Sullivan. I watched in amazement as Melton stood in the middle of Wood Street and embraced murder suspect Maurice Warner, who was in tears over Sullivan. Warner was murdered this past Christmas Day, joining the tide of misery, drugs and death that surround the mayor.

It is clear that the FBI is curious whether Melton is involved in the drug trade. They have investigated but not charged Melton with bid-rigging and corruption. They have probed accusations that the mayor has committed sex crimes. This may prove to be only the first of Melton's federal trials, but it is the last time Melton will hold all of Jackson hostage to his mania and rage.

Melton presented himself to Jackson as a no-nonsense crusader who was the city's last, best hope for fighting crime. The truth is that he was a narcissistic drunk who made it up as he went along. Under this mayor, the murder rate nearly doubled, the city was distracted by endless scandal, and the budget overflowed with red ink. For Melton, all of Jackson was a "crack house" that he would save by smashing. Now, the bill is coming due. Now, men who thought themselves above the Constitution will finally face the rule of law.