Jackson Mayor Charged In Civil Rights Case

The mayor of Mississippi's largest city and two police bodyguards were indicted Wednesday on federal charges they conspired to demolish a private home. The indictment comes a year after they were acquitted of state charges in the same case.

A federal grand jury in Jackson returned a three-count indictment against Mayor Frank Melton and his police bodyguards, officers Michael Recio and Marcus Wright, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. The three were cleared in April 2007 of state charges they used sledgehammers and sticks to demolish the duplex Melton considered a drug house.

Grace Chung Becker, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said the three men were charged with conspiracy to tear down a private home in Jackson, resulting in a second charge of violating the civil rights of the owner and resident of the home.

They also were charged with using a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence.

If convicted on the civil rights charges, the men could face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The firearms charge carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of five years.

Melton told Jackson-based WLBT-TV that he is focused on issues important to the city such as economic development and street paving and not his legal troubles.

"While this is somewhat of a distraction, I can assure you I'm not going to lose focus on those things that are in the best interest of the city," Melton said.

Melton's attorney, Dale Danks, did not return a call from the Associated Press seeking comment, and lawyers for the others also had no immediate statements.

Melton was elected by a landslide in 2005 on promises he would root out the crime problem that is blamed for suburban flight and an evaporating tax base in Mississippi's capital city. But he later stirred controversy with his unorthodox tactics, which included carrying guns and cruising the inner city in the police department's mobile command center.

The federal indictment alleges that on Aug. 26, 2006, the defendants invited several young men into the police department's mobile command unit. The group drove to a home on Ridgeway Street, where Wright allegedly ordered the occupants outside at gunpoint.

"Thereafter, Mayor Melton allegedly knocked out several windows of the home with a large stick and ordered the young men accompanying him to destroy the home using sledgehammers while Wright and Recio stood guard," the Justice Department statement said.

The indictment alleged the defendants and the young men left the scene briefly before resuming the activity, destroying the home and its contents.

Federal authorities said the men didn't have any lawful authority to destroy the home and that they conspired to deprive the homeowner and the house's occupant of their right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures by those acting under authority of the law.

Jackson City Council President Leslie McLemore said the indictment wasn't "unexpected."

"This is really a sad day for the city of Jackson," McLemore said.

At the state trial, prosecutors said Melton and the bodyguards had no reason to bust windows and tear down walls in the rented home of a diagnosed schizophrenic who had a history of drug use. The defense acknowledged the home was damaged but told jurors there was no malice involved, leaving an element needed for conviction missing. All were acquitted on state counts.