More Melton Motions

Prosecutor's in the Melton case have filed a new motion saying the law applies to the mayor and they're not going to get into his "personal moral code of conduct"...whatever his personal code of conduct is. I think it's been in question since his TV days.

The motion was filed in response to a defense argument that jurors in the mayor's Jan. 5 trial should be allowed to hear evidence showing Melton did not have an "evil motive" on Aug. 28, 2006, when he allegedly led a group of sledgehammer-welding young men, some with criminal records, to attack a Ridgeway Street duplex he later claimed was a "crack house."

Melton and his two former Jackson Police Department bodyguards Marcus Wright and Michael Recio were charged in July in a three-count federal indictment with crimes related to the warrantless raid on the duplex. In October, Wright pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in exchange for his cooperation in prosecuting Melton and Recio.

If convicted on all counts, Melton and Recio could spend up to 25 years in prison.

The claim that Melton's actions were well intentioned was a central feature of the mayor's successful defense in an April 2007 state trial on charges related to the duplex raid. In that trial, a Hinds County jury found Melton and his bodyguards not guilty on all counts after jurors were told they had to consider whether the mayor's alleged actions were "malicious."

U.S. Justice Department prosecutors argued in their motion that jurors in the federal system need receive no instruction about "evil motive."

"Moreover, even if this Court were to use such charging language, case law and grammatical structure of the instruction make clear that the phrase refers only to the defendant's 'purpose' or 'motive' to disobey or disregard the Constitution and federal law," the motion states.

In short, prosecutors argued, jurors need only decide whether Melton and his bodyguards knew the raid was against the law.

In prior briefs and courtroom arguments, prosecutors have said they intend to show Melton was warned several times about proper police procedure, but chose to ignore that advice. As police officers, Recio and Wright were trained in proper procedure, and according to a federal trial brief filed last month, Wright will testify that the three men knew what they were doing was against the law.

While Melton's defense has seized upon court precedent requiring jurors to weigh "evil motive," prosecutors argued that language is "shorthand" to mean something consciously done and not "mere carelessness or mistake."

John Reeves, Melton's defense attorney, has made it clear that allowing in evidence showing a history of drug use and sales at the duplex and in the surrounding neighborhood is key to his defense of the mayor. Reeves has a week to draft a rebuttal to the prosecution's argument, after which U.S. District Judge Dan Jordan will rule on how the case will proceed.

Mississippi College law professor Matt Steffey said Reeves made a strong initial argument in his original motion filed last month.

As a result, he expects Jordan will allow some leeway for the defense to explain why Melton and Recio were at the duplex.

"I don't expect Judge Jordan to let the mayor run wild like he did at the state trial," he said. "But (the jury) has to know why the mayor showed up that night."

In a separate filing, prosecutors also asked Jordan to place three of their latest motions under seal, two of them in an apparent effort to protect Wright, their star witness.

In an attempt to discredit Wright, defense attorneys for Melton and Recio filed a motion last month seeking JPD Internal Affairs documents involving Wright.

The documents involve second-hand accounts of alleged sexual misconduct by Wright made by a jailed male prostitute.

One motion federal prosecutors filed Monday seeks "to preclude any reference to findings of misconduct of police officers by witnesses that do not concern lack of truthfulness."

A second asks Jordan to "exclude reference to allegations of misconduct by Marcus Wright."

Judging from the titles of the latest prosecution motions, they appear to pick up from last month's hearings where lawyers for both sides argued over the Internal Affairs documents that mentioned Wright.

During that hearing, lead prosecutor Mark Blumberg blasted the defense motions regarding the male prostitute as a blatant attempt to smear Wright.

Defense attorneys fired back with accusations that government prosecutors withheld information damaging to Wright's credibility.

The third motion prosecutors filed Monday is more mysterious in that it asks Jordan to reconsider a ruling that would keep out "certain statements by Defendant Frank Melton."

Because the government has asked the motion be sealed, it is not clear what statements Jordan is being asked to reconsider.

At the hearing, attorneys for both sides discussed Melton's many public statements over the past two-plus years since the Ridgeway Street incident and prosecutors provided DVD's of Melton's television interviews to the defense.

However, Jordan did not rule during the hearing on their admissibility.

From the Clarion-Ledger