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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061115/ap_on_re_us/pistol_packing_mayor
Jackson mayor pleads to firearms charges By HOLBROOK MOHR, Associated Press Writer
11 minutes ago
JACKSON, Miss. - Mayor Frank Melton, who has taken a hard stand against the city's rising crime rate, pleaded guilty to weapons charges Wednesday in a deal with prosecutors that lets him stay in office and out of jail.
The mayor stood and acknowledged the agreement more than 90 minutes after his trial on the charges was to start. A jury had already been seated.
Melton, 57, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors for carrying a weapon into a church and a park, and no contest to a reduced charge on what had been a felony count involving a gun on a university campus.
He was given a six-month suspended sentence on each count, plus one year probation, and was fined $1,500.
Under state law, a felony conviction would have forced Melton from office and could have sent him to prison for as long as three years. Prosecutors agreed to reduced the felony for carrying a gun onto the campus of the Mississippi College School of Law to a misdemeanor of carrying a concealed weapon in exchange for the pleas.
Melton, a former Jackson television station executive and one-time state drug enforcement agency chief, was elected in 2005 on a tough-on-crime platform.
He has drawn national attention for his unconventional leadership style — including taking part in police raids and roadblocks — in the city of 184,000, which has a crime rate nearly twice the national average
Hinds County District Attorney Faye Peterson has also brought unrelated charges against Melton and his two Police Department bodyguards for their alleged role in smashing up a duplex on Aug. 26. Melton has said the home was a drug haven, an allegation the property owners deny. The property owners also have sued Melton.
The American Civil Liberties Union had accused Melton, who is black, of civil rights violations, including racial profiling.
Jackson mayor pleads to firearms charges By HOLBROOK MOHR, Associated Press Writer
11 minutes ago
JACKSON, Miss. - Mayor Frank Melton, who has taken a hard stand against the city's rising crime rate, pleaded guilty to weapons charges Wednesday in a deal with prosecutors that lets him stay in office and out of jail.
The mayor stood and acknowledged the agreement more than 90 minutes after his trial on the charges was to start. A jury had already been seated.
Melton, 57, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors for carrying a weapon into a church and a park, and no contest to a reduced charge on what had been a felony count involving a gun on a university campus.
He was given a six-month suspended sentence on each count, plus one year probation, and was fined $1,500.
Under state law, a felony conviction would have forced Melton from office and could have sent him to prison for as long as three years. Prosecutors agreed to reduced the felony for carrying a gun onto the campus of the Mississippi College School of Law to a misdemeanor of carrying a concealed weapon in exchange for the pleas.
Melton, a former Jackson television station executive and one-time state drug enforcement agency chief, was elected in 2005 on a tough-on-crime platform.
He has drawn national attention for his unconventional leadership style — including taking part in police raids and roadblocks — in the city of 184,000, which has a crime rate nearly twice the national average
Hinds County District Attorney Faye Peterson has also brought unrelated charges against Melton and his two Police Department bodyguards for their alleged role in smashing up a duplex on Aug. 26. Melton has said the home was a drug haven, an allegation the property owners deny. The property owners also have sued Melton.
The American Civil Liberties Union had accused Melton, who is black, of civil rights violations, including racial profiling.
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