Star Witness Challenged in Melton Trial

Marcus Wright

A key government witness may have done damage on the stand during the federal trial of Jackson mayor Frank Melton but at what price? MPB's Lawayne Childrey reports.

Former bodyguard Marcus Wright may have delivered a damaging blow to Mayor Frank Melton when he testified that the mayor was drunk the night he ordered an unwarranted raid on a Jackson duplex. But upon cross examination by defense attorneys yesterday it was concluded that Wright's story conflicted with what he told government officials last year. Matt Steffy, professor of Law at Mississippi College says testimony like that always draw some degree of skepticism
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”In many many trials especially trials of these kind, the trial strategy is to get somebody who was involved to testify to get an insider’s look. And they are always subject to cross examination about that. That gee aren’t you shading your testimony or maybe even lying ah, in order to please the prosecution, that’s why you agreed to take a plea bargain and so on.”

Long time Melton Friend Dr. Tonya Merritt traveled all the way from Birmingham to be sit in on the trial. So far she says is puzzled.

“Yesterday they caught the young boy in so many lies and then today there were just so many discrepancies. So I’m saying to myself it just doesn’t make since that once you say that you are on trial and that you are not guilty then you come back because you are facing 40-45 years you say you are guilty because you don’t want to go to jail.”

Today we could possibly hear from Former Police Chief Sharpener Anderson who is expected to testify that Melton admitted to the raid. For MPB News, I'm Lawayne Childrey.