Whether sexual squeamishness or just what accounts for it, there’s quite a mismatch between the Clarion-Ledger’s headline Teen called ’son’ may testify for prosecution and the main news Chris Joyner buries midway through the story that follows (see also WAPT, WLBT, and WJTV):
In a joint motion filed Friday, attorneys for [co-defendants Michael] Recio and [Jackson mayor Frank] Melton accuse prosecutors of using a 2006 Jackson Police Department Internal Affairs investigation to force [former co-defendant, now government witness Marcus] Wright to cooperate and then withholding that information from the defense.
The motion relies on the at-times confusing testimony of a gay, male prostitute named Torey Smith who told internal affairs investigators he saw two male prostitutes get into Wright’s car sometime in 2005 and that they later claimed to have had sex with the officer for money. The motion alleges the FBI interviewed Smith two weeks to one month ago but did not reveal that to Melton and Recio’s attorneys, as required.
This defense theory has a problem, though:
On Friday, Smith gave a statement to Melton’s attorney from the Leake County jail, where he is being held on a shoplifting charge, saying he contacted Wright after being interviewed by the FBI. But that statement appears to undercut the defense’s claim the information was used to force Wright to plead guilty. Smith said Wright told him he already had pleaded guilty and asked him not to talk to authorities.
“He tried to persuade me to not tell Frank Melton’s lawyers about the incident where he picked up the homosexuals and took them to the apartment,” Smith said in the statement. “He also told me not to tell the prosecutors or the FBI about it either.”
The motion does not explain why Wright would ask Smith not to tell the FBI about the alleged encounter if it already had been used to force Wright’s plea. In the statement, Smith said he could find the prostitutes “if I were allowed to leave jail for that purpose.”
“Shortly after the defense motion was filed,” Joyner reports, “Magistrate Judge Linda Anderson pulled the exhibits from the federal court’s public document system.”
Which exhibits, pulled why? Dunno. All I can add is that this follows the mid-week news of Judge Dan Jordan’s ruling that, in the trial set for November 12, evidence of Melton’s reputation as “crime fighter” won’t be let in (’tain’t pertinent to these charges).
Melton will continue to turn on any and everyone to keep the spotlight off himself. If Recio pleads, Melton will turn on him. If a City employee testifies truthfully, Melton will go after that person. Anything to avoid personal accountability.