Jury selection begins in Jackson mayor’s trial

The Clarion-Ledger, 2/2/9

One hundred potential jurors are expected today at the federal courthouse in Jackson for jury selection in the trial of Jackson Mayor Frank Melton and his former police bodyguard Michael Recio.

They will come from counties stretching north to Holmes County and south to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

And once the jury is seated, jurors will not be sequestered.

U.S. District Judge Dan Jordan decided to choose potential jurors from the entire 45-county Southern District of Mississippi. However, for most federal trials in Jackson, jurors are chosen from the 13-county Jackson district consisting of Amite, Copiah, Franklin, Hinds, Holmes, Lincoln, Leake, Madison, Pike, Rankin, Scott, Simpson and Smith.