Five months and three delays later, the federal civil rights trial of Jackson Mayor Frank Melton appears back on track.
“There are no pending motions for a continuance,” U.S. District Judge Dan Jordan said in an order posted Thursday, “and absent such a motion from Defendant Melton, the case will proceed as scheduled.”
Jordan held a closed teleconference with prosecutors and attorneys for Melton and his former police bodyguard, Michael Recio, to, in part, determine whether the mayor had recovered enough from recent heart problems to stand trial as scheduled on Feb. 2.
Jordan granted a delay last month following a closed-door hearing at which his doctors testified the mayor was suffering from end-stage myocardiopathy, a serious condition caused by a weakened heart. A few days later, Melton checked himself into St. Dominic Hospital, after complaining of shortness of breath, according to City Council member Frank Bluntson, a friend of the mayor.
Magnolia Tribune
