Note: This story will appear in the print edition on May 10.
Christopher "Smiley" Walker was re-arrested Monday by U.S. Marshals for failing a routine urinalysis drug test required by his probation officer. Six days earlier, he had sat beside Mayor Frank Melton in City Hall at the press conference held to lambaste District Attorney Faye Peterson.
Melton held the press conference during the City Council meeting to respond to the district attorney's criticisms of his unorthodox and potentially illegal crimefighting tactics. Peterson had told the Jackson Free Press the week before that she was asking Attorney General Jim Hood to investigate Melton's actions to ensure that he was not violating the rights of citizens or endangering their lives.
But video footage of that press conference indicates that Melton did little to address these concerns directly—instead, he answered the district attorney with a barrage of personal attacks. "Mrs. Peterson is trying to point the finger at me because of her incompetence," he said. He also said she might be guilty of "possible corruption. … We're investigating that right now."
This was not the first time Melton leveled unsubstantiated charges at Peterson. Melton's primary complaint against Peterson in the Albert Donelson murder trial was that she refused to put Walker on the stand to testify that he had answered the call from Donelson, who was in jail, to Terrell Donelson to order a hit on Aaron Crockett. Walker's story was outlined in a videotape made by the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics.
On the tape, then-MBN Director Melton (wearing his cap backward) drew out Walker's story of being a teenage "crash test dummy" for the Wood Street Players—saying he did everything from picking up their dry cleaning to kidnapping and helping with violent murders. However, Melton, then-MBN Deputy Shirlene Anderson and other agents turned off the tape several times, leading defense attorneys to speculate that Melton was coaching Walker, which he denies.
Last Tuesday, Walker repeated some of the charges, launching into an angry, expletive-filled tirade against Peterson, even saying, "She's crooked. She was f---ing Jam," he said. Walker was referring to murdered bail bondsman Jimmy "Jam" Johnson, who Melton says was in thick with the Wood Street Players, and has hinted at links between him and Peterson, which have not been substantiated.
The next day, Melton called to tell me that, "Well, we put it all out there, didn't we?" He did not apologize for Walker's actions or question the veracity of his statements.
But Walker's appearance alongside Melton was only the latest in a series of bizarre interactions with the mayor. The first time I saw Walker in person was in Melton's home in North Jackson the night before the Donelson trial was set to begin.
'He's a Good Kid'
When I met Walker at Melton's the evening of April 2, he looked nervous about meeting a reporter. But Melton was opening his home to me, and Walker has been part of his home since Melton, as director of MBN, arrested him as an alleged Wood Street Player. Melton developed Walker into his primary witness, who provided much of the narrative that Melton follows in his accusations of the Wood Street men, which follow Walker's videotaped statements almost exactly.
That Sunday, Melton urged me to interview his witness—"Now, Donna, I want you to talk to Chris. He's a good kid"—but he was introducing me to many young men, and Walker seemed like just another one of "Frank's boys." However, Walker disappeared upstairs before I could sit down with him.
I saw Walker again two days later in Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter's courtroom. Melton had called me that morning and told me that Peterson was trying to drop the charges against the Donelson brothers and James Benton in the Crockett case, and said that he was taking Walker there to proffer him as a witness. He made it clear that he hoped to pressure Peterson into putting Walker on the stand.
During the hearing, Peterson announced that she was proceeding with the case based on testimony by accomplices Nathaniel Brent and Victor Washington. She was not putting Christopher Walker on the stand, however.
In the hall afterward, Melton was angry at Peterson: "Ask her why she won't put Chris on the stand," he barked. The next day, he told me by phone that Walker had given Jimmy Jam $10,000 to get off an assault charge. "The money gets passed around," he said.
That day, Peterson refused to comment on an ongoing trial, and challenged Melton to provide proof of any wrongdoing by her.
Members of the Donelson family, however, told me that the defense had filed evidence that Melton had "tampered" with Walker's testimony, that he had paid him off. Indeed, the court file contained a number of affidavits filed by a cousin of Walker, an MBN agent and others alleging that Melton had given Walker special treatment in return for his testimony. The financial benefits had included a "Frank E. Melton" credit card, an apartment in Ridgeland, a car, cash and other help. In addition, agents said that Melton had promised Walker a job as an MBN agent and allowed him to handle weapons although he was on probation at the time.
In the documents, Peterson stated that Walker had perjured himself before the grand jury and had proved to be an unreliable witness—thus she could not legally use him.
Asked later about the potential "tampering," Melton defended his actions passionately, saying that he did what he had to do to "protect" Walker because Mississippi doesn't provide a witness protection program. "Under no circumstances could I leave him out there to be killed," Melton told me, adding: "Dern right. I did rent him an apartment, give him a credit card, (and) gave him money as recently as yesterday."
Melton then suggested that I talk to Walker and gave me his cell number.
'I Love Frank to Death'
Walker, who first met Melton when he taught him to swim at the Farish Street YMCA, seemed nervous when I called on April 4, but willing to talk. He said he had gone to Rowan Middle School (where he allegedly was first approached by the Wood Street Players to help with criminal activity), then dropped out of Lanier High School. "I caught a charge, two murder charges," he said, adding that he was acquitted on both charges. Now, he said, he is working and going to school to get his GED.
Walker said that when he was serving 21 months in the federal penitentiary, "not one time did I call and ask Faye or Frank for a favor. … They didn't come see me, or worry about how I was doing." Things changed when he got out. "Now that I'm out, I love Frank to death. Now, there are a lot of things Frank do that I don't approve of. … (But) I feel like Faye, MBN … they got what they wanted for Wood Street and throwed me back out there."
After prison, he said, Melton took him in: "The only person helping me was Frank." Still, he said, he is worried that Melton "must be using me. … Like I tell everyone, I'm the one who's gotta live this for the rest of my life."
Walker said he has lived at Melton's off and on since October 2003. He said that he was recently threatened by Wood Street Players and had gone back to live at Melton's house about a week before (in late March). He was adamant that Melton has not bought his testimony: "You put this in your paper. Frank ain't never paid me to do nothing. Frank done help me when I needed help."
Five days after that interview, Melton was leading a manhunt for Walker. When I met up with the Mobile Command Center on Bailey Avenue, Melton was gruff and said, "We have to go make an arrest." We pulled up outside a rundown apartment building, and Melton pulled out his shotgun, stalked to the door—followed by bodyguards—and banged on the door with the butt of the rifle. After he disappeared inside, I asked other media: "Who is he arresting?" When they answered "Christopher Walker," I was flabbergasted and held a mini press conference of my own to bring reporters—other than WAPT, who understood it already—up to speed on the fact that Walker was his prime witness, the one that he was accused of helping too much.
Later, after media had left, I asked him why we were looking for the young man who had been living with him. "He told me today that he had helped with the (Harrison) Hilliard murder," he said. (In fact, Melton had said that in the past.) "I have to arrest him."
Walker turned himself in a couple days later, calling WAPT to tell them that Melton did not have an arrest warrant for him, that they were hunting him down without cause. The JFP could not reach Walker then, but the same night Melton told us that they were trying to send a message to Wood Street that he and Walker were not as tight as they thought. WAPT reports that Walker seemed genuinely angry and scared of Melton.
Walker was held overnight in the Jefferson Davis County Jail. Melton told the JFP that he was being sent to another facility for "protection," but by the afternoon of Good Friday, Walker was back in Melton's home when I arrived for an interview.
The next we heard from Walker, he was sitting in City Hall with Melton, cursing the D.A. Then, this week, he was re-arrested for failing a drug test—meaning that he likely has been using while staying in Melton's home around his other kids.
"This arrest is a culmination of all of the concerns that come out of the consideration of what (Melton) says he's doing with juveniles," D.A. Peterson said Tuesday about Walker's arrest. "These folks can't help juveniles if they're not clean themselves."
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