Jackson Free Press

Marcus Wright, former bodyguard for the late Mayor Frank Melton, is set to face sentencing Sept. 4 for his role in the 2006 demolition of a private home. Wright pled guilty in Oct. 2008 to misdemeanor conspiracy, ending a lengthy reckoning process.

In Sept. 2006, Wright, Melton and Michael Recio, another former bodyguard, led a crew of young men in the warrantless destruction of a private home that Melton claimed was a drug house, although no drugs were ever found at the house. The three beat state charges for the raid in 2007, but federal prosecutors indicted them again in July 2008 on civil rights violations.

After Wright accepted his plea bargain, Melton and Recio continued their defense through one federal trial, which ended in a hung jury on Feb. 24, 2009. On May 7, a week before the two were scheduled to stand trial again, Melton died of an apparent heart attack. Shortly thereafter, Recio pled guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor aiding and abetting. Recio's sentencing is set for Aug. 5.