Jackson Free Press

At the Jackson Free Press, we believe strongly in second chances. People make mistakes, get caught up with the wrong crowd and follow the wrong people down the wrong rabbit holes.

But we took a collective deep breath when we heard that former Melton bodyguard Marcus Wright is now the head of the Internal Affairs Division of the Hinds County Sheriff's Department. When Tyrone Lewis was running for sheriff, we made no secret of our concern about his previous ties with Frank Melton. However, we are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, knowing well that some of the people close to Melton didn't go along with all of his shenanigans. But the appointment of Wright—who was clearly a bad cop when he worked with Melton—does not reassure us about the sheriff's judgment. And we'd really rather not see a long string of Melton-ites populating the Sheriff's Department.

In Melton's federal trial—which happened after this paper broke the news of him, Wright and Michael Recio viciously destroying a Ridgeway Street duplex—Wright turned on the other two and told the story of what really happened, including that Melton was drunk and joyriding with teenagers in the Mobile Command Center that night.

That wasn't the first time that Melton led such dangerous expeditions into the night. The editor of this newspaper wrote about two such nights when she accompanied that group on their night rides, including details of Wright wearing a submachine gun and searching a young man's home because another kid down the street said he'd bought pot there. No warrant. Melton was clearly armed and drunk on those excursions, yet Wright did nothing to stop him.

These stories are legend by now and numerous—see meltonblog.com for more behavior unfitting a police officer or a mayor—and they indicate one thing very clearly: Marcus Wright is not the right person to head a unit that investigates bad police officers. Even if he has reformed now and is sorry for what he did, he needs to show the public beyond a reasonable doubt that he is a very different man with much improved judgment before we should agree to pay his salary.

As for Lewis' Sheriff's Department: Barking at reporters that "Frank's dead" is an entirely inappropriate response to important questions about Wright's new position. And saying a position designed to root out bad behavior by gun-toting public servants is not "high ranking" is as irrelevant and wrong of an answer as a police spokesman should ever give.

At the least, Sheriff Lewis should hold a press conference to answer questions about this disturbing appointment with the "reformed" Marcus Wright at his side. At best, Lewis should rethink this ill-considered appointment.