Indicted Miss. mayor falls ill after primary loss

[May 06, 2009]  JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- An unsuccessful primary bid for re-election turned much more serious for the indicted mayor of Mississippi's largest city after he was rushed to a hospital in his latest health struggle.

Sixty-year-old Mayor Frank Melton, who has a history of serious heart trouble, was being treated Wednesday in a Jackson hospital, his attorney John Reeves said.

"We should all hope and pray for his good health," said Reeves, who declined to give details on Melton's condition.

The primary loss came as Melton faced another difficult situation: Next week he was expected to face trial a second time on federal civil rights charges related to a 2006 attack on a duplex he considered to be a crackhouse.

The mayor was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance Tuesday shortly after polls in the city's Democratic mayoral primary closed at 7 p.m. Neighbor A.D. Lewis, pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church, said Melton was coherent when he was put into the ambulance.

Unofficial results show Melton came in fourth. He had to finish first or second to be in the May 19 runoff. Harvey Johnson, the former mayor Melton unseated in 2005, and city Councilman Marshand Crisler advanced.

The mood was tense at Melton's campaign headquarters, an old car dealership where a throng of campaign workers packed a crowded hall waiting to be paid for their work.

"It's just kind of awkward to even talk about an election now in light of what's happened," Melton campaign manager Erik Fleming said later. "I would hope that everybody would pray for him and his family."

Jackson City spokeswoman Goldia Revies said Melton's wife, a doctor who lives in Tyler, Texas, had arrived at the hospital early Wednesday and was consulting with his doctors. Revies said an update on Melton's condition would be issued later Wednesday morning.

Melton has a serious heart condition that has sent him to the hospital several times in recent years, including for bypass surgery.

Melton's first federal trial was postponed while he was treated for his heart condition and he looked gaunt and tired when it was held in February. A judge declared a mistrial in the first case after a jury failed to reach a verdict.

His doctor testified at the time that he was in "end stage cardiomyopathy." She said she recommended a heart transplant, but Melton refused to get on a donor list.

He and the bodyguard, Jackson police officer Michael Recio, were both acquitted in April 2007 on state charges related to the raid.

Melton is a flamboyant former TV executive and one-time head of the state narcotics agency. He made a name for himself with a tough-talking opinion segment called "The Bottom Line" on the station he ran and was elected by a landslide in 2005 after campaigning on a tough-on-crime platform. Since then, however, he has been hounded by legal problems related to his unorthodox tactics.

Prosecutors say he was drunk on scotch and power when he ordered a group of young men -- some with criminal records -- to destroy the duplex in a poor neighborhood. Melton has said he was only trying rid the city of a drug den.

Melton and Recio are each charged with conspiracy to violate the civil rights of the home's owner and tenant and violating those rights under color of law.

[Associated Press; By HOLBROOK MOHR]

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