Jackson Free Press
by Adam Lynch and Donna Ladd
Photo by Renee Reedy
June 7, 2006
Among all the possible violations of the law by Frank Melton that District
Attorney Faye Peterson presented to the attorney general recently, the potential
charge of filing a false arrest warrant against Albert “Batman” Donelson
was the most serious. Why? Because it’s a felony—and a felony conviction
would get Melton removed from office.
However, Attorney General Jim Hood ruled last week that Melton never actually
filed a written arrest warrant, despite the mayor’s public assertions
to the contrary. Thus, he said, Melton was not in technical violation of the
law. But, Hood added, that didn’t mean that Melton was off the hook on
it—the remedy could be civil. That is, Donelson could file a civil lawsuit
and claim that the mayor had harmed him and sue for damages.
Donelson himself said last week that he is planning to do just that—sue
Melton.
“Enough is enough,” Donelson told the Jackson Free Press. “He’s
saying that I killed eight people, but he can’t even name the eight people.
It’s time for him to name the eight people he’s talking about.” Then
he had a message for Melton: “The word is double jeopardy, dummy.”
Indeed, Melton has said repeatedly to the JFP and others that Donelson has
killed at least eight people. “They actually pulled the trigger and killed
people,” Melton told the JFP on April 6 about Donelson and friends. The
mayor could not, however, name those he believes they killed besides Aaron
Crockett, Harrison Hilliard, Reginald Versall or Keon Perry.
The next week, Melton called the JFP to say he had filed an arrest warrant
to keep Donelson in jail. Days later, on April 13, Donelson was released: He
could not be legally held under Melton’s alleged warrant.
“I did the best that I could. … Based on the Constitution of the
United States, I had no choice but to release him,” Melton told the Jackson
Free Press that night.
Melton said he had learned that Donelson could not be held because the two-year
statute of limitations for a conspiracy charge had run out, and he did not
wish Donelson’s attorney to have to file a writ of habeas corpus to get
him released. “That would be a waste of taxpayers’ money,” he
said then.
In her letter to Hood, Peterson was concerned about the arrest warrant that
Melton said publicly he had filed against Donelson. Hood, though, could find
no phony arrest warrant to investigate, despite the mayor’s announcement
of its existence. Thus, Hood could not pursue felony charges against somebody
for merely being a liar.
“I saw the thing. Frank showed it to me in his house. But he never filed
it,” said Randy Harris, a local attorney who represented Donelson.
“(Melton’s) excuse was he wanted to protect the identity of the
person who had made the affidavit, which was kind of silly because it was Christopher
Walker,” who was a potential witness in Donelson’s trial who Peterson
would not put on the stand because of financial assistance Melton had provided
him, which tainted his credibility, she said.
Harris said he was confounded by his client’s continued detention in
the Hinds County jail, days after the state had found him not guilty and dismissed
other charges against him.
“I think the trial ended on a Friday. Then the D.A.’s office was
considering whether to (dismiss) the other two murder charges against him.
That took about two or three days. We had a meeting with the judge in Raymond,
where they told the judge that’s what their intentions were. And that
probably lasted until Wednesday. Then on Thursday, apparently, this new arrest
warrant was—heck, I guess given to the sheriff or something, because
they kept him in there. I was wondering why on that Thursday he was still being
held, only to find out Frank had gotten a judge (Judge Houston Patton) to sign
an arrest warrant for him,” Harris said.
Peterson and Hood said Melton never actually filed a written affidavit. Hood
believes Judge Patton may have gotten an oral affidavit instead from a police
officer with Melton. Peterson said Melton got the judge to sign off on a bench
warrant.
“They may never have filed an affidavit but, yeah, they’d filed
that bench warrant. Now whether he filed that bench warrant with the municipal
court and all, that I don’t know, but I know one doggone thing: he took
it over to that sheriff’s department, and the sheriff honored it,” Peterson
said.
In any case, Hood said the false warrant was poor foundation for criminal charges
but more likely to draw a civil suit.
Donelson said he plans to file suit very soon, and both Harris and Peterson
say he likely will have a strong case. “Yeah, I’m going to sue
him. It’s coming. (Frank) knows it’s coming,” Donelson told
the JFP.
Beverly Jackson, Donelson’s mother, is pursuing her own case against
Melton, her son told the Jackson Free Press. Responding to after-trial rumors
that Donelson’s friends and family were threatening Melton, he arrived
on the elderly woman’s porch on April 9, with armed bodyguards, his shotgun,
a police dog and TV cameras. Melton challenged the house’s occupants,
saying: “Somebody in here threatening me? You all want to threaten me,
so here I am, right here.”
Donelson’s mother checked into the hospital afterward with heart trouble.
“I’d like to just get away from all this and move on and stuff,
but I’m not about to let his ass off the hook,” Donelson said.
“That man caused me heartache and pain for five and a half years.”
Melton, who recently said he has another witness against Donelson but has not
revealed the name, did not return calls for this story.