The Short and Unhappy Career of Frank Melton, Mayor

David Weigel | November 16, 2006

It looks increasingly like Mayor Frank Melton, the Yosemite Sam-esque shogun of Jackson, Mississippi, won't get to serve out his term.

The 57-year-old first-term mayor was accused of carrying a gun onto the campus of the Mississippi College School of Law, a felony, which he denied. He and prosecutors agreed to reduce that charge to a misdemeanor; avoiding jail time and removal from office.

But article six, section 175 of the Mississippi Constitution, titled: liability and punishment of public officers says: "All public officers, for wilful neglect of duty or misdemeanor in office, shall be liable to presentment or indictment by a grand jury; and, upon conviction, shall be removed from office, and otherwise punished as may be prescribed by law.

The simple solution: Draft Shaq!