Mayor Frank Melton, who has taken a hard stand against the city's
rising crime rate, pleaded guilty to weapons charges Wednesday in a
deal with prosecutors that lets him stay in office and out of jail
... Melton, 57, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors for carrying a
weapon into a church and a park, and no contest to a reduced charge
on what had been a felony count involving a gun on a university
campus. He was given a six-month suspended sentence on each count,
plus one year probation, and was fined $1,500. Under state law, a
felony conviction would have forced Melton from office and could have
sent him to prison for as long as three years. Prosecutors agreed to
reduced the felony for carrying a gun onto the campus of the
Mississippi College School of Law to a misdemeanor of carrying a
concealed weapon in exchange for the pleas ..