Droppin’ Hard

by Donna Ladd
May 14, 2008

In his March 27, 2008, deposition, Stephen Hickman said that drugs were long flown into Jackson's Hawkins Field and then distributed among various drug heads.

“The drugs were flew in off Hawkins Field. And I’m not talking about like a pound or two,” he said. “Probably a hundred pounds here, a hundred kilos here. Everybody would be behind the gym right there inside a van, a couple of vans. When it dropped all we had to do is go through the pathway, jump through ... before they put the fence up there it just used to be the ditch and a whole lot of trees.

“All you had to do was hike up to the other side, get the dope and bring it back to the van and it was distributed equally ....”

Hickman also alludes to the fact that Washington might have been paid off by drug dealers to look the other way.

No additional or corroborating evidence of Hickman’s accusations against Melton or Washington is offered in the deposition. Furthermore, his credibility is in question because one of the men who supposedly witnessed Washington’s murder, Shawn Burton, was reportedly in jail at the time of the murder.

Melton reacted strongly last week to several Clarion-Ledger stories detailing the same unsubstantiated allegations in Hickman’s deposition, including stating that Hickman accused him of ordering the murder of a witness, Larry Nelson, a charge not evident in the deposition.

In a letter to FBI Agent-in-Charge Fred Brink released last week, Melton requested “a comprehensive review of the homicide of Jackson Police officer Robert Washington.”

He continued: “The suspects in the case have attempted to implicate me in this case. For over ten years I have attempted to resolve this case. Many of these years there were a number of roadblocks in the department. As Mayor those road blocks were eliminated and Lt. Gerald Jones was assigned the case.”

posted by blu_n_a_redstate on 05/15/08 at 09:52 AM

posted by Jeff Lucas on 05/15/08 at 04:22 PM

posted by golden eagle on 05/15/08 at 08:46 PM