Wow. The city of Charlotte is even more afraid of Marcus Jackson than I thought.

Fear of making the city look bad is the only possible explanation for moving to keep 911 tapes involving Jackson secret. This stuff about hurting the prosecution and trial of Jackson is pure smoke-screen.

First off, trial? Really? We certain this thing is going to go to trial without a plea deal? I’m not. And if the city is so worried about a clean prosecution of the case or providing grounds for an appeal, why is Chief Rodney Monroe giving serial press conferences convicting Jackson? Good heavens, the chief sat in front of city council the other night and called Jackson “despicable.” Why didn’t City Attorney Mac McCarley jump up and throw a blanket over him? Like I said, pure smoke-screen.

The only thing that explains both the city’s reluctance to make public Jackson’s personnel file and now the move to suppress the 911 tapes is worry that Jackson’s alleged victims will be handed fodder for a big fat lawsuit against the city.

Update: I see that the Uptown paper of record has also figured out that Jackson’s personnel file needs to be released in order to put this matter behind us and help restore confidence in CMPD and city government.