James Peter Wallace was born August 9, 1972 to Robert and Amanda Wallace in Oxford, Mississippi. JP, as he has been called since he was an infant, is the youngest of the Wallace children; his brother Rob was born in 1967, and his sister Heather in 1970. Robert and Amanda Wallace were strict but loving parents to their trio of children. Robert was a mathematics teacher at Oxford High School and Amanda was a children's church choir director and Sunday School teacher. Their eldest son, Rob, is an international law attorney and their daughter, Heather, is a popular music teacher at an elementary school in Tupelo, Mississippi.

JP Wallace was always very different from his brother and sister, to his parents' great dismay and disappointment. He was never interested in school and resented the rules he was expected to follow, both at school and at home. Throughout his academic life, he was a lackluster student with barely passing grades and an atrocious conduct record, and only managed to graduate because of his father's influence and the school system's unspoken desire to get him out of their hair.

After high school, JP moved out on his own and drifted from one low-paying job to another, spending most of his income on partying and barely making ends meet. Along the way, he started smoking marijuana and soon discovered he could make more money selling drugs than he was earning at his dead-end jobs. Within a year, he was making enough selling drugs to support himself, but he always held some kind of part-time job so he could show a legitimate source of income. He currently works part-time at the Emerson Plant warehouse.

JP has had several brushes with the law over the last fifteen years, but he has never been convicted of any serious infractions. His most recent arrest occurred on January 5, 2001, when JP was arrested for disturbing the peace and public drunkenness at the home of his then-girlfriend, Missy Hammond. When Missy was murdered just three weeks later, JP was questioned during the investigation, but provided an alibi that placed him away from the scene at the time of the murder. He was completely cleared when Missy's ex-husband, Roger Hammond, was arrested and indicted for the murder.

Since Missy's death, JP has returned to his "love 'em and leave 'em" ways and has been seen around town in the company of several different women. During the Achim Michaelis murder investigation, it came to light that JP had formed a relationship with Arlene Melton. A few months later, Arlene came back to Oxford to hook up with JP following her decision to leave Atlanta.

Towards the end of 2001, Arlene Melton asked JP to find some financial help for Wenzel Hitzig, which he was able to do through one of his contacts. In March 2002, JP and Arlene broke off their relationship, but have remained on amicable terms since then.