A prosecution in desperate need of a plea deal

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Here is the deal that Duke Lacrosse victim/accuser Crystal Mangum’s attorney recently suggested that she accept: plead guilty to assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury in exchange for a sentence of time served. Her attorney, H. Wood Vann, also informed her that she has a weak case, implying that if she did not accept the plea deal that she could be expected to be convicted of the first degree murder charge in Reginald Daye’s death.

Mr. Vann presented this plea deal during one of his rare visits to the Durham County Detention Center to see Ms. Mangum. In the other two previous visits he tried to discourage her from giving an interview to the Discovery Channel and to The News & Observer. In his attempts to have her accept the plea deal, he warned that if she did not agree to take it, her next court date would be in April 2013… seven months away. In other words, he threatened her with being forced to sit idly in jail another seven months while he did nothing… as he had done since taking over her defense nearly four months ago.

These recommendations from her defense attorney came despite the fact that he has continued to withhold vital prosecution discovery and other evidence from her. Crystal Mangum has never seen any of the prosecution photographs depicting injuries to her and Reginald Daye and the state of the apartment, including clumps of her hair and the bathroom door kicked off its hinges. Ms. Mangum has never seen the report from the forensic pathologist who reviewed the allegedly fraudulent autopsy report of April 14, 2011 by Dr. Clay Nichols and other documents about Daye’s death. Finally, Ms. Mangum never saw the mysterious yearlong SBI report that was rumored to be about the entry and trajectory of Daye’s stab wound. Ms. Mangum has repeatedly asked Mr. Vann to see these pieces of evidence, and he has continually refused to turn copies over to her for viewing. Yet, he expects her to accept his word that she has a weak defense in light of the fact that photographs, interviews, Daye’s condition and past history, and common sense strongly supports that she acted in self-defense when she stabbed him.

The reason Mr. Vann is trying to persuade Ms. Mangum to accept a plea deal is because he is trying to assist a desperate prosecution in extricating itself from a situation in which it finds itself in serious civil liability, namely malicious prosecution and wrongful incarceration. It is evident that the prosecution of Ms. Mangum was vendetta driven as payback for her role in the Duke Lacrosse case which occurred five years earlier. The simple fact of the matter is that the prosecution has absolutely no case against Mangum, and her attorney is well aware of this… but then, again, he is in collusion with her prosecutors.

The criminal case against Mangum is not unlike that of the bogus case against James Arthur Johnson in which the African American young man solved the heinous Wilson murder-kidnapping-rape-armed robbery of Wilson teen Brittany Willis. Without physical, forensic, eyewitness, or any other credible evidence against Johnson, he was held in jail for more than three years as the trial neared. Wilson prosecutors attempted to line up two “eyewitnesses,” both with ties to the Wilson Police Department, but withdrew once the NAACP became involved and brought media scrutiny to the case. Prosecutor Bill Wolfe tried his best to bluff Johnson into accepting a plea deal, and finally, when the day of the trial arrived, the prosecution backed down and referred their case to a “special prosecutor.” Belinda Foster, the special prosecutor from Forsyth County, was forced to accept the role by her superior District Attorney Thomas Keith, but she did so under the prearranged condition that she not be forced to prosecute the case. Under the pretense of investigating the case, Ms. Foster waited a few months, then per plans already decided upon, she dismissed all of the serious felony charges against Johnson and filed a charge against him of “accessory after the fact.” Instead of being hailed as a hero by the community, receiving a reward, and being endeared by the victim’s family for going against the “no-snitch” law of the streets, and identifying the true killer who had days earlier confided his criminal acts to him, Johnson was incarcerated for thirty nine months, ended up with a criminal record, was disparaged in the media, and was deprived of the $20,000 reward that was offered by the family and friends of Brittany Willis.

Like the Johnson case, Prosecutor Charlene Coggins-Franks has no intention of taking the case against Mangum to trial because there is no case. If she even attempted to do so, she would literally be laughed out of the courthouse. The only thing a trial would accomplish, even if the defense was handled by an inept turncoat attorney, would be to draw attention to the bogus autopsy report and uncover the truth about Daye’s death… which is that it was caused by a medical mistake with a botched intubation by staff at Duke University Hospital. Initially, the prosecution goal may have been to saddle Ms. Mangum with a conviction and lengthy prison sentence under a silently conducted trial, but since the involvement by Mangum’s supporters, the prosecution is now frantically trying to wiggle out of its predicament with a plea deal.

Unfortunately for Coggins-Franks and her staff, their ace in the hole, defense attorney Woody Vann has been exposed as one whose allegiance is traitorously aligned with the prosecution… they are acting in lockstep and depending upon him to deliver the goods – a plea deal of assault with a deadly weapon for time served. But it’s not going to work this time, at least if the Committee on Justice for Mike Nifong has anything to say about it.

Racial prejudice is prevalent in the criminal justice system in North Carolina, and it is a common practice for innocent African Americans to be arrested, held on a high bail, and forced to essentially serve a sentence while waiting to go to trial. Often, these innocents accept a plea deal as a way of getting out of jail… pleading to a lesser crime in exchange for time served. On a few rare occasions, the defendants are merely released without comment… such as what happened to Carletta Patrice Alston. She was arrested and charged with the murder of her stepfather, and was held in jail for a year. When Prosecutor Tom Ford (of the Gregory Taylor case) was unable to manufacture a case against her, she was released.

It is obvious to a reasonable person with full knowledge of the facts that something is wrong with the prosecution’s case when a person indicted on a first degree murder charge is offered a deal by prosecutors to plead guilty to assault with a deadly weapon in exchange for a sentence of time served… less than a year and a half. Prosecutors purposely charged Ms. Mangum with a crime with knowledge that she was innocent, and they are now attempting to remove themselves from the fiasco by forcing her to allow the placement on her record that she is a felon guilty of assault with a deadly weapon.

This is the sort of thing that puts the North Carolina justice system in disrepute… not the prosecutorial actions of former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong, and not the passionately animated judicial complaints of former Durham District Attorney Tracey Cline.

There is no doubt that in the criminal case against Crystal Mangum that she is up against a prosecution that is the antithesis of a “minister of justice,” and which is up to its eyeballs in a conspiracy with the Orange County medical examiner, defense attorneys representing Ms. Mangum, the mainstream media, and the enablers – the NAACP, ACLU, North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence (enablers being other civil rights organizations, and politicians who are able to make a difference, but stand idly by and say and do nothing). The only ones fighting for justice for Ms. Mangum are her supporters, including the Committee on Justice for Mike Nifong… and regrettably, they are the objects of disparagement and ridicule by the media-types.

The Durham prosecution needs to act responsibly and do the right thing by unconditionally dismissing all criminal charges against Crystal Mangum and releasing her from custody. The charade has been exposed for what it is with the only criminals coming from the prosecution side. Lady Justice makes these demands so that the principles of restorative justice can take place and the innocent mother of three can put her life back together as best as is possible. 

Durham Prosecutors: “Oops!” Charges dropped against two in the Durham cult murder case

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On Tuesday, June 12, 2012, Durham prosecutors dismissed charges of “accessory after the fact” against Sheilda Evelyn Harris and Sheila Falisha Moses, the mother and sister respectively of Peter Lucas Moses Jr. The day before, Peter Moses pled guilty to the murders of four year-old Jadon Higganbothan and Antoinetta Yvonne McCoy, in her late twenties. Sheilda Harris and Sheila Moses were amongst a group of six people other than Peter Moses who were charged with murder shortly after the bodies of the two victims were discovered a year ago around June 8, 2011.

The reasons the Durham prosecutors had for dismissing the charges against Peter Moses’ mother and sister are unknown to media, and not having access to prosecution discovery, I can supply no reason either, other than the fact that evidence for bringing the charges never existed in the first place. A year ago, when the two were arrested, Sheilda Harris and Sheila Moses were charged with murder and ordered to be held without bail. However, some time during the interval, the charge used to hold them behind bars was changed to “accessory after the fact.”

What is bothersome regarding the others who are charged with “accessory after the fact” in the cult murder case is the probability that much of the prosecutor’s case will rely on testimony from Peter Lucas Moses, who entered into a plea deal to spare him from the death penalty. Surely such testimony from a confessed murderer in cooperation with prosecutors lacks credibility from the git-go.

Dismissal of the accessory charge against them was not of insignificant consequence as both of them in essence served a one year term for committing no crime. In dropping the charges, the Durham prosecutors are admitting to mistakenly arresting and incarcerating Sheilda Harris and Sheila Moses… holding them in jail custody for more than a year… and subjecting them to scorn, shame, and ridicule by media reports spreading their names and faces across the state. Dropping the charges against them will not restore the lost year of their lives, which the prosecutors were all to eager and unapologetically to take from them… neither will it remove the emotional and physical scars they suffered as a result of their unjust incarceration… nor will it cleanse their reputations that have been smeared by the reckless charges and arrests.

The problem with mass arrests and incarcerations based on “accessory after the fact” charges is that it tends to entrap many innocent people who are related to the criminal perpetrator, as in this case, or have a brief interaction with a suspect after the commission of the crime. Prosecutors use the accessory charge to place individuals in jail who are not suspected of taking part in the defining criminal act… they are often implicated solely for their contact with the criminal, not matter how innocent or trivial.

The accessory after the fact charge is too frequently abused by North Carolina prosecutors, often to incarcerate innocent African Americans. This is the charged that was brought by Special Prosecutor Belinda Foster against James Arthur Johnson of Wilson, NC, when prosecutor Bill Wolfe’s bluff was called in his failed attempt to get Johnson to take a plea deal after serving 39 months for murder, rape, and kidnapping charges he obviously did not commit. What is particularly tragic about Johnson’s case is that he provided information which solved the heinous crimes against Brittany Willis. Instead of receiving, from the family and friends of the victim, thanks and the $20,000 reward he earned for going to the police with information that cracked the case open, all Johnson received was more than three years in jail and a criminal record.

However, it is not a rarity in North Carolina for innocent blacks to be arrested and held in jail for lengthy periods of time without there being credible evidence of their being charged. Carletta Alston of Knightdale was recently arrested and charged with the murder of her stepfather. She was imprisoned for a year before the charges against her were dropped. Wake County Prosecutor Tom Ford (who prosecuted an innocent man Gregory Taylor) was evidently unable to find someone to give perjured testimony against Ms. Alston.

The entire North Carolina justice system mentality that approves charging and arresting African Americans first then coming up with credible evidence later, is what nearly led to my arrest at Duke University in April 2010. It was not enough that Duke harassed, humiliated and intimidated me just for being a supporter of Mike Nifong, but it had no compunction about tossing me in jail because I am an African American… fortunately crossing paths with Duke Law Professor James Coleman prevented that.

There is another case in Durham County Prosecutor’s docket that should be immediately dismissed. The murder and larceny charges against Crystal Mangum, the victim/accuser in the Duke Lacrosse case, lack credible evidence and are based on bogus and fraudulent documents… all part of a vendetta prosecution for payback because of her role in the Duke Lacrosse case.

Prosecutor Charlene Coggins-Franks conspired with her predecessor on the case, Kelly Gauger, and medical examiner Clay Nichols to trump up the murder charge against Mangum. Governor Bev Perdue and the Durham district attorney she appointed, Leon Stanback, are aware of the injustice in the charges against Mangum and are in position to rectify them… however, by remaining silent, they are conspirators after the fact.

The fiasco surrounding the charges against Mangum would not be happening if Mike Nifong were the Durham district attorney. Mr. Nifong was a prosecutor of highest integrity who was professionally represented a paragon of a “minister of justice.” Prosecutors and politicians who allow innocent people to remain incarcerated for political reasons are lacking in integrity and morals.

Crystal Mangum has been incarcerated 441 days as of today… a victim of domestic abuse who stabbed Reginald Daye in self defense… a non-fatal stab wound to Daye, who died after elective removal from life support due to an unrelated botched medical procedure by Duke University Hospital staff… a victim of a trumped up larceny charge for cashier’s checks given to her by Daye; cashier’s checks she could not convert for her use; cashier’s checks which Daye retained value of despite lacking physical possession of the paper documents.

It is past time for the state to drop charges against Mangum and release her from jail so that she can reunite with her three young children who have suffered because of her absence in their lives. By dropping charges against Sheilda Harris and Sheila Moses, the state has shown its proficiency in destroying lives of innocent people by taking away years of their liberty. If the state has an ounce of compassion, humanity, ethics, or sense of true justice, it would immediately drop the bogus charges against Crystal Mangum and release her from custody.

Durham prosecutors need to face the fact that Mangum’s freedom is inevitable, and it needs to cut its losses by doing the right thing now, rather than later. 

Black NC legislators bemoan GOP treatment

In a January 8, 2012 article in The News & Observer by John Frank titled “Black legislators blast GOP leadership,” African American legislators, led by North Carolina Democratic state Senator Floyd McKissick, Jr. roundly criticized the treatment of African Americans by the Republican controlled General Assembly. The head of the Legislative Black Caucus, McKissick made his discontent known shortly after the state Senate overrode Governor Bev Perdue’s veto of Republican backed changes in the state’s Racial Justice Act.

McKissick accused Republicans of disempowering black leaders, such as the head of the General Assembly’s Fiscal Research Division, and he chided the party for its disrespectful treatment of African American state employees. Senator McKissick concluded that the Republicans had shown “an overall disinterest and lack of respect for black people in North Carolina.” He then posed the rhetorical question, “When are they going to stop attacking black North Carolinians and focus on job creation and getting this economy moving?”

The answer to that question is simple… they are never going to stop attacking black North Carolinians – at least not as long as they see no reason not to do so. The Legislative Black Caucus has the potential to rein in the GOP’s acts of discrimination and disrespect but it lacks the courage to do anything about it. Republicans are aware of the silence of the black legislators as the criminal justice system tosses minorities into jail at an alarming rate and without probable cause, in many instances. Civil rights organizations such as the state’s NAACP and, to a lesser extent, the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, have failed to raise any objection to the mistreatment of the state’s justice system when dealing with Crystal Mangum (the Duke Lacrosse victim/accuser), Erick Daniels and Shawn Massey (wrongfully incarcerated for more than seven and twelve years respectively, but denied a pardon), James Arthur Johnson (heroically solved the heinous murder of Wilson teen Brittany Willis, and was rewarded with 39 months in jail and not the advertised $20,000 reward which he earned), Carletta Patrice Alston (held in jail without cause for twelve months before being released), and other innocent African Americans caught up in the swath of the Prison Industrial Complex with its insatiable appetite for minority inmates.

I have personally tried to solicit involvement in these causes of injustice by Senator McKissick, and state Representatives Mickey Michaux and Larry Hall, all of Durham County, but my endeavors have met with no success… and it seems as though the Committee on Justice for Mike Nifong is fighting these wars against injustice alone. McKissick, Michaux, and Hall should all at least be actively advocating for their Durham constituents Crystal Mangum and Erick Daniels. But, like the NAACP, these politicians have all remained as silent as dormice.

Injustice against Ms. Mangum is especially egregious and is a prime example of vendetta justice at its worst… payback, if you will, for her role in the Duke Lacrosse case wherein she accused three Duke lacrosse athletes (from families of wealth, power, and privilege) of sexual assault which stemmed from a 2006 beer-guzzling, stripper-ogling party. The 2010 arrest of Mangum on a slew of trumped up charges, including felony first degree arson, was an obvious miscarriage of justice as Crystal Mangum was the victim of physical domestic abuse that February night in 2010. The prosecution by Prosecutor Angela Garcia-Lamarca perversely determined that Crystal’s ex-boyfriend abuser was an innocent victim who needed protection from the person whose face he had repeatedly battered with his fists, Ms. Mangum. McKissick and the Black Caucus remained silent.

Mangum now faces first degree murder charges in the April 13, 2011 death of Reginald Daye despite the fact that the stab wound she inflicted on April 3, 2011, had absolutely nothing to do with the deep coma into which he lapsed on the third postoperative day… and had nothing to do with the Duke University Hospital medical staff electively removing Daye from life support, which was the proximate cause of death. Major discrepancies exist in two autopsy reports on Reginald Daye which has neither sparked the interest of the media nor Black Caucus members. As with the bogus charges of 2010, the Black Caucus remains silent while Crystal Mangum now languishes in jail due to a vindictive and unforgiving criminal justice system.

Erick Daniels, who was released on appeal by Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson while seeking a new trial, was arrested at the age of fourteen and spent more than seven years behind bars before he tasted freedom. Despite his seven years of wrongful incarceration on an armed robbery conviction that hinged solely on the victim’s photo identification based on the shape of his eyebrows in a middle school yearbook, the Governor’s Office of Executive Clemency denied his request for a pardon so that he can be compensated for his many years of unjust imprisonment. I have appealed numerous times to Governor Bev Perdue asking her to reverse the clemency panel’s denial and grant Mr. Daniels a pardon. My attempts to enlist politicians, especially members of the Black Caucus with ties to Durham County, have been fruitless.

It is unreasonable to expect GOP leaders to show respect towards the African American community or African Americans in general if its African American political leaders show no interest in the plight of their constituents themselves… as is evident in these criminal justice cases. As long as Senator McKissick and his fellow Black Caucus members remain silent enablers of a biased criminal justice system, they can expect the Republicans in power to continue to treat African Americans dismissively with disdain.

Black Caucus members shouldn’t just sit in their comfortable plush seats and complain about the GOP’s show of disrespect… they need to do something about it. A good start to positively turn things around in the North Carolina General Assembly with regards to treatment by the Republican leadership would be for Senator McKissick and other Black Caucus members to summon the courage to take a stand against the state’s vendetta prosecution of Crystal Mangum by demanding to know why she is being charged with first degree murder in the death of Reginald Daye. 

Judge Gessner takes charge by tossing out charge

In an Anne Blythe article in Friday’s July 8, 2011 The News & Observer titled “Judge throws out murder charge,” Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul Gessner dismissed murder charges against 31 year-old Mario Antonio Smith. Prosecutors accused Smith of killing Dwight Lee Dean at a night club after a disturbance there. According to prosecutors, their witnesses gave statements after the incident that significantly differed from testimony given on the witness stand in court. (This is similar to a case involving the conviction of Shan Carter, which I will be highlighting in the future.) Furthermore, the prosecution’s one witness who linked Smith to the crime, described a perpetrator -who did not match the defendant in stature or hair style. (Not unlike the Erick Daniels case.)

Since the incident took place in July 2010, it is reasonable to assume that Mr. Smith was incarcerated for a year prior to his weak case being dismissed by Judge Gessner. The fact that the prosecution even brought such a merit-less case to trial was not surprising to defense attorney Jeff Cutler. Cutler stated about prosecutors, “That’s what they do. They don’t want to take heat for not trying the case. They’d rather let a judge or jury make the decision. I’m not surprised the judge dismissed it.” The prosecutor lacked credible evidence! Without forensics tying Mario Antonio Smith to the crime or a consistent and credible eyewitness, prosecutors plodded forward in preparing a flawed and flimsy case while the defendant cooled his heels in the cooler. (Similar to the Carletta Alston case, Smith essentially served a year sentence on a charge so weak that a judge threw it out before it could be brought before a jury… in Alston’s case the prosecutor avoided that humiliation by dropping charges against her himself.)

In their zeal, the Wake County prosecutors also charged Gregory Mecos Lee Watkins with accessory after the fact because he allegedly drove Smith from the nightclub stabbing scene. The article made no mention of whether or not he endured a lengthy pre-trial incarceration, or was released on bond. Regardless, due to actions from the bench on Smith’s case, the “accessory” charge against Watkins was dropped, as well.

I applaud Judge Gessner for his actions in this case, as it supports justice that is much too often denied the poor, disenfranchised, and people of color. Because prosecutors in the Tar Heel state have a propensity to charge people from the disadvantaged and “not-so-privileged” classes with crimes despite the paucity of evidence against them, they can usually count on a jury, with a mindset to please the prosecution, to deliver a verdict against the defendant. It happens time and time again, when defendants are convicted without a shred of credible evidence. Most of the time these cases pass public attention because the media does not cover them… it is only when the advantaged and privileged are snagged in the cogs of the criminal justice system that the media-types jump on criminal cases.

Unfortunately, it is only in high profile cases involving defendants from the upper echelons of society that jurors take their oaths seriously. In the Jason Young case, for example, the jurors fought to a standoff in a murder trial that was declared a mistrial after several days of deliberation. Holdouts against conviction in that group of twelve, did not feel that the prosecution presented a case without reasonable doubt. In most trials, however, with defendants lacking status or media appeal, jurors tend to reach verdicts not by analyzing the facts, evidence, and presentations of the barristers but instead rely on their visceral emotions… ready to convict when a crime victim is young and innocent or to assuage the grief of victims’ friends and relatives.

Jurors in the Erick Daniels case were not presented with a compelling case for his guilt, yet those dozen who sat in judgment reached a unanimous decision against him. The same can be said for the jurors in the Gregory Taylor case. Indifferent juries are responsible for many innocent people being convicted and given lengthy sentences in this state… the majority of wrongly incarcerated being the poor, disenfranchised, and people of color.

The second to the last paragraph in the article revealed the identity of Smith’s prosecutor as being Melanie Shekita… only to say that efforts to reach her were unsuccessful. I am glad to see the staff of the newspaper taking baby steps away from its ensconced PAPEN (Protect All Prosecutors Except Nifong) policy. Although prosecutors may feel pressure to convict someone of an especially heinous crime such as murder, it behooves them to take pains to see that their priority is to convict the guilty party. All too often they bring charges and prosecute knowing that the defendant is innocent (such as the Gregory Taylor case and the Erick Daniels case).

Until North Carolina prosecutors become true “Ministers of Justice,” prosecuting only those cases which have merit, it is incumbent upon judges to assure that the rights and liberty of the innocents are protected by dismissing those cases brought by prosecutors in which there is not enough evidence to convict… as did Judge Paul Gessner in the Mario Antonio Smith case. Unfortunately juries cannot be relied upon to use sound reasoning and impartial objectivity instead of sympathy and raw emotions in reaching a fair verdict… especially when it comes to the lives and futures of defendants who are poor, disenfranchised, and people of color.

I believe I speak on behalf of all Tar Heelians when I state that we are all in Judge Paul Gessner’s debt.

More of Wake County Prosecutor Tom Ford’s handiwork…

To access flog, click on the link below:

http://www.justice4nifong.com/direc/flog/flog4.html


In the Saturday, June 04, 2011 edition of The News & Observer newspaper, an article titled “Accused stepdaughter wants her life back” by staff writer Thomasi McDonald chronicled yet another chapter in the malfeasance and misdeeds of Wake County prosecutor Tom Ford.

The name “Tom Ford” probably does not sound familiar to most but it should, as Ford was the prosecutor in the botched murder investigation of Jacquetta Thomas that unfolded nearly two decades ago. As is it’s PAPEN Policy (Protect All Prosecutors Except Nifong), The News & Observer article never once mentioned the Gregory Taylor case or linked Tom Ford to it. It was Gregory Flynt Taylor who Prosecutor Ford saddled with that homicide… but he did so only because Taylor, who is white, would not give perjured testimony in order to convict Johnny Beck, the African American designated suspect who was Ford’s primary target.

In 1993, Taylor was convicted by the use of perjured testimony, a specialty of Prosecutor Ford, and with some hocus-pocus forensics which manipulated evidence to favor the prosecution’s scenario. In Taylor’s case, a stain on the bumper of his car was misleadingly determined to be human blood… which, in fact, it was not.

Prosecutor Ford won a life sentence against Greg Taylor because Taylor refused to implicate another innocent man with perjured testimony.

Returning to the story about the accused stepdaughter… Carletta Alston was charged in June 17, 2009 with the death of her stepfather Michael Donnell Smith. Smith, standing in his Knightdale driveway, was shot in the face during the early morning hours as he prepared to drive to work. His wife Phyllis and stepdaughter Carletta were inside the house when they heard the gunfire.

Afraid to venture outside to investigate, they placed a hysterical 9-1-1 call. Police arrived later and conducted an investigation that produced a stack of letters between the murdered victim Smith, who was also a co-pastor at a church and another woman. The correspondence pointed towards a romantic relationship between the two. Michael Smith’s wife Phyllis, denied knowledge of any affair until it was brought to her attention by the police.

Two days following the murder of Michael Donnell Smith, June 6, 2009, Wake deputies first interviewed Carletta Alston. They could not determine a motive for her to commit the murder. According to the newspaper article, police focused on the stepdaughter Carletta because her account of the shooting differed with other witnesses… specifically, police stated that the time Carletta Alston gave for hearing the shot was significantly later than the time given by neighbors.

Police did not state how much different, but surely a record of the 9-1-1 call would narrow down the timeline. Allegedly gunpowder residue was found somewhere on Alston’s nightgown, but not on her hands, or the hands of her mother. And, as Alston’s attorney, Karl Knudsen of Raleigh stated regarding gunpowder residue, “There’s always the possibility of contamination.”

Based upon Alston’s version of the time at which she heard the gunshot differing with the time given by the neighbors and the forensic report that gunpowder residue was found on Alston’s nightgown… exactly where it was never stated… Carletta Alston was charged with the murder of her stepfather Michael Donnell Smith. Police and prosecutors did not even have a motive in arresting Alston.

What is truly absurd is the statement made by Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby which fundamentally stated that there was reason enough to arrest Carletta Alston, there was reason enough for a grand jury to indict Carletta Alston for the murder of Michael Donnell Smith, but that they didn’t have a strong enough case to take it to court. Tea Party conservatives and birthers may believe this line spewed by the Wake County D.A., but Jedi mind-tricks have no affect on me and others with strong logical minds and a modicum of common sense.

Put another way, if the prosecutors did not have a strong enough case to take to court, then Alston should not have been indicted. And, if prosecutors did not have a strong enough case to indict Alston, she should have never been arrested. It’s as simple as that. To aver otherwise is what makes North Carolina justice the laughing stock of the country.

So Carletta Alston upon being arrested lost the two jobs that she held at nursing homes, and she languished in jail at costly taxpayer expense for a year. When she was unexpectedly released from custody without explanation, she had in essence served a one year sentence for not committing a crime… courtesy of prosecutor Tom Ford and the state’s selective justice system based on Class and Color.

The North Carolina justice system is one in which the well-heeled, powerful, privileged, and connected are given “rare deals.” Most of these deals substitute a small fine in place of serving jail time. Those who are disenfranchised, indigent, and people of color are dumped onto the scrap heap of despair and injustice, left to fend for themselves after losing years of their lives and their self dignity to an uncaring, inhumane, and unsympathetic system.

What happened to Carletta Alston is not an isolated incident. The following are but a smattering of examples:

James Arthur Johnson was charged with the murder, rape, kidnapping and armed robbery of Brittany Willis by Wilson County prosecutor Bill Wolfe. Despite lacking credible evidence Johnson, who solved the crimes against Willis, served a 39 month sentence before being forced to agree to an Alford plea deal for a misprision of felony. A misprision of felony charge is applied to person who has knowledge of a crime but does not go to authorities with it. Even this charge did not fit the plea deal which Johnson accepted.

Not only that, but friends and family of Brittany Willis offered a $20,000 reward upon which they reneged after Johnson identified the perpetrator of the crimes against Willis. The media has kept quiet about this.


Judge Osmond Smith III sentenced 15 year-old Erick Daniels to confinement for ten to fourteen years after he was convicted of an armed robbery in which prosecutor Freda Black offered not a shred of credible evidence. The victim of the robbery picked out the young boy’s photograph from a middle school year book based solely on the shape of his eyebrows.

Although he has been proclaimed “innocent” by a judge, the governor and her Office of Executive Clemency has refused to issue a pardon to Erick Daniels who is struggling to get a job with a false felony conviction on his record.

Crystal Gail Mangum, who was the victim and accuser in the Duke Lacrosse case, had charges trumped up against her in February 2010 after police were called to her apartment by her children out of fear for their mother’s safety. Crystal had been repeatedly punched in the face by her ex-boyfriend after she made an insulting comment.

When the responding police realized the identity of Crystal, they dropped attention from Crystal’s abuser and focused on her instead. In order to have Mangum convicted of a crime that would carry serious jail time, the Durham Police, the only ones with the motive, means, and opportunity, set fire to clothing in the bathtub, claimed it was arson, and attributed it to Crystal.

With a slew of other bogus charges, initial bail was set at $1 million. Like Carletta Alston, Crystal Mangum lost her job… but in addition lost her apartment, many of her belongings, custody of her children, was dropped from graduate school classes in which she was enrolled, and she lost her independence.

Crystal spent three months in jail before a $100,000 bail was unexpectedly satisfied by a benevolent bail bondsman. Even though her attorney, Mani Dexter, put up an almost non-existent feather-weight defense, Mangum was not convicted of the most serious arson charge, and was sentenced to time served on other frivolous charges for which she was convicted.

The system of selective justice based on Class and Color thrives in North Carolina because civil rights groups, politicians, and community leaders allow it. They remain silent while the vulnerable individuals, who look to and depend upon them for protection, are mashed under the uncaring heel of those in positions of power in the justice system.

The NAACP, under leadership of Dr. Rev. William Barber II, remained silent as a dormouse. Where was his voice, or that of the NAACP, when Carletta Alston was thrown into the slammer because her recollection of events differed from others about the time at which a gun was fired? State senators and representatives in Wake County have also remained silent when their constituent Carletta Alston languished in jail at taxpayer expense despite the fact that prosecutor Tom Ford had not built a case against her.

Clergymen throughout the state may deliver fiery sermons to their flock from within the confines of their houses of worship, but when it comes to speaking out publicly against the injustice against the very people they serve , then it is as though they have suddenly lost their voices.

Because of the deafening silence amongst community and civil rights leaders, prosecutors like Tom Ford are emboldened and have no compunction against tossing the disenfranchised, poor, and people of color in jail in order to close a case. So what if innocent people are serving time behind bars while the real culprits run free? Who cares?

And, Tom Ford can count on the media coddling up to him, in conjunction with the media’s PAPEN Policy. Duke Lacrosse Prosecutor Mike Nifong in doing his job within acceptable standards, was vilified and butchered by the media… but not so with the Greg Taylor Prosecutor Tom Ford.

Even though the Greg Taylor case received plenty of media press, the prosecutor of the case Tom Ford was rarely mentioned. SBI lab agent Duane Deaver was the designated scapegoat for the case. Well known defense attorney Joseph Cheshire, in defending Greg Taylor, was lenient when discussing the prosecutor who snatched seventeen years of his client’s best years from him. No disparaging words about Ford were uttered from Cheshire’s lips… even referring to Ford as a capable opponent. Cheshire saved his criticism for Mike Nifong only.

In fact, that was Cheshire’s strategy in the Duke Lacrosse case. Not to defend the defendants, but to attack Nifong, the prosecutor who was too independent and would not yield to the tenet of “selective justice based on Class and Color.” So with the media in tow, the Duke Lacrosse defense set out to destroy Mike Nifong, which was culminated with his disbarment, making him the only prosecutor to be disbarred by the North Carolina State Bar since its inception in 1933.

I have to hand it to The News & Observer for even having the gumption to mention Tom Ford’s name in the article. However, even in doing so, it attempted to mislead. Take the passage “Knudsen also noted that the prosecutor handling the case, Tom Ford, has a reputation for being very thorough and willing to do everything he can with the available evidence.” Ford exhibited his talents with evidence in the Greg Taylor case when he turned a bumper stain into human blood, and when he took a negative scent from a tracking hound and with a little abracadabra turned it into a positive one.

Then the article tried to define Tom Ford as a dedicated prosecutor by stating, “But he backed away from taking Alston to trial.”

“He came to the conclusion that it was not a case they wanted to move forward with,” Knudsen said.

I have not a problem with that decision, but why did it take twelve months for Tom Ford to come to the conclusion that he did not, and never did have a case against Carletta Alston? Twelve months while Ms. Alston served time without being convicted of a crime. The fact of the matter is, as was previously stated, that Carletta Alston should never have been arrested and charged with the crime.

Thanks to Tom Ford’s handiwork, the state of North Carolina owes Carletta Alston. As Ms. Alston struggles to find work and deal with other problems related to her unjust incarceration, the state needs to step in and help make her whole… as much as is humanly possible. That is what true justice demands and that is what we, as Tar Heelians, should demand. 

Lock ‘em all up, and sort out the facts later… Durham Police Department Policy regarding the Not-So-Privileged?

A recent article in The News & Observer, titled “Accused stepdaughter wants her life back,” recounts how Carletta Alston, was arrested and charged with the murder of Michael Donnell Smith in June 2009. Although Wake County Prosecutor Tom Ford (who also wrongly prosecuted Gregory Taylor in the 1991 death of Jacquetta Thomas) had no credible evidence or even a motive against Ms. Alston, he held her in jail for a year before finally releasing her. It seems that in North Carolina’s justice system this practice of arresting an individual first and then working up a case against the person is not all that rare… especially amongst the poor, disenfranchised, people of color and those considered Not-So-Privileged.

This kind of arrest first, investigate later policy would not be tolerated if it was applied to the privileged, or those who were deemed to be professionals or educated. For example, Jason Young, who is currently on trial for the murder of his wife Michelle Young, was not scooped up and dumped in the slammer as soon as suspicions about him arose. Heck, no. The police and their investigators conducted a thorough investigation before making the arrest and bringing charges against him.

That is the way the justice system should work when it comes to making an arrest and bringing charges. Justice definitely was not served in the Carletta Alston case… more of which will be presented in the flog which is soon to follow.

In the past few days evidence has been unearthed, literally, which has brought media attention to yet another sad chapter of crime in the cash-strapped city of Durham. Specifically, the case of the so-called “Black Hebrews” religious cult with its leader Pete Moses Jr., who along with a half dozen others, has been charged with the murder of 28 year-old Antoinette McKoy and a five year-old boy, Jadon Higginbothan. According to media sources, a witness stated that cult leader Moses killed the little boy and ordered a follower, Vania Sisk, mother of the murdered boy, to shoot McKoy. It is believed that the deaths occurred sometime in December 2010.

Let me preface my following remarks by stating that neither Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez nor any of his investigators have shared any information about the case with me. All that I have gleaned about the case has come from the mainstream media… which is not the most reliable source. But it is the only source available to me.

I do not question the arrest and murder charges leveled against Pete Moses Jr. and Vania Sisk. From what I have read and viewed on television news, those charges seem to be warranted. Charges against five other individuals seems to be somewhat more suspect. Although Moses’s mother Sheilda Evelyn Harris rented the house nearly a year ago on Ashe Street where the bodies were found, I have seen no evidence that she was involved or had knowledge of the murders. On the television news broadcasts however, relatives of Ms. Harris claimed that she had no involvement in Moses’s religious cult or his crimes. Others arrested included Sheila Falisha Moses, 20; P. Leonard Moses, 20; Larhonda Renee Smith,40; and Lavada Quinzetta Harris, 40. Sheila and Leonard Moses are children of Ms. Harris, and siblings of cult leader Pete Moses Jr. Other than living in the house on Ashe Street, there was no information linking Sheila and Leonard in the crimes.

A newspaper article in today’s The News & Observer titled, “Site of woman’s body yields remains of child,” conveyed that Durham Police Chief Lopez stated that prior to discovery of the bodies on the Ashe Street property, Ms. Harris was not a suspect. The mere discovery of the bodies on the property does not in-and-of itself implicate Ms. Harris in the murder.

Although the five charged with murder (outside of Pete Moses and Vania Sisk), are being held without bail, the real possibility exists that they may be totally innocent… that they could have had no knowledge of the crime. It is possible that one or more may have aided or abetted Pete Moses, and possibly deserved a lesser charge of “accessory after the fact.” And, although I believe that it is highly unlikely, the five could have all taken part in the murders and be guilty as charged.

It just seems to me that when it comes to making arrests amid those who are of the Not-So-Privileged class, police and prosecutors in Durham and Wake Counties, as well as other counties within the state, have no qualms about making arrests first and investigating second. I believe that it should be the other way around.

If I were a bettin’ man, I would be inclined to believe that before the dust settles, of the five presently in custody and facing murder charges (excluding Pete Moses Jr. and Vania Sisk), most, if not all of them will have the murder charges against them reduced or dropped. Although arresting the Not-So-Privileged may be popular with conservative law and order Republicans, arresting and charging people without credible evidence is an unjust policy that results in unnecessary misery and hardship, and drains the county coffers that are maintained with taxpayer dollars.

Arrest first and investigate second policies in Durham, Wake County and throughout North Carolina should be abandoned immediately, and in its place there should be a principle that requires an investigation that yields credible evidence before an arrest takes place… in other words, the same policy that is currently in place for the Privileged class should be applied to the Not-So-Privileged.

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