It’s a tale of two courtrooms, says Resident Superior Court Judge Robert C. Ervin about a defense attorney’s motion to have him recused from her cases.
Jameel Malik Davidson, 25, was facing charges of first-degree murder in the Jan. 18, 2017, stabbing death of 86-year-old Gerald Jerry Gillespie in Gillespie s apartment off Owen Drive.
On May 14, Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Jim Ammons declared the jury hung after jurors were unable to agree on a verdict following two days of deliberations.
The Cumberland County District Attorney s office has yet to file for a retrial, but prosecutors expect to do so at their next trial-setting conference June 11, District Attorney Billy West said Friday.
Until then, prosecutors will review the evidence from the case with investigators, he said.
Davidson s case took a while to get before a jury after his attorney in 2018 requested additional mental health exams alleging his client was incompetent to stand trial. Upon return of these additional exams, Davidson was found to be competent.
A 24-year-old Brunswick man was found guilty of murder in a 2017 shooting.
A Brunswick County jury found Eugene Anthwon Powell guilty on one count of first-degree murder, according to a Thursday news release from the Brunswick County district attorney s office.
On Dec. 8, 2017, Powell shot and killed Anthony Scott Beers in an area known as “the quarters” in the Longwood community of Brunswick County, the release said. Powell evaded law enforcement for four days and fled to South Carolina before returning to North Carolina where he was arrested by the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office in an apartment in Shallotte on Dec. 12, 2017.
Forsyth trying to restart court operations after a year of the pandemic journalnow.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from journalnow.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Murphy man pleads guilty to drug trafficking
A Murphy man who triggered an investigation into his own drug-dealing activities admitted in Graham County Superior Court to trafficking methamphetamine.
Ronnie Edmund Litton, 32, will spend at least 70 months and up to 93 months in prison after entering a guilty plea in early March.
Litton, in December 2020, told the Graham County Sheriff’s Office that someone had stolen and set fire to a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado. The truck was burned in front of a U.S. Forest Service gate on Ledbetter Road.
A deputy responded to Litton’s arson-and-theft report and requested identification. Litton told the officer his driver’s license had burned in the truck. He provided a false date of birth and a fictitious name, calling himself Chris Russell.