Articles Posted in Criminal Defense

News from the Charlotte Observer of a suspicious summer course offering at UNC-Chapel Hill shows that a class with no instruction time was created just days before the summer semester began which was filled exclusively with football players.

The records show that in the summer of 2011, 19 students signed up for AMFAM 280: Blacks in North Carolina. 18 of these students were current football players; the other man was a former player. The players had the support of their academic advisors who knew there would be no actual instruction. The whole affair is now the subject of a full scale criminal investigation.

Additional records show that football and basketball players made up a majority of nine other suspect classes in which professors listed as instructors deny ever teaching. They are also claiming that their signatures were forged on records related to the courses. This amounts to significant evidence of academic fraud taking place at UNC. An internal search discovered there were 54 such classes, all but nine of which were taught by Julius Nyang’oro, the longtime chairman of the African and Afro-American Studies Department. In each course the students were given one assignment, such as writing a term paper, and told to turn it in at the end of the summer term.

Bubba Cunningham, the current athletic director hired since the scandal took place has said that he is troubled by the news. “I just think this has uncovered some information that quite frankly, the university, we’re not proud of,” he said in an interview. “But we’ll continue to work to ensure that it doesn’t happen going forward.”

The issue began as a result of an investigation into the summer pay Nyang’oro received for the AMFAM 280 course. The search uncovered evidence that the university had paid the professor the standard fee for such a course, $12,000, but that it was contingent on the course being taught in lecture format. Nyang’oro decided to change the course to an independent study. The school is now trying to get the money paid out to the professor back.

Nyang’oro resigned as chairman of the department last September as UNC began an investigation into numerous independent studies and other suspicious course offerings in his department. He had been the department’s only chairman and earned as much as $171,000 per year.

Continue reading

The use of electronic monitors as an alternative means of punishment in Charlotte is about to expand, despite the growing amount of negative media attention the program has received. The program costs taxpayers $35,000 a month and even though a few unruly participants have decided it was better for them to cut off their monitors and run, the police have faith that the program is a good one and that it is working. It started back in 1997 and it is being expanded to cover more crimes and therefore more defendants.

Police believe that the program serves several purposes. It is a crime-solving tool, it is a means of deterring particularly young offenders, and it helps to prevent unnecessary jail/prison overcrowding for minor offenses. There is also the added benefit of being able to map out where crime is taking place based on the location of the monitors, which, according the police, outweighs the occasional “monitor-cutters on the run.”

Most of the defendants that the police are monitoring are those who have been charged with robbery or burglary, but the police have also been fitting domestic violence and sexual assault offenders with such monitors as a means of making sure that they stay far away from their victims. “Police can use the monitors to establish zones where the offender cannot go. If he or she crosses into that area–usually a set distance from the victim’s home or workplace–the monitor will alert the police.”

The program provides the police with a detailed alert of criminal activity and the location of the monitored individuals at the time of the crime. When someone reports a crime, the time and location of that crime is noted. If someone who is being monitored is within a set distance from that location of criminal activity, the police are alerted. The police have been receiving nearly 30 pages of alerts per day. Police say that it is just like any other investigative tool. It produces a lead, which then requires that the police conduct an investigation to prove whether the person being monitored was actually involved in the criminal activity.

Continue reading

Police in Charlotte arrested four people as they were trying to force their way into Bank of America’s annual shareholder’s meeting. Police were working to contain a crowd that had gathered outside of the meeting in the street. The arrests came as a result of the police using a newly passed city ordinance to declare the shareholder’s meeting an “extraordinary event” which allows the police to subject protests to more stringent regulations.

The new ordinance is found in Sections 15-310 through 15-313 of the municipal code. It gives the city manager the authority to declare an event an “extraordinary event” and also allows the city manger to prescribe the location and the time period for the event. An “extraordinary event” is defined in the code as “a large-scale special event of national or international significance and/or an event expected to attract a significant number of people to a certain portion of the city.”

Section 15-313 sets out what kind of conduct is unlawful during the extraordinary event. It is unclear from the WBMF report what prompted the police to arrest the four individuals. The code section makes it unlawful to carry certain items, such as backpacks, posters, markers, and other items. There was no indication that any of those items were found on the arrestees. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Major Jeff Estes told reporters that the four were arrested for crossing a police line, a misdemeanor in North Carolina.

Continue reading

The Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Team has been extremely successful, according to a recent report by WCNC news. It has not only increased the number of violent criminals being arrested, but it has also been timely when putting the cuffs on the criminals. The success of the team has landed several of Charlotte’s most violent criminals behind bars.

The team is headed up by Sergeant Steve Winterhalter. It is his job to take down those criminals that the city considers to be the most dangerous. Since the unit was formed six years ago, the team has made 2,000 arrests, which is a huge accomplishment for this team. Their 2,000th capture was a fugitive from New York who was hiding in the Charlotte area. He was arrested last week along with 20 others who were on the team’s list of bad guys. Those 21 captures set a record for the number of captures made by the team in one week.

Not only are they thorough, but they also manage to be efficient. On average, it takes the team about 19 hours from the beginning of the team’s investigation to make an arrest. Their speed prevents the alleged criminals from fleeing the jurisdiction. Winterhalter believes that some of their success is attributable to the police department being more efficient at identifying suspects. He said, “The department is responding to the incident a little bit differently. There’s increased number of resources put into the initial investigation, different bodies from within organization are helping.”

Continue reading

According to a recent report by WBTV news, the lawyer’s for Trayvon Martin’s family gave an exclusive interview to the board of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). One of the reporters for WBTV is a regional director for the association and sat in on the interview.

For those who may not know, Trayvon Martin is the 17-year-old young man from Florida who was killed by George Zimmerman, the head of the neighborhood watch in his area. Zimmerman is claiming that the killing was in self-defense. The initial investigation by the Sanford, Florida police department did not result in an arrest of Zimmerman. Since then, Martin’s death had received national media attention and now the case is under investigation by the Florida State’s Attorney’s office and the Justice Department.

Daryl Parks represents the Martin family. He told NABJ that the family has meet with the state’s attorney’s office and with the Department of Justice. They are waiting to hear from both agencies about how long the investigation will take, but the family is hopeful and optimistic, believing that eventually they will have justice for their son.

Parks expressed his opinion about the legal significance of the evidence against Zimmerman. He said that he does not believe that there is enough evidence to charge Zimmerman with a hate crime, which would eliminate the federal government from the potential prosecution; however, he does believe that there is enough evidence to make an arrest for some form of homicide.

In addition to the potential criminal charges, Parks told NABJ that the family is going to file a civil claim against Zimmerman and against the Home Owner’s Association. “Parks told the NABJ he has information to show the HOA told residents how to handle any problems within the neighborhood – that was to call police first and Zimmerman next. The question then is – did the HOA deputize Zimmerman to protect the community?” If the HOA gave Zimmerman the power to protect the community and he did so in a way that was against the law, the HOA may be liable for Martin’s death.

The Martin family was recently Washington, D.C. being briefed by the House of Representatives on hate crimes. They were hosted by Representative Shelia Jackson Lee of Texas who believes that the federal government should do whatever it can to put pressure on the state of Florida to arrest and try Zimmerman.

Continue reading