The Durham Civilian Police Review Board met on Monday to finalize its recommendations to City Council. Notably, the board did not advance expanding its own authority to conduct investigations of complaints, opting to sustain a lighter oversight policy that some residents have called toothless. The board’s current practice is to scrutinize the detectives who run […]
John H. Tucker
Bio: John H. Tucker is a staff writer for INDY Week.Email: [email protected]: http://twitter.com/JH_Tucker
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The N.C. Supreme Court hears a case about drugs, urine and free will
The case before the N.C. Supreme Court is bizarre, involving a traffic stop, a toilet and a pair of urine-soaked pants. On the other hand, the case is also simple, asking a fundamental legal question: to what extent should people be punished for involuntary crimes? Last Tuesday that debate played out at the state’s highest […]
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Complaint filed against Durham Public Schools for high suspension rates of kids with disabilities
One day last June, Tyree Barrett, a skinny, dimply-faced 16-year-old enrolled in summer classes at Hillside High School in Durham, raised his hand to ask to use the bathroom. He occasionally made this request, owing to his Type 1 diabetes, which affects his mood and requires constant blood-sugar monitoring. Tyree hadn’t eaten lunch yet and […]
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Durham Police bonus payments to informants could violate defendants’ rights
A long-standing financial bonus program for criminal informants operated by the Durham Police Department could violate defendants’ right to a fair trial and possibly taints their plea agreements. For 10 years, DPD has offered extra money to undercover informants willing to testify in court and cooperate in drug cases. However, those incentives were offered without […]
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Jorge Juarez-Lopez sentenced to a minimum of 36 years for sex offenses
After coming home from work one day in late 2012, Anna had a fleeting moment of suspicion based on a single observation: Her teenage daughter was taking a shower. “She was stinking,” Anna’s live-in boyfriend, Jorge Juarez-Lopez, explained when Anna inquired that day. Strange, Anna thought to herself. The hot water in the house had […]
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An Apex Teen Dies of an Overdose of Synthetic LSD
Here is the friend. Arms cradling the boy he has known since fifth grade. The boy, 17, is on the ground, foaming at the mouth. Moaning, twitching, tongue bleeding—bitten from the convulsions. “Pull through!” shouts the friend, holding Timmy Castaneda in his lap. “Timmy, pull through!” “Turn him on his side,” instructs the 911 dispatcher. […]
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DA: No charges against officer involved in Ocampo shooting
Durham Police Officer Ronald Mbuthia will not be charged for the fatal shooting of Jose Adan Cruz Ocampo, Durham District Attorney Leon Stanback announced this morning. On July 27, 2013, Durham police responded to a stabbing at 806 Park Avenue. Ocampo, 33, who was near the crime scene, retrieved a knife from his back pocket […]
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Charges dropped against Raleigh man after illegal search
Inside his Raleigh home, 31-year-old John Malunda displays a book titled Know Your Rights, which he picked up several years ago after he says he caught a “bullshit felony.” A high school dropout raised by a single mother, Malunda embraced street life as a teenager and once did a seven-month prison stint for selling coke. […]
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N.C. Supreme Court to rule on unprecedented case about a murder by cellphone
Nineteen-year-old Dylan Boston grips his .22-caliber rifle and stares at the elderly man, who has fallen to the kitchen floor. It’s still daylight outside the 72-year-old victim’s mobile home just south of Greensboro. So far, the murder-for-hire is going according to plan. But Boston panics. He passes the rifle to Phillip Mabe, his 31-year-old roommate […]
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Durham DA: No charges will be filed in Huerta case
This afternoon Durham District Attorney Leon A. Stanback released a statement announcing his office will not issue criminal charges in the case of Jesus Huerta, the 17-year-old who shot himself while handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser last November. Stanback’s announcement comes after his office reviewed the State Bureau of Investigation’s preliminary report. […]
