Between 2011 and 2014, the number of black offenders entering North Carolina’s prisons declined almost 26 percent, and the number of Hispanics dropped 37 percent, surpassing the 15 percent admission rate for whites, according to a new report highlighting prison reforms in North Carolina, Georgia and Connecticut. The report was published by the Council of […]
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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Court of Appeals hears arguments in Darryl Howard case
In 1991, Doris Washington and her 13-year-old daughter Nishonda were murdered in their Durham apartment, leading to the conviction and 80-year sentence of a petty criminal named Darryl Howard. The bodies were discovered in the nude; Doris had lacerations in her vagina, sustained shortly before her murder, and Nishonda had semen that didn’t belong to […]
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Accused of a triple murder, Hicks’ next hearing is in early June
As Craig Hicks left a Durham county courtroom Monday wearing orange jail garb, Mohammad Abu-Salha turned to him and exclaimed, “Coward scumbag.” Hicks looked at Abu-Salha, and simply raised his eyebrows. Abu-Salha is the father of two of three people whom Hicks allegedly murdered three months ago. Hicks is charged with three counts of first-degree […]
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Teen serving life without parole will receive new sentencing hearing
A Columbus County teenager sentenced to life without parole for a murder he committed at 16 will receive a new sentencing hearing, highlighting a shift in the way North Carolina courts are addressing punishments for juveniles convicted of murder. In a sharply worded opinion published today by the North Carolina Court of Appeals, the court […]
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Craig Hicks to be tried capitally
Craig Hicks, who is charged with three counts of first-degree murder following the triple homicide of three Chapel Hill students two months ago, may be tried capitally, a Durham judge ruled today. During an afternoon hearing, prosecutors outlined some of the details surrounding the deaths of Deah Baraket, 23; his newlywed wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, […]
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North Carolina selected as pilot site to reduce solitary confinement
The North Carolina Department of Public Safety is one of five state and local corrections departments selected by the Vera Institute of Justice to participate in a new initiative aimed at reducing their use of solitary confinement and other forms of segregated prisoner housing. Noting that “the human cost of the overuse and misuse” of […]
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North Carolina cities’ police-oversight boards are mostly toothless. Some state lawmakers want to change that
It didn’t work locally, so maybe it could work at the state level. That’s the attitude of many Durham residents who believe the city’s Civilian Police Review Board is in desperate need of overhaul. After local efforts to do so failed last year, they hope a new House bill, introduced this month, will bolster civilian […]
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State Bar: judges and lawyers may communicate on social media
Judges and lawyers in North Carolina may hobnob on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter as long as they don’t communicate about ex parte matters (private issues in pending cases), the State Bar declared in a recent ethics opinion. In addition, lawyers may endorse or recommend judges, but they may not accept endorsements […]
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Raleigh federal judge rebuked by Fourth Circuit in disabilty discrimination case
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which governs North Carolina’s federal courts, slapped a Raleigh judge on the wrist by reversing one of his recent orders, citing his failure to consider all the evidence in a disability discrimination case. Judge Terrence Boyle, who serves on the bench of the Eastern District of […]
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Sentence upheld for Durham man convicted of Chapel Hill murder
Mario Ramsey, the Durham man sentenced last year to 30 to 37 years in prison for the second-degree murder of Drew Frasure in his Chapel Hill apartment, will not have his sentenced reduced following appeal. The North Carolina Court of Appeals published an opinion yesterday declaring that the trial judge acted within statutory guidelines while […]
