Wilmjax News

DURHAM, N.C.—The Durham Sheriff’s Department has named Tory Jarel Nelson as the person believed to have killed Deacon Charles Forest Davis, 89.
 
Davis was found brutally murdered in his home along 2913 Nellowood Street on September 26. 
 
According to Sheriff Hill, there have been very few leads in the case. They are hoping to find and speak with Nelson.

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A warrant filed in Wake County shows that an investigator looking into an allegation of loan fraud against a state representative searched a Durham nonprofit’s financial records.

State Bureau of Investigation Agent Rufus Williams searched the North Carolina Minority Support Center. He searched for financial records and other documents under the control of Representative Thomas Wright and a foundation that the Democrat from New Hanover County helped create.

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(11/09/07 –DURHAM) - Authorities need help finding a person of interest in the unsolved murder of a Durham church deacon.

On September 26, family members found 89-year-old Charles Forest Davis stabbed to death in his home.

The day following the murder deputies spotted Davis’ stolen car with two men in it. After a short chase, the men fled the car on foot but police were unable to apprehend either one of the men.

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(11/09/07 — DURHAM) - Police arrested a man they believe robbed and assaulted a Duke University graduate student.

David Hill was wanted on multiple charges, including assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury and robbery.

Police arrested him Friday afternoon in Durham at the Howard Johnson Hotel on Hillside Road.

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A noose was found at a top university in our state.
    
Campus officials say a noose made of toilet paper was found yesterday inside a bathroom at North Carolina State University.
    
Someone found it in a maintenance building that’s usually used only by employees who have keys.

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Mike Nifong wanted the taxpayers of North Carolina to defend the indefensible: him. The taxpayers have declined. And not respectfully.

Durham’s disbarred former district attorney is being sued by the three Duke students whom he tried to convict of serious crimes that he had every reason to doubt they had committed.

Nifong’s lawyer asked the state to pay to defend him, contending that Nifong was performing his duties as a constitutional officer of the state.

In fact, he was betraying those duties and that constitution. His fellow lawyers concluded that he cheated and lied to win a case that had disintegrated. Attorney General Roy Cooper called him a “rogue prosecutor.”

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(10/18/07 — DURHAM) - The state Attorney General’s office has refused former Durham County prosecutor Mike Nifong’s request that the state represent him or pay his legal bills as he responds to a civil lawsuit filed by the three exonerated Duke lacrosse players falsely accused of rape.

Nifong, who left office in disgrace after leading the disastrous prosecution, had cited his role as a constitutional officer of the state in asking for the assistance. But in a letter sent to Nifong on Tuesday, chief deputy Attorney General Grayson Kelley told Nifong his conduct in the case meets one or more of the several reasons outlined in state law that disqualify him from such assistance.

The former players — falsely accused of raping a stripper at a March 2006 lacrosse team party — filed a federal civil rights lawsuit earlier this month naming Nifong, the city of Durham, several police officials, a private DNA laboratory and others. They are seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

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Raleigh — Wake County plans to launch its own crackdown on illegal immigration. Sheriff Donnie Harrison said Wednesday he is working out plans to have deputies start policing immigration issues.

Harrison is among a growing group of North Carolina sheriffs getting into the business of enforcing federal Immigration laws. They are part of a partnership that gives local authorities access to an immigration database.

State troopers said an accident on Interstate 40 in July is an example of a tragic pattern playing out on North Carolina’s roadways and involving illegal immigrants.

The man charged in the fatal accident turned out to be an illegal immigrant driving drunk. At the time of his arrest, Michael Delatorre had a fake ID and had already been deported twice in the past three years.

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(10/05/07 — DURHAM) - Three former Duke lacrosse players falsely accused of rape filed a federal lawsuit Friday against disgraced prosecutor Mike Nifong, the city of Durham and the police detectives who handled the investigation.

The lawsuit calls the criminal case against Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and Dave Evans was “one of the most chilling episodes of premeditated police, prosecutorial and scientific misconduct in modern American history.”

The lawsuit seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages, attorneys fees and numerous reforms to the way the Durham Police Department handles criminal investigations. They include changes to a photo lineup procedure that helped secure indictments against the three players and the appointment of a monitor to oversee certain police activities for 10 years.

The lawsuit was filed about a month after city officials met with lawyers for the families seeking a $30 million settlement and several legal reforms, two sources close to the case have told The Associated Press. The attorneys gave the city a month to respond or face a civil rights lawsuit.

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Raleigh — A Wendell man was being held on a $3 million bond Friday on charges he tortured and raped a woman over two days last month, police said.

Danny Thomas Goldston, 49, of 264 Wood Green Drive, is charged with five counts of first-degree rape, two counts of first-degree sex offense, and one count each of first-degree kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon and assault inflicting serious bodily injury.

A woman told police that she and a friend were sleeping outside Hillyer Memorial Christian Church, at the intersection of Hillsborough Street and Boylan Avenue in Raleigh, on Sept. 15 when her friend was stabbed and she was abducted. She said she was eventually taken to a wooded area and was repeatedly raped and assaulted.

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Second article.

The three former Duke lacrosse players falsely accused of rape have filed a civil lawsuit against several defendants, including disgraced prosecutor Mike Nifong, the city of Durham and the police detectives who investigated the allegations.

The federal lawsuit seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages, attorneys fees and numerous reforms to the way the Durham Police Department handles criminal investigations. They include changes to a photo lineup procedure that helped secure indictments against the three players and the appointment of a monitor to oversee certain police activities for 10 years.

Read more.

(10/02/07 –RALEIGH) - The state Court of Appeals says the Town of Woodfin can enforce its ordinance preventing registered sex offenders from entering a public park.

David Standley challenged the 2005 law that prohibited him from walking through the town’s parks. The town passed the ordinance after sex offenses were reported in or near some parks.

Two of the three judges on the appeals court panel agreed with a lower court ruling upholding the ordinance. Judge Rick Elmore says the ban is designed to protect the health and safety of town residents and doesn’t bar Standley from enjoying the outdoors.

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Durham — Duke University President Richard Brodhead apologized Saturday for much of the university’s actions during the highly publicized yearlong rape investigation involving the school’s highly ranked lacrosse team.

“Given the complexities of this case, getting the communication right would never have been easy,” Brodhead said. “But the fact is that we did not get it right, causing the families to feel abandoned when they were most in need of support. This was a mistake. I take responsibility for it, and I apologize for it.”

Speaking at a Duke law school conference, Brodhead made his first public remarks about the case since charges against David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann were dropped. The conference, “The Court of Public Opinion,” focused on the ethical obligations of the media, legal system and colleges during high-profile criminal cases.

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Durham — Authorities in Burlington on Friday arrested one man wanted for shooting a Durham police officer, taking him into custody after a standoff at a house. They were searching for a second suspect on Saturday morning.

Durham police officer D.B. Vereen was shot in the back and arm while responding to a break-in in progress at 1410-A Cherrycrest Drive on Sunday night.

Authorities received information Friday afternoon that David Wendale Williams, 22, of Normandy Street in Durham, was in a house at 1017 S. Church St. in Burlington.

The Burlington Police Department’s Special Response Team surrounded the house and negotiated with Williams for 90 minutes. Officers fired six rounds of tear gas into the house, and Williams surrendered.

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — State Treasurer Richard Moore wants to see North Carolina’s Democratic Party rename its annual Vance-Aycock Dinner because of the message of white supremacy preached by one of its namesakes.

This year’s dinner is scheduled for Saturday in Asheville.

Gov. Charles Aycock is known for his education reforms, but his speeches supporting white supremacy have received more scrutiny following recent research into the race riots.

Moore says Aycock focused his campaign on efforts to disenfranchise black voters, and his victory fostered Jim Crow laws throughout the South.

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