April 2021 Newsletter
The Durham County District Attorney’s Office newsletter highlights the work staff do in and out of the courthouse.
In The Community
DA Deberry Discusses Policing, Racial Injustice in Links Panel
District Attorney Satana Deberry participated in a panel on criminal justice reform hosted by the Triangle Park Chapter of the Links, Incorporated. She was joined on the panel by former Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown, North Carolina Central University Professor Irving Joyner, NAMI Wake County Immediate Past President Lillian Davis, and Morrisville Police Chief Patrice Andrews, who served as moderator.
In light of recent police killings of Black people, the panelists discussed the legal standards around police use-of-force, how such cases are handled in the criminal legal system, and the process of reviewing and releasing body-worn camera footage. They discussed racial disparities present throughout the criminal legal system. DA Deberry shared that as a Black mother, her motivation as district attorney is to help ensure her children and others don’t have to experience the same “fear so deep in their hearts” about their own children’s safety.
ADA Montgomery-Blinn Joins PBS Panel on Criminal Justice Reform
Special Victims Unit Team Lead ADA Kendra Montgomery-Blinn was a panelist for an April 6 discussion on criminal justice reform hosted by PBS North Carolina. The panel followed a preview screening of the new documentary series, Philly DA, about Philadelphia’s reform-minded district attorney. The virtual event was part of a film series hosted by PBS North Carolina, RiverRun International Film Festival, the State Library North Carolina and Independent Lens. Beth Hopkins Thomas, who previously served as the DA’s Office Juvenile Team lead and now serves as director of North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services, was also on the panel.
ADA Montgomery-Blinn discussed working to show that bias and hate motivated the murders of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill. At the defendant’s 2019 guilty plea, the DA’s Office brought in an expert on bias to testify — something that has rarely been done by the prosecution in other cases.
Montgomery-Blinn also discussed how the DA’s Office uses restorative justice to help victims get closure after a crime has occurred, while holding the responsible person accountable. The DA’s Office has referred cases ranging from breaking and entering up to a homicide to community restorative justice groups. She explained that the DA’s Office works to divert cases, like those involving mental illness and substance use, that are better addressed outside of the criminal legal system, while focusing office resources on serious and violent offenses.
Watch the discussion here.
DA Deberry, Philadelphia DA Discuss Justice Reform
Fair and Just Prosecution hosted DA Deberry and Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner for a conversation about justice reform and the Philly DA docu-series on Krasner’s time in office. DA Deberry discussed efforts by the DA’s Office to avoid overusing probation and incarcerating people on probation for minor technical violations or inability to pay court debt. Deberry said staff “really think about the real world consequences of putting somebody on probation.” The number of people on probation in Durham County has declined by about 40 percent since DA Deberry took office.
ADA Spiegel Presents to Local NAACP Criminal Justice Committee
ADA Danny Spiegel presented on April 27 to the Chapel Hill Carrboro NAACP’s Criminal Justice Committee about reforms the Durham DA’s Office has undertaken to address racial inequities, increase accountability and reduce recidivism in the courts.
ADA Spiegel discussed the Office’s partnership with the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law. Researchers there have studied bail decisions in Durham County and continue to examine plea arrangements in the DA’s Office. Spiegel serves as policy lead for the Office and as the Drug and Property Crimes Team Lead ADA. He described the Office’s work to utilize Drug Treatment Court for individuals that most need services, consider declining or diverting lower-level drug possession cases, and focus resources on prosecuting drug cases involving trafficking and/or violence.
In The Office
Victim Service Coordinator Jordan Hanna Joins DA’s Office
Jordan Hanna joined the Durham DA’s Office Special Victims Unit as a victim service coordinator. Hanna previously worked in the Cabarrus County Criminal Clerk’s Office and interned with the Cabarrus County Probation Office. She studied psychology and criminal justice at Appalachian State University, during which time she worked as a research assistant for a forensic psychologist.
ADA Sotomayor Receives Victim Services Award
Assistant District Attorney Joshua Sotomayor received the Distinguished Prosecutor Victim Services Award from the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of North Carolina and the Victim Services Interagency Council of North Carolina.
The award was presented to Sotomayor on April 20 as part of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. He was Sotomayor was nominated for the honor by Durham Police Department Victim/Witness Services Coordinator Jennifer Hinchey and a victim in one of his cases.
Sotomayor joined the Durham County District Attorney’s Office in June 2019. As an assistant district attorney with the Special Victims Unit, he prosecutes felony domestic violence cases.
Read more about the honor in our press release.
In The Courts
DA’s Office Works to Expunge Records of Teens Prosecuted as Adults
The Durham DA’s Office initiated petitions to expunge more than 1,700 charges from the records of teenagers who were prosecuted as adults before North Carolina raised the age of juvenile jurisdiction in 2019.
These petitions — which were granted by Superior Court Judge Josephine Kerr Davis between April 14 and April 20 — represent a first round of expunctions initiated by the Durham DA’s Office under the bipartisan Second Chance Act. Expunction petitions filed so far benefit nearly 300 individuals whose cases date from 1994 through 2018. Additional petitions are expected.
“All of these individuals have been held accountable. Yet, they are still shouldering the weight of these charges, including many that never resulted in a conviction, up to 25 years later. Long after a sentence has ended, a criminal record can continue to be an obstacle to housing, employment, scholarships, and opportunity. These expunctions will lift barriers to success for hundreds of people in our community.” — DA Deberry
Read more about these expunctions and why they matter in our press release.
ADA Montgomery-Blinn Uses Rare Mediation Process to Resolve 2017 Homicide
ADA Montgomery-Blinn closed a 2017 homicide with a guilty plea on April 12, following an extraordinary mediation process. Mediation is commonly used in civil matters to bring parties together to reach an agreed upon resolution to a case rather than proceeding to trial. Mediation is not as commonly used in criminal matters, and when it is, it is often employed in misdemeanor cases and/or after the case has been adjudicated. The DA’s Office is unaware of another Durham homicide case in which mediation has been utilized.
In this case, mediation was used to reach a plea agreement that met the wishes of the victim’s family — who wanted their loved one’s life to be honored during the court proceeding — while being fair to the defendant. Prior to the plea, the parties met for a full-day mediation at the courthouse facilitated by Jay Bryan, a retired District Court Judge for Orange and Chatham counties and a state-certified mediator.
During the plea, ADA Montgomery-Blinn entered into evidence a local news article written about the victim prior to his death and his love for gardening. Several family members addressed the court. The defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, which is a Class B2 felony.
ADA Garrell Secures Conviction in 2018 Homicide with Multiple Defendants
ADA Garrell closed a case against one of four co-defendants accused in a fatal 2018 shooting. The defendant pleaded guilty on April 13 to solicitation to commit first-degree murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and assault with a deadly weapon against a government official for his role in the shooting that left an 18-year-old dead on Dowd Street.
ADA Spain Secures Convictions in Two Homicides
During the week of April 12, ADA Lindsey Spain secured convictions in two homicides — one from 2015 and one from 2017.
In the 2017 case, the victim had been found shot in Rockwood Park. The defendant pleaded guilty on April 13 to conspiracy to commit murder, which is a Class B2 felony. A second co-defendant in the case recently pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and attempted murder for killing one victim in the shooting and injuring another.
In the 2015 case, the defendant pleaded guilty on April 15 to second-degree murder for fatally shooting his grandfather, who had taken him along on his newspaper delivery route. It was stated in court that the defendant, who was 16 at the time, had been physically abused by his grandfather, causing the Department of Social Services to order that they not be alone together.
ADA Montgomery-Blinn Closes 2018 Homicide
ADA Montgomery-Blinn closed a 2018 homicide in which the victim had been shot at least seven times in their home following a meet-up arranged on social media. Montgomery-Blinn stated in court that the defendant came to the victim’s house after meeting them on social media. The victim’s roommate was in the house when shots rang out and saw the defendant leave through a bathroom window. The defendant was later apprehended by police and the victim’s gun, later identified as being the weapon used in the shooting, was found nearby. The defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on April 15 and was sentenced to a mitigated prison sentence after extensive mitigating evidence was presented.
In The News
CBS 17 spoke to DA Deberry and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice about DA’s Office’s work to expunge records of teenagers who were prosecuted as adults. DA Deberry told the station: “most of us don’t have to pay for the rest of our lives for the poor decisions we made as juveniles. We want to make sure we extend that opportunity to everyone.”
ABC11, INDY Week, WUNC, Spectacular Magazine, and The Imprint also covered the initiative.
