January 2023 Newsletter

The Durham County District Attorney’s Office newsletter highlights the work staff do in and out of the courthouse.

In the Community

Assistant District Attorney Joshua Sotomayor spoke to students at his former high school in Charlotte. He discussed the court process and the role and responsibilities of prosecutors. He also led the group in a mock trial. If you’d like a member of the Durham DA’s Office to present to your organization, email Durham.DA.Community@nccourts.org.

Assistant District Attorney Kendra Montgomery-Blinn spearheaded a courthouse donation drive to collect toiletries and other care items for children in foster care through the Durham County Department of Social Services. She collected 48 bottles of shampoo and condition, 850 diapers, 36 books, more than 2,000 pads and tampons, and 50 deodorant sticks — among many other items.

In the Office

The new year meant a new term for Durham DA Satana Deberry and DA’s Office staff. DA Deberry was re-elected last year to a second term in office. On January 3, DA Deberry and assistant district attorneys re-took their oath of office and were sworn in again to represent the State. Judge Josephine Kerr Davis presided. She and DA Deberry remarked on the historic nature of a Black woman being sworn in as district attorney by a Black woman serving as a Superior Court Judge. Judge Davis encouraged everyone in the Durham DA’s Office to remain committed to truth and justice in 2023. “To the people of Durham County,” DA Deberry said, “we maintain our commitment to their safety as well as the fair and equitable administration of justice.”

The Durham DA’s Office welcomed new interns in January.

Augustine Baler is assigned to work with the District Court Team. In addition, he’s shadowing Special Victims Unit attorneys and assisting with research projects for the Drug & Property Crimes Team. Since joining the office in January, Baler has already tried a case in District Court. He is a third-year law student at Duke Law School and attended UNC for undergrad, where he studied economics and political science. He previously worked as a paralegal at an immigration law firm.

In the Courts

Recently closed cases include:

• Former Assistant District Attorney Blake Norman secured a guilty plea in an August 2019 homicide. The defendant pleaded guilty on January 5 to second-degree murder (a B1 felony) for strangling his then-girlfriend. The defendant, who was 18 at the time, received an active sentence.
• Assistant District Attorney Carolee Ramoin secured a conviction in a April 2021 road rage shooting on Interstate 40. The victim, who was not struck in the shooting, had attempted to pass the defendant on 40 in the early morning on the way to work. The defendant suddenly stopped his vehicle, causing the victim to slam on his brakes and nearly hit a wall. Shortly after, the victim began video recording to capture the defendant’s license plate and pulled alongside the defendant’s vehicle on the left. The defendant then raised a gun and a fired a shot through the victim’s front passenger window as he recorded. The defendant, who claimed he acted in self-defense, pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon, a Class E felony.
• Assistant District Attorney Angela Garcia-Lamarca secured a conviction in a 2015 rape. The case was charged by the Durham Police Department’s Cold Case Sexual Assault Unit as part of the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, an inter-agency effort to solve sexual assault cases with previously untested DNA evidence kits. In this case, the defendant raped a 14-year-old, who he knew, after giving her marijuana. Results from testing the sexual assault evidence kit prompted a fresh look at the case and charges were filed in July 2021. The defendant pleaded guilty on January 4 to second-degree rape and taking indecent liberties with a child. In addition to an active sentence, he was ordered to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.
• Assistant District Attorney Brooks Stone secured guilty verdicts at trial against a man who fired a rifle at his former girlfriend and her uncle at a busy intersection on August 2021. At the time of the assault, the defendant and the victim had been dating for about a year and their relationship was ending. After the defendant began harassing the victim by text and phone call, she changed her phone number. A few days later, she left her house to help her uncle and his wife move. She was following behind them, with her kids in the back seat of the car, when they stopped at a stoplight around noon. A black van that had been driving erratically cut the victim’s car off and she got out of the car, not knowing it was the defendant driving. He then exited the van and hit her in the face with the butt of a rifle. The victim fell on the side of the road and multiple witnesses testified the defendant was pointed the rifle at her while firing multiple shots. The victim’s uncle then exited his vehicle and the defendant pointed the rifle at him and fired multiple shots. The defendant then sped off. While the incident was traumatizing, no one was physically injured. ADA Stone argued the defendant had intended to kill the victims when pointing the rifle at them. On January 20, jurors returned verdicts finding the defendant guilty of two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
• Assistant Attorney General Boz Zellinger secured convictions against three codefendants charged in an August 2015 murder. One teenage girl was killed and another injured in the shooting. On January 27, one co-defendant pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder (a Class C felony), a second pleaded guilty to second-degree kidnapping (a Class E felony) and a third pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to kidnapping (a class E felony). A fourth defendant’s case remains pending. A fifth defendant was found guilty at trial of first-degree murder, attempted murder and other charges in 2020. Their cases were among a small number of homicide cases referred by the DA’s Office for prosecution by the Attorney General’s Office in 2019.

In the News

CBS17 spoke to DA Deberry about being focused on safety at the start of a new year and new term.

The 9th Street Journal explored the changing demographics of gun ownership as people of color purchase guns for protection. In an interview, DA Deberry highlighted the systemic nature of violence and the many individuals and organizations working to prevent it in Durham.