January 2024 Newsletter
The Durham County District Attorney’s Office newsletter highlights the work staff do in and out of the courthouse.
In the Community
The Durham DA’s Office is participating in a screening of 36 Seconds: Portrait of Hate Crime. The new documentary film tells the story of the 2015 murders of Razan Abu-Salha, Yusor Abu-Salha and Deah Barakat — and their families’ fight to have the killings recognized as hate crimes. The Durham DA’s Office prosecuted the case in 2019, introducing evidence and testimony of the defendant’s anti-Muslim bias as part of a plea to three counts of first-degree murder.
The screening will take place at 7 p.m. on February 12 at The Carolina Theatre. Tickets are available here.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring DA Deberry, Durham County Board of Commissioners Chair Nida Allam, North Carolina Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, and UNC Law Professor Joseph Kennedy moderated by WUNC’s Leoneda Inge.
In the Office
The Durham County District Attorney’s Office has received a $1.15 million federal grant to continue the prosecution of cases charged as a result of testing sexual assault evidence kits. The three-year grant funds a full-time prosecutor dedicated to these cases and adds a new, full-time legal assistant position as well as funding for specialized DNA testing as needed, training and consulting, expert witness compensation, and survivors’ food, lodging and travel costs during trial.
Read more in our press release.
“Having dedicated staff for these highly sensitive and complex cases ensures they are not only rigorously prosecuted, but that we do so in a trauma-informed and survivor-centered way. This grant will allow us to reduce barriers to justice for vulnerable survivors, strengthen partnerships with law enforcement and victim service providers, and bring closure to more cases.”
— Assistant District Attorney Angela Garcia-Lamarca
The Durham DA’s Office welcomed two new staff members in January.
Billy Massengale joined the office as an assistant district attorney. He previously served as an assistant district attorney in the Orange-Chatham County DA’s Office for six years, handling all types of cases from speeding to homicides. He spent three years in private practice doing criminal defense and civil litigation. An Appalachian State University graduate, he completed law school at North Carolina Central University.
Raye Cameron joined the Special Victims Unit as an assistant district attorney. He served as an assistant district attorney in Beaufort County for about 15 years, and in Pitt County for the last four years. He attended the University of North Carolina for undergrad and earned his law degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law.
Durham County will transition to eCourts on April 29. According to the North Carolina Judicial Branch, “eCourts is a package of new software applications and technology infrastructure improvements that will transition our court system from paper to digital.” All case data will be transferred to the cloud and all court records will be created digitally or scanned. Existing record management systems will be retired and replaced with a new, integrated system. For all courthouse employees, including in the DA’s Office, this means learning the new systems as well as new court procedures. For the public, this means the ability to view court records and file some court documents online.
Durham DA’s Office staff are already working to clean up case data to ensure it is accurate when transferred. Courthouse stakeholders have been meeting on a regular basis since December to prepare for the transition.
For more information about eCourts, visit https://www.nccourts.gov/ecourts
In the Courts
Recently closed cases include:
- Assistant District Attorney Mary Jude Darrow resolved the final co-defendant’s charges in a June 2021 homicide. Two people were killed during an altercation that turned into a shootout at a convenience store. Darrow stated in court that the defendant had tried to separate the victim and a third person before the victim fatally shot the third person. The defendant and others charged began shooting and the victim was struck, later dying at the hospital. The final co-defendant pleaded guilty on January 9 to voluntary manslaughter. Others were previously convicted of voluntary manslaughter and accessory after the fact to voluntary manslaughter.
- Assistant District Attorney Michael Wallace secured a guilty plea in a November 2018 homicide. Wallace stated in court that the defendant, who was being initiated into a gang, was provided with a gun and instructed to rob someone. The victim fought back and the defendant fatally shot him. The defendant pleaded guilty on January 9 to second-degree murder.
- (Now former) Assistant District Attorney Lamar Proctor closed a homicide case from August 2023. The homicide occurred after one defendant drove closely to the victim’s vehicle and the victim fired a gunshot. The defendant who fatally shot the victim pleaded guilty on January 16 to voluntary manslaughter and the second defendant pleaded guilty on January 18 to accessory after the fact to manslaughter.
- Assistant District Attorney Brooks Stone secured guilty verdicts at trial in a domestic violence case. In 2022, an officer responded to a domestic violence call and located the victim with a busted lip, lacerations, and bruises on her face, arms and legs. She reported having been beaten by her ex-boyfriend, who was armed and threatened to kill her if she left. Fearing for her life, she ran and jumped off the second-floor balcony to get help. On January 18, a jury found the defendant guilty of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. He was found not guilty of kidnapping.
- ADA Stone also secured convictions in a 2021 sexual assault. The defendant pleaded guilty on January 3 to second-degree rape and second-degree kidnapping. The victim was acquainted with the defendant and let him stay at her home one night. In the morning, he prevented her from leaving and assaulted her.
- Former ADA Proctor was able to close several robbery cases 20 years after the defendant evaded sentencing. The defendant was charged in 2001 with multiple counts of robbery as well as kidnapping. He pleaded guilty the following year as part of an agreement that his sentencing would be delayed until after he testified against a co-defendant. When the time came for him to be sentenced, he failed to appear in court and the case was dismissed with leave. In the meantime, he was convicted of multiple crimes in other states. In 2022, the defendant was arrested by authorities in Vance County for unrelated drug offenses and served with the outstanding warrants from Durham. On January 16, the Durham cases were finally resolved. The defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, three counts of attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon, and one count of second-degree kidnapping.
