June 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 partnered with the Durham County Department of Public Health on June 4for our fourth annual gun lock giveaway. More than 700 gun locks have been distributed during all of the annual giveaways combined.
DA’s Office staff along with representatives from the Health Department, Durham County Sheriff’s Office and the North Carolina Department of Public Safety set up outside the courthouse to distribute free gun locks and share safe gun storage tips. The event was held during NC S.A.F.E. Week of Action, a statewide campaign to encourage safe gun storage and prevent firearm injury. In particular, visitors were encouraged to prevent gun thefts by never leaving firearms in an unattended vehicle.
In the Office
In the Courts
Recently closed cases include:
- Assistant District Attorney Charlene Coggins-Franks secured a conviction in a homicide that occurred on April 5, 2021. Coggins-Franks stated in court that the victim, who was 18 at the time, had gone to Kirby Street to meet a girl. While sitting in a vehicle, a man walked up and fatally shot him. The defendant entered an Alford plea to second-degree murder on June 24.
- ADA Coggins-Franks also secured a guilty plea in an April 12, 2022, shooting that killed on person and injured another. In that case, the victims were driving near Alston Avenue and Holloway Street when the defendant, who was riding an electric scooter, cut them off, causing them to swerve. The defendant then got off the scooter and began shooting at them. One victim was killed and the other sustained injuries from a gunshot wound to the back. The defendant pleaded guilty to second degree murder and attempted murder on June 24.
- Assistant District Attorney Raye Cameron secured convictions against a man who entered a bathroom at the Durham School of the Arts on October 28, 2021, and made inappropriate comments to female students. Three girls under 16 separately reported that while they were using the restroom, a man peered over the stall and made inappropriate comments to them. One reported that the man exposed himself and grabbed her arm as she tried to leave. A fourth girl reported the man made inappropriate comments to her while walking through the building. The defendant pleaded guilty on June 10 to four counts of felony taking indecent liberties with children and one count of felony indecent exposure. In an unrelated incident, the defendant also pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon for hitting a man with a vehicle as he stole it from a Durham hotel in November 2021.
In the News
DA Deberry spoke to ABC11 about the importance of safe gun storage in preventing not just violent crime, but accidental shootings as well: “The number one cause of death for people under 18 is firearms. That’s not street violence necessarily. It’s suicide, children who find unsecured guns in their homes, become curious and play with them, and then shoot themselves, or their siblings, or friends. That is a huge public health issue. And we want everyone not just to be safe on the street, we want everybody to be safe in their homes.”
