May/June 2022 Newsletter

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

In The Community

DA’s Office, Partners Promote Gun Safety During Gun Lock Giveaway

The Durham DA’s Office partnered with the Durham County Public Health Department’s Gun Safety Team to hold a second gun lock giveaway at the courthouse on June 2. Members of the Durham County Sheriff’s Office, DA’s Office staff and the Gun Safety Team distributed free gun locks and gun safety tips. All 200 gun locks on-hand were given out before the event concluded. Gun locks prevent a firearm from being discharged and are one tool to ensure a gun isn’t used improperly.

The event was held in advance of National Gun Violence Awareness Day. DA’s Office staff urged members of the public to safely store weapons by using gun locks, storing unloaded firearms in a safe, and storing ammo separately. In addition staff reminded people to not leave guns in their cars, and remember to lock their car if they absolutely must. Half of the guns reported stolen to Durham police this year were stolen from vehicles, 62% of those vehicles were unlocked.

The DA’s Office and the Gun Safety Team previously gave out more than 100 locks in October 2021 for Crime Prevention Month.

DA Deberry, Deputy Chief Harding Join Faith Community Effort to Address Violence, Inequity

On June 4, DA Deberry and Deputy Chief for Legal and Community Affairs Brenda Ford Harding joined Durham churches and local officials to participate in the THESES Project’s Faith-Based Summit. The project is made up of members of African-American churches working to address inequities in health, social justice housing, education, and economics in Black and brown communities. Local leaders were invited to listen to church and community members describe the impact of violence in Durham.

DA Deberry Participates in Hillside HS Civics Competition

Along with other government officials, DA Deberry served as a judge for the Hillside High School Civics Action Project, where students presented their ideas to address local issues. Projects ranged from public health to job training to community safety. Many solutions addressed gun violence and youth mental health.

In The Office

ADAs Train DA’s Office Staff Statewide on Restorative Justice

ADAs Monica Burnette and Kendra Montgomery-Blinn presented a training on restorative justice for DA’s Office staff across the state. Their co-presenters were Rev. Annette Love and Joy Clark from Restorative Justice Durham (RJ Durham).

The Durham DA’s Office refers all types of criminal cases to community groups, like RJ Durham, for restorative justice. Restorative justice brings together people who have been harmed, those responsible, and the community to discuss the harm done and collaboratively come up with ways to try to make things right. Depending on the case, the DA’s Office incorporates restorative justice in lieu of or alongside prosecution. Through restorative justice, defendants take responsibility for their actions and make amends, while crime victims are able to take in active role in deciding what justice looks like in their case.

During the training, presenters discussed how the restorative justice process works, how to identify cases that may benefit from restorative justice, and how to incorporate it into the criminal process.

DA’s Office Staff Learn About Plea Data, Restorative Justice

Durham DA’s Office staff participated in a day of training and team-building activities. Staff learned about utilizing diversion programs to effectively address substance use, mental illness and recidivism. Researchers from the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law presented a progress report on efforts to study plea arrangements in the DA’s Office. Facilitators from Restorative Justice Durham demonstrated the restorative justice process. A participant in one case also spoke to staff about how restorative justice has helped him and his family heal after a homicide.

Canady Joins Special Victims Unit

Aniyah Canady joined the Special Victims Unit as a legal assistant working on domestic violence, sex assault and child abuse cases. She previously worked in a group home and as a volunteer with Guardian Ad Litem in Johnston County. A Durham native, Canady attended Hillside High School and East Carolina University, where she studied criminal justice and psychology. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in forensic psychology from Grand Canyon University. Canady’s interest in criminal justice was sparked at a young age, inspired by her mother’s work in psychology and her grandmother’s work as a court reporter in Durham.

No Charges in Three Shootings by Durham Law Enforcement

DA Deberry announced that she had concluded her review of investigations into three shootings by local law enforcement that occurred on January 4, January 12, and January 14, 2022, and determined that the evidence did not support filing of criminal charges. In early June, DA Deberry sent letters to Sheriff Clarence Birkhead, Duke Police chief John Daily, and Durham Police Chief Patrice Andrews explaining her analysis of each case. Read more via INDY Week.

In The Courts

Recently closed cases include:

• Assistant District Attorney Dale Morrill closed a traffic fatality case using a mediation process. Mediation allows parties in a case to interact more directly than the traditional court process in order to answer questions and negotiate a resolution. Through the mediation process, the parties were able to reach a fair outcome that met the wishes of the victims’ family. The crash occurred in August 2020 near the intersection of Club Boulevard and Duke Street. The defendant’s vehicle was traveling at a high speed when he collided with the victims’ car. A woman driving the car was killed, and her daughter was seriously injured, causing her to go into a coma and lose use of the left side of her body. Her father (the woman’s husband) was traveling in a different car in front of them when the crash occurred. He expressed to the court the impact the crash has had on him and his daughter. The defendant, a 66-year-old veteran who previously worked as a bus driver and had no prior record, expressed sincere remorse in court and through the mediation process. The mediation process also revealed a health condition that may have contributed to the crash.
• Assistant District Attorney Erika Johnson secured guilty verdicts at trial against a man who sexually assaulted a friend’s young step-daughter on three separate occasions. On May 17, following a two-day trial, a jury found the defendant guilty on three counts of taking indecent liberties with a child.
• ADA Montgomery-Blinn secured a conviction in an October 2020 homicide. The defendant pleaded guilty on June 29 to second-degree murder in the death of a woman he was living with. Police conducted a welfare check at the home after being contacted by family who hadn’t heard from the victim. Police found the victim strangled and deceased. Family members attended the proceeding and spoke in honor of their loved one.

In The News

CBS17 covered the DA’s Office’s recent gun lock giveaway, held in partnership with the Durham County Public Health Department Gun Safety Team and Durham County Sheriff’s Office on June 2. Free gun locks and gun safety information were distributed outside the courthouse. The giveaway was held amid record gun sales in the U.S. and rising pistol permit transactions in Durham. From the report:

To help new gun owners better secure their firearms, on Thursday morning, the Durham County District Attorney’s Office as well as members of law enforcement and the Durham County Department of Public Health, handed out 200 free gun locks outside the Durham County Courthouse.

“We know that gun safety is a big issue, not just because there’s gun violence on the street, but because we know people steal guns from cars, and if there’s a situation of domestic violence, a gun can make that escalate,” Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry said.

Deberry said she wanted to hand out these free gun locks in order to help new gun owners keep these guns out of the wrong hands.