Detective guilty in attack

A jury convicts a former Wake sheriff's detective of simple assault in a parking lot dispute

RALEIGH -- A former Wake County sheriff's detective swallowed and looked forward Thursday evening when he heard he was guilty of assaulting a Garner man in a dispute that began with a car parked in two spaces in a busy restaurant parking lot.

Sitting on court benches behind him, the victim, Robert Wise, held his wife Cynthia as tears ran down her face. Their 12-year-old daughter, Diamond, who was hit with pepper spray in the Aug. 26 affray, leaned against her mother.

The jury's conviction of Christopher Roth, 36, on a misdemeanor charge of simple assault came after 10 hours of deliberation over two days. Roth is charged along with his former partners Katie Broda, 31, and Kevin Hinton, 35, who were all undercover drug detectives taking a dinner break when their paths crossed the Wises' in the parking lot of Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and Bar on U.S. 70 in Garner.

"Finally, some justice was being served," Robert Wise said about the jury's decision. Broda -- who testified in Roth's defense -- waited with him throughout most of the deliberations. She and Roth declined to comment after hearing the jury's verdict. So did several jurors contacted after the verdict.

Questions about possible racial motivations in the scuffle ran throughout the well-attended trial, with Roth's defense attorney Hart Miles asking Wise why Wise made remarks to television cameras after the incident that he was targeted because he is black. The three former detectives are white.

Broda and Hinton are awaiting trial on simple assault charges. Roth will be sentenced Monday afternoon by Superior Court Judge Ronald Stephens. The sentence on the simple assault charge does not carry a prison sentence. Roth could be ordered to probation. Wise has also filed a lawsuit, seeking monetary damages, against the three former deputies, the sheriff's office and Wake County.

Wake District Attorney Colon Willoughby portrayed Roth as an instigator in the attack. Roth tried to arrest Wise without authority when the sheriff's deputy saw Wise's wife was parked in two spots and Wise did not obey Roth's commands to get out of his vehicle, Willoughby said.

Instead, the part-time preacher and DirecTV employee braced himself in the passenger seat of the family's Chevrolet Suburban while Roth and Hinton tried to remove him, Wise testified. Broda joined the struggle and used pepper spray on Wise, which had little effect on him but hit the arms of his then-11-year-old daughter.

Robert Wise was also punched and handcuffed. His face was bloodied in the scuffle, and he held up a blood-spattered towel during the trial that he used to clean himself up.

Roth, however, took the stand in his own defense and said he thought Wise was acting suspiciously and that he, Roth, was doing his job by investigating his behavior. Broda also testified in Roth's defense, saying that Wise was acting in a manner that alarmed the group.

Several conflicting details were presented to jurors during the trial. The Wises told jurors that the deputies swore profusely and did not initially identify themselves as law enforcement officers. Roth said that he and Hinton immediately displayed their badges and acted in a professional manner.

Two other law enforcement officers, a Garner police sergeant and a fellow Wake County sheriff's deputy, told jurors that when they arrived at the scene, they felt that the detectives had acted inappropriately.

The hours of deliberation wore on Roth and Wise, as well as their family members and supporters who mingled for hours and made small talk in the courtroom on the 10th floor of the Wake County Courthouse.

At one point, Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison appeared and shook hands with the Wise family as they waited outside the courtroom for a verdict. Harrison -- who apologized on behalf of his three detectives after the incident -- had another appointment in the building and just happened to pass the family.

Harrison said his office has not added any additional training for deputies because the proper training was in place at the time of the attack. The pending criminal charges and litigation prevent him from talking at length about the incident.

"I'm going to just wait and see how things pan out," he said.

(News researcher Lamara Williams-Hackett contributed to this report.)