DURHAM - A city police officer should have charged Laurence Alvin Lovette with a more serious crime when he was arrested in November for breaking into a home, City Manager Patrick Baker wrote in a report released late Wednesday afternoon.

It's not clear whether the error could have meant prison time for Lovette, who since has been charged in the slayings of local college students Abhijit Mahato and Eve Carson. But it does mark yet another error in the criminal justice system, which has come under criticism for letting Lovette slip through the cracks.

Lovette was charged with felony breaking and entering in November after he broke into and robbed a home on Devon Road.

Patrice R. Vickers, the investigating officer who recently has been promoted to sergeant, should have charged him with burglary -- a much more serious offense.

"It was just an honest mistake," Police Chief Jose Lopez said Monday evening. "She knew she should have charged higher, thought she had. It was just a slip."

Lovette, 17, struck a plea deal that reduced the charge to misdemeanor breaking and entering, and he was given a 24-month suspended sentence.

In the report, which Mayor Bill Bell called for in March in the wake of Carson's death, Baker stated that Vickers "was not contacted or consulted by the District Attorney's office" about the plea deal.

Baker's report alluded to the fact that Lovette's serious juvenile offenses, which landed him in juvenile prison for 14 months, should have been considered.

He called on the N.C. General Assembly to change laws that "prevent or impede consideration of juvenile records in 'adult' cases."

Lovette couldn't make the $20,000 bail set for him upon his November arrest, so he stayed in jail until the Jan. 16 plea deal was reached. Mahato, a Duke University graduate student from India, was found dead Jan. 18, shot between the eyes at close range.

Lovette was arrested again Feb. 2, charged with possessing a stolen vehicle and resisting an officer. He was given $2,500 bail and released the same day.

Two days later, he was arrested again, this time accused of burglary and felony theft. Bail was set at $10,000. He posted and was released the same day.

On March 5, Eve Carson, UNC-Chapel Hill's student body president, was found shot to death on a Chapel Hill side street.

"We arrested him four times in four months," Baker said. Police and magistrates need better technology to be able to check whether people they arrest are on probation or face pending charges, he said.

Lopez would look for stronger communication with the District Attorney's Office, Baker said.

"I believe the charging issue in this matter could have been addressed and amended had the investigating officer and prosecuting attorney been in contact with one another prior to the entry of the plea agreement," Baker wrote.

Lopez said incorrect charges are brought in his and other departments from time to time.

"It wouldn't have been an issue if it hadn't been for the incident at the University of North Carolina," Lopez said. "If the burglary charge had been brought in this case, it could have been different, but we can't say it would have been."

Baker said much the same but added, "We don't take it lightly, and we want to learn if maybe there's something we do differently in the future."

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.