Withheld information leads to new trial for inmate

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CORRECTION

A front-page article Tuesday about a new trial for a death row inmate misspelled the first name of Superior Court Judge Erwin Spainhour.

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MONROE -- Death row inmate Jonathan Hoffman will receive a new trial after the prosecutor who put him in prison admitted in court Monday that critical evidence had been withheld at Hoffman's 1996 trial.

Hoffman is the sixth North Carolina death row inmate in recent years to win a new trial because prosecutors failed to hand over helpful evidence as required by state law and U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

During a hearing that lasted less than 15 minutes, Union County District Attorney Kenneth Honeycutt said Hoffman and his trial lawyers should have been informed about a federal immunity deal struck with the state's star witness. The trial judge had ordered Honeycutt to disclose all favors and deals.

Honeycutt said neither he nor his assistant, Scott Brewer, knew of the immunity deal the witness struck with a federal prosecutor on the opening day of Hoffman's trial. Honeycutt said he learned about the immunity deal two years after Hoffman was put on death row.

"I assure this court, upon my oath as an officer of the court, no information of that order was ever given to the state of North Carolina," Honeycutt said. "I think due process, fairness and justice require that Mr. Hoffman be given a new trial."

By agreeing to a new trial on the basis of the withheld federal immunity deal, Honeycutt and Brewer, now a District Court judge, avoided discussion of more serious allegations. Hoffman's lawyers have charged in court filings that Honeycutt and Brewer knowingly used false evidence at trial -- and altered documents before submitting them to a judge for review.

"We strongly protest and contest [their] other spurious allegations," Honeycutt said.

Wording will be crucial

While Hoffman's new trial is not in doubt, the wording of the order to be issued by Superior Court Judge Ervin Spainhour has not been determined. Hoffman's lawyers, Rob Hale of Raleigh and Michael Howell of Durham, have argued against an order stating that Honeycutt and Brewer were unaware of the immunity deal given to their star witness. Honeycutt has asked for that wording.

Spainhour said he would issue his order by Friday.

Hoffman was convicted of the Nov. 27, 1995, murder of Danny Cook, owner of Cook's Discount Jewelry in Marshville, about 30 miles southeast of Charlotte. On that day, a masked man with a sawed-off shotgun entered the store and exchanged fire with Cook, who was shot in the chest and killed. The robber took Cook's gun and jewelry.

The key witness against Hoffman was one of his cousins, Johnell Porter. Like Hoffman, Porter had a lengthy criminal record.

In April 1996, Porter pleaded guilty in federal court to a 1995 bank robbery in Huntersville, near Charlotte. He expected a six- to eight-year sentence, but a federal probation officer discovered that Porter had somehow avoided serving a seven- to 20-year sentence in South Carolina. Instead of six to eight years, the 45-year-old Porter was looking at 22 to 40 years behind bars.

Porter and his lawyer entered into a series of meetings with Honeycutt, Brewer, assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Whisler and various investigators, according to court documents. The key meeting took place Oct. 17, 1996, at the Mecklenburg County jail.

"The meeting lasted one to one and a half hours and Mr. Honeycutt did the vast majority of the talking," Aaron Michel, Porter's lawyer, said in a sworn affidavit. "Mr. Honeycutt said, in so many words, that Mr. Porter could rely on him to reward him for his cooperation."