Lacrosse case panel needs 12th person

Durham Mayor Bill Bell has said he wants the committee to start its work next week

DURHAM -- The group that will investigate the Durham Police Department's role in the Duke lacrosse case is nearly complete.

As of Monday night, the City Council had named 11 members of the 12-member committee, with the appointee of council member Howard Clement still outstanding. Clement could not be reached for comment.

Mayor Bill Bell had hoped to have the committee complete by Monday.

Over the weekend, Mayor Pro Tem Cora Cole-McFadden appointed Greensboro attorney Joseph Andrew Williams, and council member Thomas Stith named Alice Sharpe of Alliance Architecture to the committee.

Those already appointed are Durham Attorney Ken Spaulding, a former head of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, named by Mayor Bill Bell; former Durham County Sheriff Roland Leary, by council member Mike Woodard; former mayor and State Sen. Wib Gulley by council member Eugene Brown; and Durham Crisis Response Center director Aurelia Sands Belle, by council member Diane Catotti.

Former State Supreme Court justice Willis P. Whichard, a Durham native now residing in Chatham County, is the committee's chairman.

The rest of the committee is made up of present and former police chiefs -- Darrel Stephens of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Jim Fealy of High Point, Pat Norris of Winston-Salem and Gregg Jarvies from Chapel Hill.

Williams, a former district court judge and prosecutor, was the first black president of the Greensboro Bar Association. He was involved in a recent case that revealed improprieties and racist practices in the Greensboro Police Department that led to the 2006 resignation of Chief David Wray.

Sharpe, a Durham native and Duke University graduate, is a former downtown coordinator with the city's economic development office.

"She has a broad network within the Durham community, and she's very well respected," Stith said.

Bell has said he wants the committee to begin work next week. The timetable and budget for its investigation -- and its authority to issue subpoenas and require sworn testimony -- remain to be determined.