DURHAM - A murder trial set to begin today in Durham County court offers a glimpse into how young people can be drawn into gang life in this city.

The case also raises record-keeping and interrogation questions about a police department that suffered a bruising from missteps made during the Duke lacrosse case.

Calvin Nicholson was 17 in November 2005 when he rode with his mother, grandmother and aunt to police headquarters to talk with investigators about the slaying of Todd Antonio Douglas, a Hillside High School student.

Investigators took Nicholson into an interview room in the late afternoon of Nov. 6, 2005, the day after the drive-by shooting.

Hours later, Sgt. Jack Cates was drawing up a 14-page statement -- 12 pages with words and two with diagrams -- that was the subject of a challenge in Durham County Superior Court last week.

Scott Holmes, Nicholson's defense lawyer, tried to get the statement thrown out. Nicholson, he argued, has a slight mental impairment that kept him from fully understanding his rights to an attorney and the significance of what he was telling police.

Judge Ronald Stephens ruled against Holmes, saying the statement would be admissible if a trial were held.

Nicholson is one of two people charged in Douglas' death. Justin Hatch, who was 19 when he was arrested in November 2005, is awaiting trial, too. Jury selection in Nicholson's trial is scheduled to start today.

Last week's hearing centered on whether Nicholson's statement to investigators should be admitted as evidence. But the investigative interviews that ended in Nicholson's arrest close to midnight Nov. 6 also shed light on how youngsters are introduced to gang life.

Nicholson, according to the statement, had asked several days before the drive-by shooting whether he could be a member of a gang called the Bloods. He was told he would "have to put in work."

Putting in work, according to the Durham detectives, meant breaking the law but not necessarily shooting someone.

"It's committing crimes," Cates said. "It's like an initiation process."

Student shot dead

On the day of the shooting, according to the statement, Nicholson left school early because he was not feeling well.

His mother picked him up and took him to his brother's house where they watched a movie. Later that afternoon, they returned to his mother's home and the brothers sat on the front stoop while she went to pick up an aunt from work.

At some point, Nicholson got into a car with other teens he knew and they went to The Streets at Southpoint mall.

They stayed until about 9 p.m., according to the statement, then stopped at a McDonald's on the way back to the neighborhood.

At some point, according to Nicholson's statements, someone in the car zeroed in on Douglas, a high school teenager who they thought was associated with the gang called the Crips. Douglas was in an open lot not far from a corner convenience store.

The driver, the same teen Nicholson had approached about being in a gang, passed a handgun back and said, "It's time to put in work," the investigators recalled in the statement.

Nicholson, according to the investigators, shot the gun twice from the back seat and put it in his lap. It was unclear from testimony given at the hearing whether those bullets killed Douglas.

Nicholson eventually ended up in front of his house. He left the weapon on the back seat of the car, according to the statement, and ran inside, fearing that his companions would come after his family if he said anything.

"I prayed to the Lord and asked for him to have his angels watch over me, for me not to get caught and for him to forgive me," Cates said Nicholson told him.

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