NC DA agreed to reduce prison time for 4 killers, 1 sex offender. Not so fast, said judge.
On Wednesday, a Durham judge was set to consider adjusting the sentences of four men convicted of murder and a fifth convicted of sex offenses with a boy under 13 years old.
Family members of a 95-year-old man who died in 2000 after being stabbed in the neck and a nurse who who was shot after being kidnapped sat anxiously in the wooden court pews, fearful the men’s years-old convictions and sentences could be changed.
The parents of Tia Carroway, 23, who was murdered on July 4, 2002, while picking up lunch for her hospital coworkers, said the District Attorney’s Office had told them the sentence for one of her killers could be reduced.
“It’s just like yesterday,” said Rodney Perkins, her father. “So, no we don’t want him out. He killed our child.”
“Cold blooded murder,” Carroway’s mother Frances Perkins interjected. “She went to lunch. .... She was abducted and was shot in the back of her head and left for dead. And it’s supposed to be OK. It is not OK. It’s not.”
“He got life without the possibility of parole,” she later said, “and here we are living the story again.”
The Perkinses said the District Attorney’s Office did not make it clear when it called that prosecutors were supporting possible changes.
But they were, which is how that case and the four others wound up in court Wednesday.
Put on calendar
Superior Court Judge Michael O’Foghludha said Assistant District Attorney Michael Wallace asked on Dec. 8 that the motions for appropriate relief, the legal mechanism to reduce sentences, for the five cases be put on the court calendar.
O’Foghludha said yes, but over the weekend the judge said he reflected and said in the future he needs more lead time to consider such serious cases.
“Let me put everybody at ease. None of these matters are going to be allowed today,” O’Foghludha said at the start of court Wednesday. “Some will never be allowed.”
In the past, motions for appropriate relief in Durham County supported by both the defense attorney and prosecutor were often approved with just a signature from Chief Resident Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson.
In a recent interview, Hudson said he gave a lot of weight to the DA’s recommendations for relief.
But as Hudson retires this month, the cases ended up before O’Foghludha, who will step into the chief resident judge position at the end of the year.
After O’Foghludha’s statements in court, District Attorney Satana Deberry issued a statement saying that ensuring the integrity of prior convictions is an important part of a prosecutor’s job.
“Given the history of prosecutorial misconduct in Durham County, my office’s commitment to equity means we take that seriously,” she said.
Based on the law and the facts involved, the office’s position is to consent to relief pending the court’s approval, she explained.
“Ultimately, those decisions are in the judge’s discretion, and we respect the decisions made today as well as the sentiment that some of the cases may be appropriate for re-consideration at a later date,” the statement said.
In general, O’Foghludha said he will consider such motions if they met certain criteria, including that the person was young at the time of the crime, had intellectual disabilities, and if their constitutional rights were violated. He would also consider their record in prison and request statements from victims and others involved in the case.
Motions for appropriate relief
Motions for appropriate relief are typically made to correct errors in the judicial process, if a key witness lied or a defendant had ineffective counsel.
The law lets a judge grant such motions if the prosecutor and defendant agree in what some call a consent motion. In Durham, motions for appropriate relief have increased since Deberry unseated one-term DA Roger Echols in 2019.
Under Echols, defense attorneys outlined why a conviction should be vacated or a sentence shortened. Echols would leave it to the judge to decide whether there should be a hearing. Orange County follows a similar protocol.
Under Deberry, some motions for appropriate relief have moved forward after the assailants’ attorneys spoke with the District Attorney’s Office. In such cases, the motions and consent orders were granted in open court without a hearing.
The DA’s Office considers factors like the validity of the claim, the defendant’s criminal history and prison record, public safety, and the views of victims and surviving family members, Deberry has said.
Some victims of crimes and family members have criticized Deberry’s office for supporting changes in sentences and for how it has handled informing them.
Others, however, have applauded the office for taking steps to address injustices and inequities.
“Life Without Parole is a sentence with huge racial disparities,” the social justice nonprofit Emancipate NC said in a statement. “Overwhelmingly, Black people receive this sentence, while white people typically are sentenced more lightly for similar crimes, often receiving beneficial plea deals for a term of years. “
Every DA’s office in the state should have a unit to review old convictions and remedy injustices, the statement said.
Here’s what happened to the five cases on Wednesday’s court docket.
Detarvio Farrow, convicted of sex offenses with a boy under 13
In 2011 a jury convicted Detarvio Farrow of first-degree sexual offense with a child under 13, taking indecent liberties with a child and crime against nature for acts in 2007.
Court documents show Farrow was dating the boy’s mother. The abuse accusations followed the couple having a child together, breaking up and having a custody dispute. One night the boy told his mother that Farrow had touched and put the child’s genitals in his mouth, and then put Farrow’s genitals in the child’s mouth, according to court documents.
Farrow was sentenced in 2011 to serve from 21 years to 26 years in prison.
He is scheduled to be released in 2032.
In the consent motion for appropriate relief, Farrow’s attorney Lisa Williams and Wallace, the prosecutor, agreed Farrow’s sentence should be reduced to from 14 years and 5 months to 18 years and 1 month.
“There is evidence that the allegations were fabricated against the defendant to gain a tactical advantage in the custody battle,” the filing states. “For these reasons, the parties have agreed that in the interest of justice, the defendant should be resentenced.”
O’Foghludha pointed out that the jury heard that argument and rejected it.
O’Foghludha said he will consider the argument at a future date after hearing from the victim either in court or through an affidavit about his wishes.
Dmarlo Johnson, convicted of killing Joy Mart clerk in robbery
Dmarlo Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder in 2017 for the killing of convenience store clerk Amer Mahmood. He was also convicted of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer and robbery with a dangerous weapon. He was sentenced to life in prison.
In the 2015 robbery of the Joy Mart store on Roxboro Road, Johnson forced Mahmood, 48, to empty the store’s register. Mahmood put the cash on the counter and his hands up in the air, The News & Observer reported.
Johnson then walked around the counter and shot Mahmood twice. Then he shot at police when they arrived.
Wallace and Farrow’s attorney, Elizabeth Hopkins-Thomas, consented to Johnson’s sentence being reduced from life to 23 years to 28 years and 8 months. Court documents cite concerns about Johnson’s mental illness and low IQ, as well as point out that Johnson was facing the death penalty.
O’Foghludha said the motion in this case had “no chance.”
Veshon Chambers, convicted of 2nd-degree murder and assault
Veshon Chambers was convicted in 2015 of second-degree murder in the 2013 killing of Jimmie Lamont Harris Jr., 24.
Chambers was also convicted of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.
He was sentenced to serve from 16 years and 8 months to 20 years and 9 months in prison. At the time, Chambers was serving 13 years and 3 months for drug trafficking and had a previous conviction of assault with a deadly weapon. His projected release date is 2029
The agreement for appropriate relief between Chambers’ attorney Williams and Wallace said the defendant believes factors weren’t presented or addressed during the case.
“This information includes the decedent’s behavior and participation in the conduct leading to his death, a lack of infractions during incarceration and educational and vocational services while incarcerated,” the filing states.
In the agreement, they recommended a sentence of 10 years and 4 months to 13 years and 5 months.
“Request denied,” O’Foghludha said.
Jason Johnson, convicted of the 1st-degree murder of 95-year-old man
Jason Johnson pleaded guilty to murder, first-degree kidnapping, and two counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon and possession of stolen goods in 2002 in the killing of 95-year-old Alton B. Carson in 2000.
O’Foghludha said he would consider this case at a later date considering Johnson’s age at the time (19) and that he was facing the death penalty when he took the plea.
Then District Attorney Jim Hardin said at the 2002 plea hearing that Carson encountered Johnson while leaving the Village Shopping Center on Miami Boulevard. Johnson said Carson tried to run over him with his car.
Johnson said in a statement: “I exchanged words with him. I pulled out my pocket knife, and I stabbed him in the neck,” Hardin said in court in 2002.
Johnson said he then pushed Carson to the passenger side, drove away and discarded the body on a concrete slab behind a store.
Johnson bought some marijuana with the money he got from his pockets and drove the car around town, inviting people to ride with him, but in the backseat because there was so much blood in the front, Hardin said.
Johnson’s attorney, Johanna Jennings, and Wallace agreed that Johnson’s sentence should be reduced from life in prison to 23 years to 29 years and 2 months.
“I am not saying I am going to grant it,” O’Foghludha said, but added he will consider the arguments given that Johnson was 19, has an intellectual disability and took the plea while facing a possible death penalty.
He also said he will consider statements from the Carson’s family and others that were involved.
Anthony Patterson, convicted of killing nurse on lunch break
Anthony Patterson, 39, and a second person were charged with killing Tia Carroway in 2002. He pleaded guilty to murder, kidnapping and robbery in 2004 and was sentenced to life in prison.
Wallace and Patterson’s attorney Jennings agreed to reduce his sentence to 18 years and 8 months to 24 years.
In the filing, they said Patterson had a “borderline intellectual disability” and low IQ, and also was 19 at the time and pleaded while facing a possible death penalty. The filing also points out that his co-defendant, Naeem Rasheed Mahmoud, was the shooter.
When Patterson pleaded guilty, then DA Tracey Cline, who was later disbarred, said Patterson and Mahmoud found Carroway while looking for a car to steal.
When Carroway went to pick up lunch, Mahmoud put a gun to her head and told her to drive away, Cline said. They took her to a deserted area off Cook Road and shot her as she begged for her life, Cline said.
Patterson told police that Mahmoud, who is scheduled to be released from prison in 2026, shot Carroway, but Carroway’s family said some of the evidence pointed to Patterson being the shooter.
O’Foghludha said he will consider this case at a later date.
This story was originally published December 15, 2022 at 3:02 PM.
