When the prosecutor's voice cracked as he read a letter from the mother of a 10-year-old boy killed by a drunk driver, I knew that something unusual was happening in the courtroom. 

"We are constantly reminded of our loss," Assistant District Attorney Jeff Cruden read the words from Ludy Medina Fuentes, mother to 10-year-old Jefferson, and wife to Ruben Medina who was also killed in the crash.  "I lost a beautiful son and a great husband."

Fuentes sat on the front row of the audience just behind Cruden, quietly sobbing and holding onto her young daughter, Tiffany, as she listened to her own words of sorrow read aloud.  The drunk driver, Christine Meyers, sat across the room at the defense table also quietly weeping as the depth of the pain she had caused was exposed in the candid words.

Cruden, a veteran attorney for the state who has prosecuted drunk drivers and murderers for years, stopped in mid-sentence.  It was clear by the...

This week a twenty year old man who admitted to killing someone in a drunk driving crash in 2007 butted heads with the law again.

Compared to the crime he took responsibility for in August of 2007, killing Wakefield High School student Sadiki Young, the newest allegations, stealing beer from a local grocery store, are minor.  But taken in the context of the bigger picture, they could have serious consequences.

The driver of the car in which Young was riding when he was killed, Chris Palmeri, received a suspended sentence of  sixteen to twenty months for the involuntary manslaughter charge.  He spent five months in jail and was put on probation for five years.  That probationary period started in January of 2008.  So, despite e-mails from people saying "he's served his time," he still has more than three years left on his probation.  The guidelines of any probation require the defendant to stay away from drugs and alcohol and not get...

We've gotten a tremendous amount of feedback on our story about the Patriot Act that aired on WRAL April 29.  It has consistently been one of our most highly viewed stories on WRAL.com.  In addition, we have gotten inquiries from media outlets in Indiana where the teenager is in custody, and from national media as well.  One of the newest platforms that we monitor is the prevalence of our stories on social networking sites and on blogs.  Again this story is getting unprecedented attention in those areas

The story involves a 16-year-old Granville County boy, Ashton Lundeby,  who was taken out of his home in the middle of the night in March by a team of armed F.B.I. agents.  He is in  federal custody in Indiana.  His mother was  only told he is accused of making bomb threats, but beyond that, she has been able to get very little information.  She has also had little access to her son.  We have been turned away by federal authorities,...

Soon after Nancy Cooper was found murdered near her Cary home her friends and family started noticing butterflies in their neighborhoods.

"We were frequented by this big beautiful yellow butterfly, it came to symbolize Nancy," Jessica Adam, Nancy Cooper's close friend said.

Not unlike other stories I have covered, family and friends of murder victims often look for signs in nature that their loved one is still with them. Linda Fisher sees her murdered daughter, Michelle Young, in ladybugs. Another mother I met years ago saw her daughter who was killed in a traffic accident in dragonflies. Somehow, these symbols give those left behind some hope that the cycle of life does in fact go on.

"We came together with the idea to take something positive from the tragedy," Adam said.

And hence, the "Butterfly Fund" was born, a fund through Wake County's support organization for domestic violence victims, Interact.
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Tuesday, the family of a murdered Wake County woman, Michelle Young,  was awarded $15.5 million in damages for her loss. The money is slated to go to the couple's 4-year-old daughter, Cassidy. The compensatory and punitive damages are to be paid by the victim's husband, Jason Young.

Although he has not been charged in his wife's murder, he has now been held officially responsible in the civil court for her death. The lead investigator in the criminal case testified that he believed Jason Young killed his wife.

Most of the testimony in the civil case surrounded the value of Michelle Young's life. An economist tried to quantify in dollars what her loss meant to Progress Energy, where she was a financial analyst on the fast track, earning an annual 15 percent raise.  Most importantly, he tried to quantify what her loss meant to Cassidy, who will forever have a void in her life as the result of her mother's untimely death. He calculated the hours Michelle Young spent...