'An absolute slap to the face of justice': Family critical of Durham's felony conviction rates

WRAL News examined her record to see if she is achieving that campaign promise.

“There’s no real evidence that we are quote unquote ‘soft on crime,’ but we are smart on crime,” Deberry said.

"Really, it was a failure from the moment my brother hit the ground," Reardon said.

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Reardon blames the district attorney, claiming prosecutors didn’t make a compelling case.

“It is an absolute slap to the face of justice,” Reardon said. “It is a slap to the face of the criminal system in Durham, North Carolina.”

WRAL News pulled city data, which shows Reardon’s situation is not an outlier.

Since Deberry took office, Durham’s conviction rate for first-degree murder charges is 24%, which is lower than the 67% in Wake County and 45% statewide.

Looking at 38 different kinds of violent felonies, including rape, robbery and assault, Durham is lagging with a conviction rate of 37% compared to 61% in Wake County and 49% statewide. The numbers are for people convicted as originally charged, not people who plea to lesser charges or take plea deals.

Deberry told WRAL documentary reporter Cristin Severance felony conviction rates are not her focus.

“We don't lean on really what we think are outdated modes of determining how well prosecution works,” Deberry said.

WRAL News asked Deberry what kind of method she uses.

“We have do have numbers that we collect, but we also are looking at individual cases and the outcomes of those individual cases and whether or not those individual cases provide accountability in that particular case,” Deberry said.

Deberry’s Communications Specialist Sarah Willets referred WRAL News to reports put out each year by the Administrative Office of the Courts. The reports show that since Deberry took office, the average minimum active sentence for felony convictions is higher than right before she took office in 2019:

However, the reports also show that the percentage of people convicted who get any prison time at all is down:

Still, Deberry said she doesn’t put a lot of stock in numbers because she is intentional about doing things differently. She believes her method is what the people of Durham want.

“I'm the first district attorney that's been reelected in Durham County in 20 years, and over that 20-year span, we had two district attorneys who were removed from office and subsequently disbarred and a series of interim [district attorneys],” Deberry said. “And, what that meant is there was not a lot of leadership in this office, and the idea that those offices were working perfectly and impacting the level of violent crime in Durham is just disingenuous.”

Reardon will forever see it differently.

“She is not tough on violent crime,” Reardon said. “Had she been tough on violent crime, Mohar, the man who murdered my brother on tape, on video, would be serving more than eight months in jail.”

Reardon explained her perspective on how Mohar's trial was handled.

"We have a criminal that meets my brother, headbutts him, on video, and basically ends up walking away," she said.

Reardon said she loved her brother.

“He deserved so much more than involuntary manslaughter,” Reardon said of Mohar’s conviction. “[My brother] was murdered. He was murdered.”

In a statement emailed to WRAL News on Wednesday night, the district attorney said her office is collaborating much more with Durham police, even meeting with the department before it charges suspects in some cases.