Durham murder charge dismissed after witness killed
Durham County prosecutors have dropped a murder charge against a Chapel Hill man after a key witness in the 2016 case was killed.
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Curtis Marcel Barnette, 41, was charged in the June 30, 2016, death of Reginald Cole.
Cole, 50, was found shot to death in a parking lot at 119 E. Cornwallis Road.
"An essential witness for the state has been killed," prosecutors wrote in the dismissal form last month. "Without the testimony of the now-deceased witness, the state cannot present sufficient credible evidence to prove all elements of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt. Should additional credible and admissible evidence arise, the state will consider re-filing charges against the [defendant]."
John Kenneth Mason, 58, a witness in the case against Barnette, was found stabbed to death on April 28 near the intersection of South Roxboro Street and East Cornwallis Road.
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