Joy for 2 families, pain for another as charges are dropped in Enfield quadruple murder

Halifax County Sheriff Wes Tripp told WRAL News that James Edward Powell had changed his story, recanting accusations against his three co-defendants, and charges against those men were dropped.

Posted 6:44 p.m. Feb 4, 2022 — Updated 2:48 p.m. Feb 7, 2022

Cullen Browder, WRAL anchor/reporter

and

Keenan Willard, WRAL Eastern NC reporter

HALIFAX, N.C. — Murder charges have been dropped against three of four men accused of killing two couples as they played cards in Enfield in August 2017.

Halifax County Sheriff Wes Tripp told WRAL News that James Edward Powell had changed his story, recanting accusations against his three co-defendants, and charges against those men were dropped.

James Edward Powell appears in a Halifax County courtroom on Jan. 9, 2018, on charges he killed four people in an Enfield home in August 2017.

Powell implicated three others – Matthew Lewis Simms, of Enfield, Keyon Quarice West, of Roanoke Rapids, and Dontayvious Devonte "Moochie" Cotton, of Weldon. All four were charged with first-degree murder and have been held without bail in the Halifax County jail since their arrests in the spring of 2018. Had the cases gone to trial, all four faced the death penalty.

After their charges were dropped, Simms and West were released from jail, reuniting Friday afternoon with joyful families.

"Innocent. Five years. You heard me? I've been telling them, day one. Innocent," said Simms as he walked out of the Halifax County Jail, cleared of the first-degree murder charge that had kept him there since 2017.

Minutes earlier, another former suspect, Keyon West, did the same.

"I'm glad that the truth came to the light that I'm an innocent man," West said. "It's messed up I had to go through this and be away from my family, but we made it."

His mother, Latisha Whitaker, said, "We stuck together. We maintained and we always believed in him. There's never been a doubt. Not one day."

There is no joy, no end to the pain for Amanda Duncan, who found her grandparents, James and Janice Harris, along with their friends James and Peggy Whitley, dead over a hand of cards five years ago.

"I'm angry. I'm beyond words," Duncan said. "I can't even put into words the hurt and pain that is going through our family right now."

Whitaker said she can feel Duncan's pain. "They were all victims in this," she said. "There's no winner in this. My son is home, but it still doesn't bring their family back."

While today was full of joyful reunions, the now-freed men also know they’ll never get back the time they lost.

"We’re going to try and get some justice for the years I lost first and foremost," said Simms. "After that, I don’t know."

Sheriff: Evidence links Powell to four murders

WRAL News obtained a copy of Powell's statement in which he claims to have been coerced into confessing by a sheriff's investigator.

Tripp said that Powell has admitted his involvement in the murders and physical evidence also links him to the deaths.

The murder charges were dismissed against Cotton, but he was being held at Central Prison on charges from another case, in which he has $75,000 bond.

Duncan says she's frustrated, not because she thinks guilty men are walking free, but because she was led to believe investigators built a better case.

"I'm frustrated because it wasn't a strong case to begin with," she said. "If they can't even say that these were the ones that did it, how can I call them a killer? It's innocent until proven guilty."

Affidavit: James Powell coerced by detectives into accusing 3 men

In his statement, Powell says that he only accused Cotton and West in the murder after Halifax County detectives pushed him to cooperate in exchange for a chance at a lighter sentence, and that he repeatedly told detectives the accusation was a false statement. The affidavit doesn’t mention Simms.

What’s also notable is the date: Powell's statement is signed Aug. 26, 2021.

Duncan, who was in court on Friday, said that the recanted statements were not turned into the district attorney's office until late January.

"I’m not sure why or how it took that long for it to be turned over, but in the courtroom yesterday the district attorney's office stated they had no idea the recanted statement existed until Jan. 26 of 2022," she told WRAL News.

WRAL News reached out to the Halifax County District Attorney Valerie Asbell to ask why it took more than five months to release Simms and West after Powell changed his story. She said she did not receive his statements from West’s attorney until the end of January. WRAL News also asked Powell's attorney for clarity as to why it took so long for his statement to get to the district attorney's office.

“I do not know how the statement came to be in the possession of Keyon West’s attorneys, and I do not know how inmates’ correspondence are handled by county jails or the Department of Corrections," Asbell told WRAL News. "I can only comment on what I know. As I said in my written statement, I received it from Keyon West’s attorneys on January 26, 2022.”

Asbell asked WRAL News to publish her full statement online, which she read in court:

“The state is going to take an action today that will no longer require a bond hearing in matter of Keyon West.

If I could have a moment to provide the court with a brief explanation of how the case got to its present posture. This defendant before the court, Keyon West, along with co-defendants James Powell, Matthew Simms and Dontavious Cotton are charged with the first degree murders of James and Peggy Whitley and James and Janice Harris that occurred on August 20, 2017. The co-defendant to this case, James Powell, was arrested on an unrelated murder case in January of 2018. After being arrested on other charges, James Powell has made several statements to law enforcement officers implicating the defendant before the court and Dontavious Cotton and Matthew Simms in the crimes on August 20, 2017.

On Wednesday, January 26th, 2022 , our office received an email from Keyon West’s attorneys which contained a Motion For Unsecured Bond. Contained within that motion was a copy of a sworn affidavit written by co-defendant James Powell that our office had not had the benefit of seeing before being served with it last week. The sworn affidavit by co-defendant James Powell recants Powell’s prior statements and is inconsistent with all of his prior statements regarding the murders of James and Peggy Whitley and James and Janice Harris.

Since receiving the affidavit of James Powell on January 26th, 2022, our office has contacted and spoken to the Prison Notary Luke Hunt who confirmed orally and in writing that he, in fact, notarized James Powell’s statement on August 26th, 2021. Prior to January 26th, 2022, the State of North Carolina had no indication that there was a sworn recantation by James Powell. Prior to receiving the sworn affidavit on January 26, 2022, the State proceeded with this case believing Powell to be a credible witness in the case of the co-defendants. James Powell’s recantation of his prior statements made to law enforcement implicating the co-defendants in the homicides of James and Peggy Whitley and James and Janice Harris provide a substantial change in the evidence of this case. Evidence based prosecution requires that we follow the evidence in our pursuit to prosecute cases on behalf of the State of North Carolina.

Family members of Mr. and Mrs. Whitley and Mr. and Mrs. Harris are present in court today and our office has spoken at length with the victim’s families regarding the evidence in these cases and they understand what has transpired in the past week and the effect James Powell’s recantation has on how we proceed with these cases. With such a substantial change in evidence based on the sworn affidavit served on our office on January 26, 2022, that has been verified as being signed by James Powell, the State is now dismissing the charges related to this offense against Matthew Simms, Dontavious Cotton and Keon West. The State is filing the dismissals now and would like to hand these written dismissals up to the Clerk of Court.”

WRAL News also spoke with Halifax County Sheriff Wes Tripp and asked about Powell's accusation that he was coerced by detectives into accusing the other men.

The sheriff had no comment other than to say he stands by his investigators.

Suggest A Correction