NC family in disbelief after jury returns not guilty verdict in murder case

25-year-old Carlton Whitley was shot to death in 2015 in Wilmington outside the apartment complex he shared with his girlfriend and newborn daughter.

Antonio Beatty was charged only seven days after his death, but his trial was delayed by seven years due to legal hang-ups.

Finally, Beatty was able to walk free after a jury found that the state could not provide enough evidence to charge him with murder

"When the jury came out for the verdict, my sister said they was crying. You could tell like they was forced, they was angry. She said you could just tell in the eyes that they'd been crying," said family member Ebony Silman.

A key part in the court case was that authorities never found a murder weapon. Authorities said that DNA evidence put Beatty at the scene of the crime, and an eyewitness identified him as the shooter.

In the end, the jury was not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Beatty was the killer and they let him go.

"Looking back over the last two decades, and seeing the success we've enjoyed in this office, to know that juries back us up when we speak for the dead," he said. "We know that these are the most important cases in the system. And, of course, no one's happy to hear the words not guilty on a case where we absolutely believe that the right person was on trial. These things are going to happen every now and then,"

Beatty's case stood as the oldest pending murder case in New Hanover County when prosecutors took it to court last week, with delays caused by the pandemic and the number of attorneys he fired.