After mistrial, man charged in Holly Springs pellet gun shootings back in court
A Holly Springs man charged in a series of pellet gun shootings from 2020 will face a judge again, months after his case ended in mistrial.
Henderson Atwater, 47, has consistently claimed he is innocent.
"It's stressful, but anything to prove my innocence and I will do it," he said.
After a first round of charges, Atwater spent more than two years in jail. During that time
Atwater's case dates back to March of 2020, when the first pellet gun shootings were reported in his hometown of Holly Springs.
In August 2023, Atwater's trial on 17 of the pellet gun shootings ended in a mistrial due to insufficient evidence. He remained in jail until November on similar charges that were not part of that trial.
On Monday, he was arranged again on 40 counts — the same charges that ended in a mistrial and more.
Atwater's attorney, Chad Axford, explained the case doesn't fall under double jeopardy, a law banning the prosecution of a person twice for the same offense, because the cases that went to trial didn’t result in punishment and, therefore, weren't resolved.
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman had planned to retry Atwater's case again in February, but Atwater's attorneys have asked for more time. His trial is now scheduled for July 22.
Since his arrest, the NAACP has questioned the charges against Atwater, which include 26 counts of shooting into an occupied property and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
Earlier this year, the Raleigh-Apex NAACP held a news conference calling for Atwater's immediate release and demanded a federal investigation into the case.
NAACP leaders say law enforcement originally identified the suspect as a white man. Last April, Atwater's defense team obtained video they say shows a white suspect behind the wheel of an Audi.
“This video evidence had been in possession of the Holly Springs Police Department since April of 2020,” said NAACP Raleigh-Apex President Dr. Mark Vasconcellos. “This is a clear case of police misconduct."
Freeman previously told WRAL News her office is doing its due diligence to be fair in this case.
“I think the allegation here is that somehow there has been intentional wrongdoing by the police department or by our office,” Freeman said. “We deny that."
