'It's not right': Family of Durham murder victim emotional as judge considers reduced sentence in 2002 homicide
A local family says their daughter’s convicted killer shouldn’t be released from prison.
Anthony Patterson is serving a life sentence without parole for the abduction and murder of Tia Carroway in 2002.
Carroway’s parents, Rodney and Frances Perkins, appeared in court Wednesday to see if Superior Court Judge Michael O’Foghludha would reduce the sentences for Patterson and defendants in four unrelated cases.
“We don’t want him out,” said Rodney Perkins, father of Tia Carroway. “He killed our child … it’s just that simple.”
Carroway’s mother Frances Perkins gave an emotional account after the hearing ended, explaining how the pain still lingers more than 20 years later.
“To relive it all over again? It’s not right, it’s not right,” she said.
WRAL previously reported on Carroway, a 23-year old who worked at Durham Regional Hospital. Authorities said she left for lunch in early July of 2002 and never returned. Her car was found abandoned across town on Roosevelt Street the next day.
Judge O’Foghludha said such actions of reduced sentencing may be appropriate for reconsideration at a later date.
“If they meet certain criteria, that they [the crime] occurred a long time ago, that the person was young, that the person had diminished mental status,” he said.
Organizers with the group Emancipate NC supports reduced sentencing.
Emancipate NC supports reduced sentences, shared the following statement with WRAL News:
"Life Without Parole is a sentence with huge racial disparities. Overwhelmingly, Black people receive this sentence, while white people typically are sentenced more lightly for similar crimes, often receiving beneficial plea deals for a term of years.”
A lawyer representing Anthony Patterson’s family declined comment at this time.
Court records show Naeem Mahmoud, the other suspect serving time for abducting and killing Carroway, is expected to be released from prison in June 2026.
"To know this person may be released to do this to somebody else’s family?" Perkins said. "To do it to somebody’s else family and it’s okay? No, it’s not okay."
