Plea deals frequent in some NC counties, like in the case of a man who later killed twice
Kevin Munn had more than a dozen felony convictions on his record before he killed businessman Tommy Ellington and psychologist Nancy Alford. He also had five felony charges dismissed by prosecutors around the time Ellington was gunned down in his home.
WRAL Investigates found Munn's case isn't unusual in the prosecutorial district where the two murders occurred. According to state court records, 59 percent of felonies in District 9, which encompassed Franklin, Granville, Vance and Warren counties, were either dismissed or the defendants pleaded guilty to lesser offenses in 2016-17.
The statewide average for dismissals or plea deals that year was 38 percent, and District 9 has been well above the state average for years, a WRAL Investigates review of court records shows.
"Certainly, we're going to look at that. We want to make sure that our processes and the decisions we're making reflect and are helping the community," said District Attorney Mike Waters, who became the top prosecutor in District 9 in 2016.
District 6, which includes Bertie, Halifax, Hertford and Northampton counties, has an even higher dismissal rate. In 2016-17, it topped the state at 64 percent of felony charges dropped or pleaded out to lesser offenses, state records show.
Last August, Janice and James Harris and Peggy and James Whitley were shot to death while playing cards at the Harrises' home in the Halifax County community of Enfield. Two of the four men charged in the case, Matthew Simms and Keyon Quarice West, have more than 100 felony dismissals between them, according to court records.
District Attorney Valerie Asbell didn't return phone calls seeking comment.
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}Ellington's neighbor, William Vaughn, said his longtime friend should still be alive.
"I feel like the court system let everybody down," Vaughn said. "They need to start tightening up on these people. You know, if you break the law, give you the sentence, don't let you walk."
Early last year, Munn was charged with seven felonies in Vance County, including illegal gun possession and larceny. But the charges didn't stick because Vance County deputies took no pictures of the crime scene and evidence and immediately returned the gun to its owner, meaning the weapon could no longer be used as evidence in the case.
"When we deal with thousands of felony cases in a year, there are going to be mistakes made, and there are consequences to our mistakes," Waters said.
When prosecutors realized they could no longer pursue the firearms charges, Munn's bond was reduced, and he was able to get out of jail.
Six weeks later, on Oct. 2, Munn fatally shot Ellington in his home east of Henderson during a robbery. Three weeks after that, Munn was in court to watch the earlier gun charges be formally dismissed.
"Shouldn't have ever been dropped," Vaughn said. "He should have gotten the full extent of the law. Then, this probably wouldn't have happened."
Five months after that, on March 9, Alford died when her home on Lake Gaston was set ablaze. The fire followed a home invasion in which Alford's husband was beaten and she was kidnapped and forced to get money from a credit union in Roanoke Rapids.
Munn knew the Alfords and later disposed of their car in the western part of the state, authorities said. He has agreed to testify against his co-defendant in the case, Lester Kearney, who could face the death penalty if convicted.
Waters said he understands the frustration when the public sees serious criminal charges dismissed or pleaded down.
"I know Tommy Ellington, so we understand it's a very personal kind of thing," he said. "I wish we had a crystal ball."
Rep. Marcia Morey, D-Durham, a former District Court judge, said no one has the crystal ball needed to determine which plea deals are good or not, but she said the court system needs to make such deals to prevent a logjam of cases.
"I'm sure that is causing a lot of sleepless nights for a DA who offered a plea or perhaps a judge that accepted it," Morey said. "You can't predict. More times than not, I think it works out."
Only 2 to 3 percent of criminal cases wind up going to trial, she said. Waters noted that he tried one case in District 9 during the decade he spent as a defense attorney.
"You're stuck [as a prosecutor] with trying to pick the 20 or 30 cases in a year that you're going to prioritize and try out of 1,200," Waters said. "It's simply impossible with the amount of court time and the resources we have."
District 9 has 34 sessions of Superior Court a year to try felony cases, he said, adding that a flood of dismissed non-violent drug offenses, where he says rehab made more sense than prison, added to the district's high dismissal rate.
"We're going to work and do better every day," he said. "That means that we are working towards increased communication with law enforcement and having the public, particularly witnesses, be confident in what we're doing."
