I have no idea if it's normal or what is going on. It feels interminable. I have no idea what might be going on behind the scenes, I wish I knew. If I recall, it took several years for Eve Carson's case to come to trial and we knew very little about what was going on in that case, until it made it to court.
well, there is a court date for next Thur. (Oct. 13), but I think it is simply to state the charges and have him enter a plea (if someone knows differently let us know)... I don't think it in any way sets a trial date nor adds any more info to what we already know (like further arrests). What makes this all so bizarre is that this is basically the court appearance that was set a full year ago, then cancelled without explanation, and no further news for an entire year, and not even getting much fanfare now???
Is it possible that a plea deal has been worked out which might result in a guilty plea?
I'm not sure what the "deal" would be?... the death penalty has already been taken off the table. All I can imagine is possibly charging him with 2nd degree murder with some eventual possibility of parole, rather than 1st degree murder with no possibility of parole (but I'm no lawyer).
Pleading down to 2nd degree is pretty standard. But as far as why I think there could be a plea deal in the works, I can't think of any other reason why it would take over a year to have an arraignment, unless there was some sort of negotiation going on behind the scenes.
I think it's very likely that the reason that the hearing was cancelled and not rescheduled is that the parties are working out a plea deal.
I can’t find anything online about it. I signed up for an alert last year whenever there was an update on the case, but I didn’t receive anything.
yeah same here... ??? ... is there a link somewhere to the appropriate court docket to see if it was even listed?
I went back to the links I posted last year (post #81 in this thread.) He still shows up in the inmate population, but all it lists there is that he's incarcerated and his arrest date. Clicking on his name just takes you to another page showing which facility he's in and who the reporting agency is (Durham County.)
I agree that it is quite a frustrating situation; I was particularly astonished to learn that the Delphi trial is scheduled to start in March 2023! And the arrest was just LAST WEEK!
I REALLY hope this is just the way NC operates and it will eventually go to trial but my gut feeling isn't great.
It does unfortunately seem to be on the longer end of things. Eve Carson (no trial, suspects plead guilty) took over two years from indictment to sentencing. Craig Hicks (confessed immediately, no trial) took over four. Those are the two most prominent cases in Chapel Hill that I can think of over the last decade or so.
I suspect things are happening (i.e., long plea negotiation, collection of more evidence against him for other crimes, etc.), they just aren't visible to us. I think it would be a big relief to me to have someone identified when it was such a mystery for so long.
As a local, I fear your optimism could be mistaken. The judicial system is a mess and everything is severely backed up. I was selected earlier this year to be on the jury for a murder in Durham County that happened in 2019. They are citing the pandemic as the reason for the delays, but...
