| Texas Man Charged with Trafficking over 500 grams of Cocaine in Wilson Countty Freed Raleigh Man Charged with First Degree Murder Found Not Guilty Beaufort County Man Charged with Trafficking Cocaine Charges Suppressed Farmville Man Charged with DWI blows 18 and defeats charges Continue reading below to hear from Attorney Gray: "My two cents" Readers, this was a long fought battle for three weeks. My client was accused of first degree murder and faced going to prison for the rest of his natural life. As you probably can imagine, this type of case is always stressful when you literally have a man's life in your hands. Despite the stress of the moment, I stopped everything I was doing and concentrated 100% on my client's representation. My heart pounded as loud as his as we waited one full day for the jury's verdict, especially when the clerk began reading the verdict. The clerk read, "We the jury, by unanimous verdict find the defendant not guilty of 1st degree murder." There was silence all over the courtroom as we waited to see if the jury had found him guilty of second degree murder, but the clerk sat down after the first statement. Thereafter, the judge said that concluded this matter. I leaned over and whispered in my client's ear and said two words "Almighty God." We were overjoyed, a tear came to my eye, but being the mancho man that I am, I didn't cry. There were just so many things covered in closing arguments. My closing was two full hours. As always, I had a theme in closing argument just as I had in opening statement: "Promises, promises made and promises broken. " I talked about the lack of credibility of the state's witnesses and their broken promises to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth; the lack of evidence; the fact that the police ignored other leads in the case; the lack of any cell phone records substantiating the allegations of the state's primary witness; my client's prior contact with police explained by a witness that the client had been assaulted by the police on several occasions and even bitten by a police dog. I told the jury that this case was reminiscent of Rodney King, and who would expect Rodney King to willingly go and speak with the police after being assaulted. I also concentrated on the allegation of the state's primary witness and her past conduct as a stripper and charges for embezzlement and inconsistencies in her testimony. She testified that she was driving the deceased around when my client called the deceased and that she could overhear the conversation without the speaker phone on where my client allegedly threatened to kill the deceased if she didn't have an abortion. She also stated to the jury that in her 1997 Mercury, you can't hear the engine running when the car is being driven! I obviously concentrated on the fact that they were riding in a car with the windows up and air conditioner on without the speaker phone being on at all. I told the jury the witness would have had to be Superman or God to hear that conversation. Moreover, the state did not produce any cell phone records from the phone of the deceased to show that the call had been made at the time the witness said the call was made or at any time. No cell phone records to substantiate the claims was the biggest reasonable doubt in the case in my opinion. As I told the jury and tell you now, "YOU CAN'T UN-RING THE BELL." If that phone had been rung, there should have been a record showing it. As always, may the Lord bless you Richly is my sincere prayer... |
