Prosecutors dismissed 68 percent of weapons charges from 2014 through 2018
By Ames Alexander and Gavin Off
The Charlotte Observer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - From late 2007 to 2014, Mecklenburg County prosecutors dismissed 13 consecutive weapons charges against Mario McGill, records show.
He was free on Jan. 5, 2015. That was the day McGill shot and killed Robert Miller, a childhood friend.
Cases like McGill's have contributed to an alarming statistic: From 2014 through 2018, Mecklenburg prosecutors dismissed 68 percent of weapons charges, a higher rate than any other urban county in North Carolina, a Charlotte Observer investigation found.
Statewide, prosecutors dismissed about half of all gun charges during the five-year period.
The dismissal rates in other urban counties ranged from 28 percent in Forsyth County, whose biggest city is Winston-Salem, to 58 percent in Durham County. In Wake County, whose largest city is Raleigh, the dismissal rate for weapons crimes was 45 percent.
Mecklenburg's high dismissal rate means that defendants who commit crimes here have a greater chance of avoiding punishment than in other N.C. counties. Suspects who get away with crimes often move on to worse offenses, including murder, experts say. It's happening as Charlotte homicides are on pace to reach near-record levels this year.
To investigate how prosecutors handle weapons crimes, the Observer analyzed data on 58 charges that involved weapons, murder or manslaughter. These charges include carrying a concealed gun, armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.
Reporters also reviewed hundreds of documents and interviewed dozens of police officers, victims, violent crime experts and prosecutors.
The investigation found:
-More than half of the roughly 300 people charged with murder in Mecklenburg County since 2015 had prior weapons charges. For 28 murder suspects, a conviction on an earlier weapons charge - rather than a dismissal - would have put them behind bars at the time of the killing.
-Prosecutors regularly dismiss serious charges. From 2014 through 2018, Mecklenburg prosecutors dropped 57 percent of all armed robbery charges - a rate higher than any other urban county in North Carolina and almost twice as high as Wake County.
-Former prosecutors said they had little choice but to plea bargain or dismiss most charges. That's because prosecutors shoulder heavy caseloads and operate in a state-funded court system that is so overburdened that fewer than 1 percent of felony cases go to trial.
Authorities are grappling with this problem at a particularly deadly time.
Charlotte had 87 homicides in 2017 - the highest number in any year since 1995. That amounted to roughly 10 murders for every 100,000 residents - about three times New York City's murder rate. And 2019 is on pace to be even deadlier.
"The message that is received by a criminal mind is, 'I shot this person with a gun, but they let me go. So I'll just go out and get me another gun,' " said Judy Williams, co-founder of Mothers of Murdered Offspring. "Who feels safe in a city where people can break rules, commit crimes and nothing is done about it?"
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D.A. DEFENDS DISMISSALS
Mecklenburg District Attorney Spencer Merriweather said his prosecutors often have to dismiss charges because they lack evidence. Some witnesses aren't credible. Others go missing. Still others refuse to testify.
When asked to explain why Mecklenburg's dismissal rate exceeds those of other urban counties, Merriweather said Mecklenburg suffers from more big-city problems, including more poverty and violent crime. As a result, he said, the county has more people who distrust police and prosecutors - and fewer people who are willing to cooperate with authorities after they witness or become victims of crimes.
"You recognize that you're in a different world," said Merriweather, who became Mecklenburg's top prosecutor in 2017.
In a small percentage of cases, North Carolina prosecutors dismiss charges so defendants can be charged in federal court, where they are more likely to receive stiff sentences.
Even if Mecklenburg prosecutors could build stronger cases, the courts here don't have enough resources to cope effectively with all of the county's violent crime, former prosecutors say.
Mecklenburg has 86 prosecutors - fewer than almost any county its size nationwide, the Observer found. A county with Mecklenburg's population - 1.1 million people - ought to have at least 120 prosecutors, according to David Labahn, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Association of Prosecuting Attorneys.
Milwaukee County, for instance, has about 145,000 fewer residents than Mecklenburg - but it has 44 more prosecutors.
"Mecklenburg needs significant help," said Andrew Murray, who served as Mecklenburg District Attorney from 2011 to 2017.
North Carolina spent less per resident on its courts than any other state-funded system, according to data collected by the National Center for State Courts in 2012, the most recent available.
A shortage of prosecutors, judges and other court personnel sharply limits how many cases the DA's office can bring to trial, former prosecutors say.
Former prosecutors say some dismissed cases might have been winnable. But, they said, if prosecutors didn't offer plea deals and dismiss cases, the court system would grind to a halt.
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'MY BABY, MY HEART'
At Lake Arbor Apartments in west Charlotte, gunfire has sometimes awakened residents. Last year, police responded to nearly 700 reported crimes in the area. About 40 involved guns, CMPD data show.
Prosecutors dismissed half of the armed robbery charges in the area from 2013 through 2017, the Observer found.
Natasha Tucker, the former president of the Lake Arbor Tenants Association, said a stray bullet barely missed her neighbor early this year. By March, things had gotten so bad Tucker and her family had to move.
"I'd rather be homeless than live in a place that is riddled with crime," she said.
On a Monday afternoon in January 2015, Robert Miller was at that apartment complex off Tuckaseegee Road when he got into a dispute with Mario McGill.
Miller was unarmed, but McGill shot him five times. One of the bullets struck Miller's chest and ripped through his lungs.
Lisa Miller says she thinks about her son every day. "That was my baby, my heart," she said.
Last year - three years after Miller's death - McGill pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to at least 23 years in prison.
McGill, 31, did not respond to letters from an Observer reporter requesting an interview.
In court records, prosecutors said they dismissed the three previous weapons cases against McGill because of "insufficient evidence" and because a victim failed to appear in court.
In one of the cases, a home invasion robbery, a victim said she recognized McGill as one of the suspects because she'd gone to school with him. That was the only evidence tying McGill to the crime, according to Lillie, the deputy district attorney.
But Miller says she wishes prosecutors had pushed harder.
"If (McGill) had done time, maybe he wouldn't be charged with killing my son. Robert would be here. And he would be with his family."
Published: Tue, Oct 01, 2019
