A Mecklenburg County judge on Thursday effectively blocked release of the video showing a controversial police shooting by giving control of the footage to the state prosecutor handling the case.
Senior Deputy Attorney General James Coman now has final say on when or if the public sees the footage, according to the ruling by Superior Court Judge Richard Boner. The court order overrides a state law that gives Charlotte City Manager Ron Carlee authority to release the video if needed to maintain public confidence.
The video is a vital piece of evidence in the case against Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Randall Kerrick, who is charged with voluntary manslaughter in connection with the Sept. 14 shooting death of Jonathon Ferrell.
Kerrick, 27, shot Ferrell 10 times during an early morning confrontation in a northeast Mecklenburg neighborhood.
Ferrell, 24, a former college football player and a Johnson C. Smith University student, was unarmed.
The so-called "dash-cam" video shot from inside one of the police cars at the scene reportedly captures the sequence of events leading up to the shooting, but not the shooting itself.
Ferrell's family and Kerrick's defense team have seen the footage but do not have copies of the video. They disagree over whether it proves the shooting was justified. Police Chief Rodney Monroe has said it clearly shows that Ferrell was not carrying a weapon and that Kerrick used excessive force.
Kerrick, an officer for three years, is the first Charlotte police officer charged in connection with an on-duty shooting in at least 30 years.
The family has repeatedly called for the video to be made public. The Observer also asked for its release.
But in appearing before Boner, Coman and defense attorneys argued that such a move could undermine Kerrick's right to a fair trial and make it difficult to find unbiased jurors.
Coman said in court Thursday that he received a call on Saturday morning from a reliable source telling him that the video was to be released. So he got a temporary order on Saturday to block the city from releasing the video.
City attorneys say neither Carlee nor police had plans to release the video.
Coman is one of the state's best-known prosecutors. The son of a New Jersey police chief, Coman ran the State Bureau of Investigation for former Gov. Mike Easley and took over prosecution of the explosive Duke lacrosse team rape case from disgraced Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong. After a Coman-led investigation, all charges against the team members were dropped.
Coman now leads special prosecutions around the state. His office took over prosecution of the Kerrick case after Mecklenburg District Attorney Andrew Murray stepped aside, pointing out that he is a former law partner of Kerrick attorneys George Laughrun and Michael Greene.
Copyright 2013 - The Charlotte Observer
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
