WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina trial judge has thrown out the convictions of four men in the 2002 death of basketball star Chris Paul’s grandfather. Now, state attorneys are considering their next moves, including an appeal.
Superior Court Judge Robert Broadie vacated and dismissed their convictions late last week following a January hearing in Forsyth County.
Nathaniel Arnold Cauthen, Rayshawn Denard Banner, Christopher Levon Bryant and Jermal Matthew Tolliver had been found guilty in trials in 2004 or 2005 for the killing of Nathaniel Jones. The four were all 14 or 15 years old when they and another teen were arrested.
Jones, 61, died from a heart attack outside his Winston-Salem home after being tied up, beaten and robbed.
A three-judge panel previously had denied the defendants’ innocence claims after testimony in a 2022 hearing.
But Broadie’s order, filed Friday, cited recanted testimony from a key witness, poor legal representation and questionable actions by police, the Winston-Salem Journal reported. DNA profiles also “further serve to corroborate Defendants’ assertions that their confessions were false” and that the defendants “were not present at the scene of the crime,” the judge wrote.
Paul, Jones’ grandson, was a standout high school basketball player at the time of the assault and had committed to play at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem. Paul, now 40, is a 12-time NBA All-Star who now plays for the Los Angeles Clippers.
Attorney General Jeff Jackson’s office, whose lawyers defend criminal cases on appeal, asked the state Court of Appeals on Monday to halt enforcement of Broadie’s order “while we review it and consider next steps,” spokesperson Nazneen Ahmed said.
Cauthen and his brother, Banner, were convicted of first-degree murder and are serving life sentences. Bryant, Tolliver and Dorrell Brayboy were convicted of second-degree murder and were released after serving prison time. Brayboy was fatally stabbed outside a Winston-Salem supermarket in 2019.
Monday’s petition to the appeals court by a state attorney said that, without action, Cauthen and Banner “will be released back into the community without this Court having an opportunity to hear and determine the State’s issues on appeal.”
Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill criticized Broadie’s ruling, in particular his dismissals of the cases “with prejudice,” which could make them harder to appeal.
“I have never seen that happen before in a court of law,” O’Neill said in a statement to the newspaper. “Most judges welcome scrutiny and appellate review of their decisions.”
Christine Mumma, the lawyer for Banner and Cauthen, pushed back on criticism of the judge’s ruling.
“If the General Assembly didn’t want judges to have the authority to dismiss with prejudice, they wouldn’t have given judges that authority,” Mumma wrote in an email. “They also wouldn’t have passed statutes recognizing if charges are dismissed with prejudice, there’s no right of appeal.” Mumma is the executive director of the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence, a nonprofit that helps investigate and litigate claims of innocence.
