Judge weighs overturning Durham murder conviction, more than 10 years later
A Durham judge will decide whether to overturn a murder conviction from more than 10 years ago.
In 2009, Timothy Evans was convicted by a jury of second-degree murder in the 1993 homicide of Shelton Johnson in East Durham.
Evans' attorney, Christine Mumma with the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence, says a key component leading to Evans' arrest and conviction was testimony from Evans' cousin and co-defendant, Richard Waller. Now, Waller has recanted that testimony.
Mumma filed a Motion for Appropriate Relief on Evans' behalf, which was heard in a Durham courtroom Tuesday. The motion seeks either the dismissal of the charges, or a new trial.
Evans spent about 13 years in prison. Although he has now completed that sentence, Mumma said he is far from walking free.
"He’s carrying a second-degree murder charge," Mumma said. "That impacts his livelihood, his ability to hold his head high, that impacts his family, his community."
Waller testified in court Tuesday that he lied to police and the court in implicating his cousin, because he did not know his rights. He said his partner was pregnant with their daughter, and he was eager to ensure he did not serve lengthy time himself.
"I apologize. That’s all I can do is try to make it right," he said. “I accept responsibilities for my actions. I was wrong ... I’m a lot wiser now … my whole world is I work, I sleep, I wrestle with my son and catch colds from him. My life is simple.”
Waller said, in 2005, he had no criminal record and was working as a security guard for Duke Regional Hospital. According to court testimony, Durham police called him in purportedly to talk about car break-ins at his job site, but then revealed they suspected him in the 1993 murder. Waller says they told him they had witnesses who placed him at the scene and who named Evans as the shooter.
Waller said Tuesday neither he nor Evans was present for the shooting, but he felt pressured back then to do whatever police said to ensure he did not serve lengthy time.
“I felt, at the time, that we were all going to get locked up," Waller said. "I had never been in that situation before. I had no idea what my rights would be.”
Waller ultimately served four years in prison.
"There’s enough evidence in the justice system to know why people do this," Mumma told WRAL Investigates after court. "Why do they testify against somebody? Because their lives are threatened, they’re threatened with the death penalty, they’re threatened with life in prison, they just had a child, they’re desperate, they’re confused. There are all kinds of reason this happens."
Assistant District Attorney Mike Wallace argued Tuesday that Waller was convincing now, but was also convincing when he testified against his cousin in 2009.
"Somebody has something to gain from this … Mr. Evans is a person who really has something to gain," Wallace said. 'He’s already out of prison … [this] opens the door for civil litigation.”
In June, WRAL News covered a similar situation in the Durham Courthouse, where Mumma successfully argued for charges to be dropped against another client.
Both cases involved one of the same police investigators.
"I think there’s a pattern of the culture in the way investigations were previously done," she said. "We know a lot more about appropriate investigative techniques, about interviewing techniques, the requirement of recording interrogations. It wasn’t applied in the '90s. it wasn’t applied in the 2000s."
Mumma believes the Durham District Attorney's Office needs to more proactively look at old cases. She intends to file more Motions for Appropriate Relief in other cases, too.
"The duty should be on the state to recognize when those processes weren’t the right processes to use, and address the consequences of that," she said.
At the conclusion of the hearing Tuesday, Judge Ed Wilson, Jr. said he would consider all the information and decide how to proceed, adding, "it shouldn't be long."
Mumma estimated that could take a couple weeks.
Family members of murder victim Shelton Johnson were in the courtroom, and told WRAL Investigates they believe police arrested the right suspects. They hope Evans' conviction will not be overturned.
