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Wake DA faces families, criticism of police investigations at criminal justice forum

Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman faced criticism at a Thursday night forum over how she has handled investigations into police, including an officer whose informant faked drug evidence and helped put people in jail.

Robin Mills, whose son was jailed on charges in the scheme, asked Freeman why she hasn’t charged Raleigh police detective Omar Abdullah, who arrested about 15 people on the false drug charges. Mills questioned how Abdullah couldn’t know the drugs were fake.

“If he got duped, and if he got fooled, what does that say for RPD?” Mills asked during a passionate plea to Freeman.

“You can’t make that make sense,” she said.

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Rules of professional conduct limit what Freeman can say about ongoing cases, but she said she is aware it is a case of grave concern for the community.

“For anyone to be wrongly charged is a nightmare for any prosecutor. It is never our intent that people be charged wrongfully,” she said.

The exchange unfolded during a discussion on criminal justice reform organized by Emancipate NC, a racial justice nonprofit pushing for change in the Wake justice system, at the Chavis Community Center.

Emancipate NC executive director Dawn Blagrove said the trauma the justice system has caused Mills and others show the need for more solution-based conversations like the one held Thursday night.

“There is a segment of our population who, number one, feels like they are silenced, and, number two, feels like their pain is not recognized” she said. “There are problems in our system, and there are ways for our system to work so that everyone feels whole.”

The forum comes amid America’s reckoning that the criminal justice system is biased against the poor and minorities, Blagrove said.

2022 Wake DA’s race

The discussion was also a preview of the issues that will be debated in the 2022 Wake County district attorney’s race.

Thursday’s panel included Freeman, district attorney since 2015, and Damon Chetson, a defense attorney who has been campaigning for months to challenge Freeman in the March 2022 Democratic primary on a criminal justice reform platform.

Chetson said he supports not seeking the death penalty, not prosecuting low-level marijuana charges and dismissing charges that originate from traffic stops for minor incidents such as a tail light being out.

Freeman, whose office has sought the death penalty and has at least one pending capital case, agreed that police should have more valid reasons for stopping people.

She disagreed with dismissing low-level marijuana charges, she said, as the county provides ways to defer those charges. She is also working with law enforcement on a diversion measure that could be implemented before they are charged, she said.

“We need to get behavioral health issues out of the criminal justice system, but we need to do that by linking people with the appropriate and resources and not just leaving them unhelped within our community if we really want things to improve,” she said.

Community activist Kerwin Pittman, an Emancipate NC organizer, and Kimberly Muktarian, president of Save our Sons, a nonprofit that supports fair sentencing, also sat on the panel.

Prosecutors that investigate officers?

Chetson, Pittman and Muktarian said they supports having a set of Wake prosecutors, separate from the rest of the office, that solely investigates police misconduct.

Muktarian said they should investigate all corruption within the justice system. Pittman said those prosecutors would be critical when minority communities have complaints against officers. Chetson cited the case involving Abdullah as an example.

Freeman said the office lacks the resources to dedicate prosecutors to alleged police misconduct.

“I do not think it would help,” she said. “What I do think is the elected DA has a responsibility to review these cases and to make the decision as to whether a use of force is appropriate or not. And in those situation where there has been evidence to prove police excessive force or misconduct. I have not shied away from making those difficult decisions.”

More prosecutors, which the state legislature controls, would be a huge step in improving the district attorney’s office, as studies on implicit bias and prosecution show that the more cases they handle the less time they have to make appropriate decisions, Freeman said.

Over the last few years, Freeman said her officer has made strides in criminal justice reform: including:

Revising the pretrial release policy to ensure only the appropriate people are held pretrial.

Providing about a dozen diversion programs to give people with addictions and mental health problems access to treatment and second chances.

Building collaborations that help people as they re-enter the community after incarceration.

There criminal justice system has more work to do, she said, but broader challenges must also be addressed.

“The criminal justice system is the bottom of a larger funnel in that many of the reasons people end up in the criminal justice system have to do with health inequities, lack of mental health services, lack of substance abuse services, lack of economic opportunity,” she said. “Until we as a society get serious about addressing all of those issues, we in the criminal justice system cannot alone fix the inequities that we see in our community.”

The Abdullah cases

A year ago, Freeman said she was investigating cases of false evidence being used in more than a dozen drug arrests. Abdullah, was put on and remains on leave while the investigation continues, ABC11 reported. Abdullah used a confidential informant in drug cases where the substances used as evidence turned out not to be drugs.

A federal lawsuit filed earlier this year claims Abdullah framed innocent people, The News & Observer reported.

The lawsuit, which is heading to mediation this month, contends Abdullah knew the drugs were fake and the arrests were fraudulent, along with at least five other officers and two of their supervisors.

Freeman said an independent investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation is ongoing.

“This is an ongoing investigation,” Freeman wrote in an email. “But at this time we have no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Det Abdullah or others with the Raleigh Police Department.”

This week the informant in the case Dennis Williams, Jr., was indicted on five counts of obstruction of justice, The Assembly, a digital magazine covering North Carolina, reported.

Williams’ work with Abdullah resulted in 15 people being arrested and charged on drug offenses. The charges were later dropped.

Even if Freeman doesn’t prosecute the officer, she said, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t have concerns.

“Just because we may not end up with evidence in a case sufficient to prosecute someone does not mean, it is not the same thing as me saying everything was done in the way it should have been,” she said.

“You are indicting the wrong people,” Mills said.

Pittman described the situation as “shameful” and “disheartening,” and said the investigation process should be sped up.

“The buck should stop with you when it comes to things of that nature,” Pittman said.