Detention hearing for Mitchell set for Thursday
Royce Mitchell may remain jailed without bond until a judge determines whether he violated conditions of his release from prison when he was charged in September with having sex with a 15-year-old pregnant girl who was later shot to death.
When Mitchell appeared in federal court Monday, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Prosecutors said they would seek to have him detained without bond. A detention hearing and a probable cause hearing for Mitchell have been set for Thursday.
Mitchell has been under federal supervision for two years after serving time on drug-related charges in a New York case. If a federal judge determines that he violated terms of his release, he could be sent back to prison.
Mitchell, 36, was accused last month of having sex with his adopted sister, Tiffany Wright. The teenager, eight months pregnant, was gunned down Sept. 14 as she waited for her school bus. Doctors were able to deliver her baby, but the infant later died.
Police arrested Mitchell on the day of Tiffany's slaying and charged him with statutory rape and indecent liberties with a child. But state prosecutors dismissed the charges last week after a DNA test showed that Mitchell was not the father of Tiffany's baby.
Dropped sex charges in dead teen's case gall police
A statutory rape charge was dropped Thursday against a Charlotte man accused of having sex with Tiffany Wright, the pregnant teen who was fatally shot last month while waiting for her school bus.
The news incensed Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, sparking an unusually public dispute between police and Mecklenburg prosecutors.
Tiffany, who was attending Hawthorne High, was eight months pregnant when she was gunned down Sept. 14. Doctors delivered her baby girl, but the infant later died. Police arrested Tiffany's adoptive brother Royce Mitchell, 36, on the day of her killing - charging the convicted felon with statutory rape and taking indecent liberties with a minor. They also called him "a person of interest" in her killing, but have not charged him.
Mecklenburg District Attorney Peter Gilchrist said Thursday he dropped the charges against Mitchell because DNA tests showed he was not the father of Tiffany's baby. Without Tiffany alive to testify about any sexual encounters with Mitchell, prosecutors said there was no other evidence to support the charges.
Mitchell could not be reached Thursday, and his lawyer Susan Weigand declined comment. But her boss, Mecklenburg Public Defender Kevin Tully, questioned what he called a rush to judgment against Mitchell.
"It seems to me that some people had made up their minds about Mr. Mitchell's guilt based on his arrest," he said.
Police released a statement late Thursday saying Mitchell is still considered a person of interest in Tiffany's killing.
The statement criticized prosecutors and said police believe there is "probable cause" based on "evidence gathered" to prosecute Mitchell on the sex charges - even without DNA evidence to prove that they had sex at least once.
Tiffany gave conflicting statements about her relationship with Mitchell. At times, she denied they had sex, but ultimately she told a detective they had sex twice, according to authorities.
Deputy police Chief David Graham said police were disappointed that prosecutors didn't alert them or sit down with investigators to discuss how to pursue their case against Mitchell.
But Gilchrist disputed the police account. He said his assistants did discuss the DNA results with police Thursday morning and spelled out their intent to drop the charges.
"This was not an example of a weak case," Gilchrist told the Observer, "this was an example of a no case."
The dispute illuminates the increasingly strained relationship between police and prosecutors. Police have argued that Gilchrist's office dismisses or pleads down too many cases. Prosecutors counter that police bring them too many weak cases that can't be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
In Tiffany's case, Gilchrist said the statements of a deceased victim to police were enough for an arrest but wouldn't win in court. Police acknowledged Thursday they hadn't yet developed any other evidence.
Tiffany was adopted into Mitchell's family as a toddler in Buffalo.
She moved to North Carolina in 2004 with her mother, Alma Wright, who was also Mitchell's mother.
At the time, Mitchell was in federal prison on a drug conviction. He had also been charged with murder - but found not guilty at trial in 2006. He was released from prison in 2007 and moved to Charlotte.
When Alma Wright died in January, Tiffany moved in with Mitchell.
But he lost a bid to become her guardian, and Tiffany was soon placed in foster care.
Tiffany told her foster mother that Mitchell had had sex with her, according to authorities. The foster mother then called the Department of Social Services, who reported the allegations to police July 27.
It took investigators nearly four weeks to interview Tiffany about her allegations, and police didn't talk to Mitchell until after Tiffany was killed.
At Mitchell's bond hearing last month, Weigand questioned the sex charges against her client, telling the judge that Tiffany had denied having sex with Mitchell and denied that he was the father of her baby.
Weigand also said Tiffany had been sexually active and that she told boys at school that they had fathered her child.
Prosecutor Kelly Miller acknowledged in court that Tiffany initially refused to talk about the allegations, then denied them. But Tiffany later told a detective that Mitchell had sex with her twice and was the father of her baby, Miller said.
On Thursday, Tiffany's grandmother Shirley Boston expressed shock that Tiffany's case appeared to be stalled.
"I don't know what to make of this - I'm just overwhelmed," said Boston, who lives in Buffalo. "I guess maybe poor females just don't get justice in North Carolina."
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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, Charmeck.da, Google Maps
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