Florida Prosecutors have asked a judge to tighten conditions or revoke bond for Marissa Alexander, who faces a second trial for firing a gun to scare off her allegedly abusive husband.
The Jacksonville woman was sentenced to 20 years in prison despite arguing before trial that her actions were justifiable under Florida's controversial "stand your ground" self-defense law.
She was released on $150,000 bond in November after an appellate court struck down her 2012 conviction.
In court papers filed Monday, prosecutors argued that Alexander "repeatedly flouted" the limits of her bond by running errands, taking shopping trips and taking relatives to the airport. Under the terms of her release, Alexander was only allowed to leave her home for medical emergencies, court appearances and other pretrial functions, they argued.
In a scathing response, Alexander's lawyers wrote Tuesday that each trip had been approved by the sheriff's official supervising her release. "Obviously, including those omitted facts would expose the frivolity of the state's motion," they wrote.
Alexander's case had drawn the attention of civil rights leaders, who say nobody was hurt and the sentence for the mother of three was too harsh.
Alexander said she was attempting to flee her husband on August 1, 2010, when she picked up a handgun and fired a shot into a wall. She said her husband had read cell phone text messages that she had written to her ex-husband, got angry and tried to strangle her.
State Attorney Angela Corey had said the case deserved to be prosecuted because Alexander fired in the direction of a room where children were standing.
Corey had said she offered Alexander a plea bargain that would have resulted in a three-year prison sentence -- but Alexander chose to take her chances at trial, where a conviction would bring an enhanced sentence for the use of a firearm.
Singer Chris Brown appeared before a Washington judge Wednesday along with his bodyguard Christopher Hollosy, facing assault charges stemming from an incident outside the W hotel in October 2013.
Brown and Hollosy were offered plea deals which would charge each of them with only one count of simple assault. But since video surveillance from the incident still hasn't been entered into evidence, and Brown's bodyguard is only facing one count of assault to begin with, lawyers for Brown and Hollosy said they are rejecting the current plea deal at this time.
Both sides agreed to meet again on February 20. That would give both legal teams ample time to review the evidence once it is available and negotiate a possible plea deal.
Brown's lawyers have requested a waiver of appearance for him for the February court date, citing the singer's current enrollment in rehab for anger management. To appear in court would cause Brown to miss up to three days of treatment, his lawyers argued, delaying his completion of the program.
Brown faces 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000 if convicted in Washington, but the singer's real legal troubles are in California. Brown has been on probation for charges stemming from 2009, when he brutally attacked his then-girlfriend Rihanna.
A judge in California recently revoked Brown's probation, but since Brown was already in a treatment program for anger management and completing his community service requirements, it had limited immediate effect.
The charges against Brown in Washington could influence the judge's decision on whether or not the R&B sensation has to serve jail time once he completes his rehabilitation.
His next court date in California is set for February 10, presumably before his legal woes in Washington will be settled.
Lindsay Lohan's future includes a new fashion line, two new movies, some time in jail and another stint in rehab.
The actress was sentenced Tuesday to 90 days in jail and 90 days in a residential substance-abuse program for violating her probation stemming from two separate 2007 cases of driving under the influence of cocaine and alcohol. She is to surrender and begin her jail sentence July 20. Rehab will follow.
The punishment, levied by Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel, will keep Lohan from promoting "Machete," the Robert Rodriguez action film due in theaters in September. Fox, which is releasing the film, had no comment Tuesday.
Lohan's jail and rehab sentence will also delay production on "Inferno: A Linda Lovelace Story," in which the 24-year-old actress plays the starring role.
Writer-director Matthew Wilder said after the ruling that he and his crew remain "100 percent behind Lindsay."
"We are proud to have this remarkable artist work on our film," he said.
Lohan's sentence may also prevent her from further promoting her new fashion line, 6126. The first items from the 280-piece collection are shipping out to department stores nationwide this month. Lohan was instrumental in the line's design and marketing plans and is featured in its promotional materials. Her business partner, Kristi Kaylor, did not immediately respond to phone and e-mail messages seeking comment.
Lohan's agent, Nick Styne, declined to comment Tuesday. Her manager, Jason Weinberg, did not respond to an e-mail request for comment.
Kerry Wallum, a producer with Lucky Films, said Lohan was in negotiations for a role in the upcoming Willie Nelson flick, "The Dry Gulch Kid," and that the production would wait for her if she wanted the part.
"We're behind her," he said Tuesday. "We'll wait until all of this blows over."
Revel chastised Lohan for missing a court hearing in May while at the Cannes Film Festival and repeatedly skipping out on court-mandated alcohol-education classes. She said Lohan lied about using drugs and tried to blame others for the two driving offenses when the original charges were filed.
A tearful Lohan pleaded with the judge before the sentencing, saying she did the best she could to juggle jobs and the court-ordered classes and really tried to comply with the terms of her probation.
"I'm not taking this as a joke," Lohan said. "It's my life. It's my career I've worked for my entire life."
Revel said she found the starlet's apology insincere, comparing it to "somebody who cheats and thinks it isn't cheating if she doesn't get caught."
Lohan burst into tears upon hearing the terms of her punishment. Her sister, Ali, and father, Michael, were also in the courtroom and cried after the ruling.
Lohan spent 84 minutes in jail in 2007 after she pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of being under the influence of cocaine and no contest to two counts of driving with a blood-alcohol level above 0.08 percent and one count of reckless driving.
The plea came after a pair of high-profile arrests earlier that year. Lohan was sentenced to three years of probation but had to ask for a yearlong extension in October after she failed to complete her alcohol-education courses on time.
Prosecutor Danette Meyers argued Tuesday that Lohan wasn't taking the charges or her punishment seriously and urged jail time for the actress.
"You have not caught her attention," Meyers told the judge. "I appreciate the tears, but I don't think you've got it."
Lohan's attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, claimed that the actress had adhered to the spirit of the law, if not the letter.
"She has gotten it together," Holley said. "She changed her conduct and is now in compliance with the court's overall order."
Lohan may serve less than her 90-day sentence, thanks to jail overcrowding and a state program that credits inmates for good behavior, said Los Angeles Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore. Nonviolent female misdemeanor offenders typically serve about 25 percent of their sentences, he said.
Lohan will be taken to the Century Regional Detention Center — the same jail that housed Paris Hilton for 23 days in 2007 after she was found guilty of driving on a suspended license while on probation in an alcohol-related, reckless-driving case.
Lohan's jail sentence could impact a civil lawsuit filed after Lohan's second arrest in 2007. A woman in a car chased by the actress sued for infliction of emotional distress and the case is scheduled to begin trial a week after Lohan surrenders.
It is unclear how much of the trial Lohan would have attended, although she is listed as a potential witness in the case. A hearing was set for Wednesday in Beverly Hills.
The N.C. Department of Correction, which employs Charlotte City Council member Warren Turner as a Probation Officer, said Tuesday it won't release a list of Probationers whom Turner has supervised, which the Charlotte Observer had requested.
The department said it is conducting an "initial review" of the City of Charlotte's report released Monday that detailed Sexual Harassment allegations by five women that Turner made sexually inappropriate comments toward them.
According to the report, two of the employees told other city officials they didn't want to be alone with Turner. The report said Turner had been "involuntarily terminated" from the Charlotte Police Academy in 1988 after he physically threatened a female cadet and made "repeated" sexually inappropriate comments toward her.
A year after Turner was terminated from the academy, he was hired by the state as a probation officer, supervising men and women on probation.
"Warren Turner occupies a position of authority and we take that very seriously," wrote Pamela Walker, the DOC director of external affairs, in an e-mail.
Turner has said he hasn't done anything wrong and denied the allegations in the investigation. The report, however, concluded that Turner had been "less than fully truthful" during the probe.
Walker said the DOC might decide to release Turner's personnel file, which the Observer also requested. But any list of probationers won't be made public, Walker said.
The DOC wrote in an e-mail Friday that "people who are no longer on probation have a fair expectation of privacy."
The department wrote that "for those that are currently on probation and doing well, making them subject to news media questions about their supervising officer puts them in a difficult position."
Walker said N.C. law allows the state to release a list of probationers "when (Correction Secretary Alvin Keller) feels it is in the interest of public safety. The offender list does not apply in this case."
State statute says that "all information and data obtained in the discharge of official duty by a probation officer shall be privileged information ... and shall not be disclosed ... unless ... ordered by a judge of the court or the Secretary of Correction."
The Observer hasn't requested any information relating to Turner's files on probationers, only a list of people he has supervised. It is a public record in North Carolina when a person is on probation.
Turner declined to comment Tuesday when contacted by the Observer.
In an interview with WBTV Tuesday, Turner said he has been in contact with the Department of Correction about the report and that the investigation "smeared" his name.
Monday's report was spurred by a female city staff member known in the report as Employee A, who complained that on Dec. 14, 2009, Turner pulled on her sweater at waist level when she was leaving fellow council member James Mitchell's office.
When interviewed by the investigators, Mitchell said he didn't remember Turner grabbing the employee's clothing, the report said. Mitchell also told an investigator he didn't telephone her a day or two later to apologize for Turner's behavior, as the employee said.
The employee had complained two other times about Turner making what she considered inappropriate comments to her in 2008, the report said. That year she told her supervisor, known as Employee B, that she didn't want to be alone with Turner.
Four other female employees, including Employee B and the former police cadet, told an investigator that Turner had made sexually inappropriate comments toward them.
Employee B said she witnessed Turner make sexually inappropriate comments on more than one occasion, according to the report. Once, during a National League of Cities meeting in Reno, Nevada, in 2006, she and Turner were walking through a casino. She said Turner made a sexually explicit comment to her as they passed a store displaying pornographic magazines, the report said.
Employee B later had a meeting with City Attorney Mac McCarley and then-City Manager Pam Syfert. McCarley told investigators that she didn't want to be alone with Turner and asked that a male staff member attend future trips.
McCarley said Monday night he didn't confront Turner because the employees had requested that no formal action be taken.
Pat McCrory, who was mayor for 14 years until December 2009, said he had "no idea" about the complaints about Turner.
"I didn't know anything about this," McCrory said Tuesday. "This is complete news to me."
McCrory wasn't interviewed by Moore & Van Allen, the law firm the council hired to investigate the matter. McCrory works at the law firm, and was "walled off" from the investigation, according to McCarley.
When asked Tuesday whether Charlotte City staff should have confronted Turner sooner, Mayor Anthony Foxx said, "Yes. There's no question about it."
Foxx, who was elected to the City Council in 2005, said he hadn't heard anything about such incidents before he became mayor.
After Turner allegedly pulled on Employee A's sweater, the employee complained to her supervisor and City Manager Curt Walton. The supervisor then talked to Human Resources Director Tim Mayes, who said: "I can't sit on this even if (the employee) doesn't want to go forward."
Mayes and Foxx discussed the allegation, and Foxx sent an e-mail in March to all 11 council members warning them not to sexually harass staff. It prompted intense speculation, and led to the council hiring Moore & Van Allen.
Valecia McDowell of Moore & Van Allen read the report Monday night. Council members could vote to censure Turner, though the city's policy against sexual harassment doesn't apply to council members. That means Turner can't be suspended or removed from office.
Turner told council members Monday he would respond to the report, though he didn't say when.
Much of the discussion Monday night was not about the allegations in the report, but about Foxx's decision to send an e-mail to council members. Republican Edwin Peacock asked Foxx, a Democrat, several times why the issue wasn't handled privately.
Said Peacock: "Where do we go from here after this? Where do we go to work with one another?"
Foxx said that he had asked that Walton, McCarley and other officials have a meeting with Turner, though they declined. Walton has said he didn't feel comfortable with such a meeting because the council is responsible for hiring the city manager.
Foxx said Walton then asked Foxx to address the problem before an upcoming council trip to Washington in March.
"I acted," Foxx said.
Democrat Michael Barnes, who is running for Mecklenburg District Attorney, defended Foxx's handling of the situation. He said the city would have been criticized if it attempted to investigate the situation in closed session.
"You can't expect us to deal with this privately," Barnes said Monday. "There was no reasonable set of options that would have allowed (Foxx) to privately deal with this."
Foxx sent a memo Tuesday afternoon to council members stating he was forming an ad hoc City Council Ethics Review Policy Committee to consider, among a number of issues, whether the existing sexual harassment policy should be applicable to City Council members.
Federal Prosecutors said in a recent court filing Rauscher (Royce Mitchell's Attorney) had been informed, that Adrian Powell's status as a 2nd Murder Suspect had no bearing on whether Mitchell (36), had sex with Tiffany (15).
Mitchell (36), turned himself in to Police the day of Tiffany's killing and was arrested on Statutory Rape charges. Those were dropped when a paternity test showed he wasn't the baby's father.
Later a previously taped testimony recorded prior to Tiffany's death, was played in court of Tiffany (15) telling Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Detectives she had sex with Mitchell, convincing the Federal Judge there was reason to believe Royce Mitchell (36), committed Statutory Rape which violated his Federal Probation and sent him back to prison for 30 months.
The video below shows Tiffany Wright's Grandmother Shirley Boston, speaking to New York Reporters about how her granddaughter's death could have been avoided.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Court documents name a former West Meck football player as a new suspect in the killing of pregnant teen Tiffany Wright, an accusation his family vigorously denies.
Tiffany Wright, 15, was eight months' pregnant when she was shot and killed in September while waiting for her school bus. Her baby died soon after.
Investigators have said they were focused on Royce Mitchell, 36, Tiffany's adoptive brother. A judge ruled in November that he had sex with Tiffany, violating conditions of his 2007 release from prison and sending him back for 30 months.
But Mitchell's attorney Claire Rauscher now argues that Adrian Powell, 17, was also a suspect in the killing and that she wasn't told until after Mitchell's hearing.
Rauscher is requesting a new hearing for Mitchell, on the grounds that Powell's status in the investigation casts doubt on testimony from the first hearing.
Adrian Powell has not been arrested or charged with any crime.
Federal Prosecutors said in a court filing that Rauscher had been informed, and that Powell's status as a suspect has no bearing on whether Mitchell had sex with Tiffany.
Mitchell turned himself in to police the day of Tiffany's killing and was arrested on statutory rape charges. Those were dropped when a paternity test showed he wasn't the baby's father.
A tape of Tiffany telling a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police detective she had sex with Mitchell convinced the judge there was reason to believe Mitchell committed statutory rape and send him back to prison for 30 months.
At Mitchell's hearing, Powell testified that he had sex with Tiffany but that he couldn't be the baby's father because he wore a condom.
Powell's mother, Kathryn Powell, vehemently denied he had anything to do with the killing.
"He's an innocent kid who just happened to be in a relationship with her," Kathryn Powell said. "The next person (Tiffany) was with, will they pin it on him, too?"
Another teenager also testified at Mitchell's hearing that he had sex with Tiffany.
Tiffany had told some of her friends at Hawthorne High that her baby's father was a football player at West Meck. Powell is listed as a football player on a Web site for the squad.
A court order mandating that Powell give police a DNA sample sheds light on why investigators are looking at him.
The document, signed by a CMPD homicide detective, says Powell was late to school the morning Tiffany died. Investigators learned that he and Tiffany had slept together, and Powell consented to a DNA swab to see if he was the baby's father.
But he soon changed his mind. On the advice of one of his teachers, Powell deleted all of his text messages and phone records from Tiffany, according to the court order.
Police say he had changed her name in his phone to "Don't Answer." The document also says he had told Tiffany he wanted nothing to do with the baby or her.
Powell swiftly withdrew from West Meck and moved to Buffalo, N.Y., after the killing.
Kathryn Powell said Powell's father lives in Buffalo and he had planned to move there before Tiffany was killed.
When detectives found out he would be back to testify as a witness at Mitchell's parole hearing, they got the court order for his DNA.
Results from the paternity test haven't been released.
A Federal Judge sent Royce Mitchell back to prison for 30 months Wednesday.
He believed the story told on tape by a girl now dead, Tiffany Wright, who claimed Mitchell had sex with her twice. That was statutory rape, the judge found, because Mitchell is 36 and Tiffany was just 15.
And even though Mitchell wasn't convicted of a crime, U.S. Chief District Judge Bob Conrad found that Tiffany's allegations were likely true - which meant Mitchell had violated the terms of his 2007 release from federal prison.
So he sent Mitchell back.
Tiffany's story detailing her sexual contacts with Mitchell was "credible" and "reliable," Conrad said Wednesday.
"I found her to be sincere," he said. "I found her to be embarrassed to talk about the details."
Tiffany, a Hawthorne High School student, was shot dead in September while waiting for her school bus. Her statement taped by a detective in August was played in court Tuesday. The detective testified that she believed Tiffany. And Tiffany's foster mother added heft by detailing what the girl had called "her deep dark secret" about Mitchell.
Mitchell, who is Tiffany's adoptive brother, shook his head as the judge announced his rulings.
"I did not have sex with Tiffany," Mitchell, 36, told the judge before being sentenced. "I most certainly did not. This is definitely a nightmare for me and my family. I wish Tiffany could be here."
Tiffany was eight months pregnant when she was killed. Her baby also died. Police haven't charged anyone in her murder, but they call Mitchell a person of interest in the killing.
In a soft voice, Tiffany said in her taped interview that Mitchell had not forced or threatened her to have sex. But Tiffany did say that Mitchell had pressured her to have an abortion, and according to her foster mother, offered to pay $5,000.
Tiffany and her foster mother both said the teen believed Mitchell was the father of her baby. But a DNA test performed after Tiffany's murder showed he wasn't.
"We would have much preferred that Tiffany had been in the courtroom to testify about what happened...," Acting U.S. Attorney Edward Ryan told reporters Wednesday following Mitchell's sentencing. "But somebody made that impossible.
"Our hearts go out to Tiffany and her child as well as to the many people in our community who truly loved her and tried to help her under very difficult circumstances."
Mitchell was sentenced in 2002 to five years and 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy. He was one of 29 people busted in a$1million-a-year cocaine ring that authorities said brought 44 pounds of crack into Buffalo, N.Y., each month, according to the Buffalo News.
Mitchell was released from prison in 2007 and placed on four years' supervision.
After Tiffany was gunned down on Sept. 14, police arrested Mitchell - charging him with statutory rape and taking indecent liberties with Tiffany.
But prosecutors dismissed the sex charges in October after the DNA test showed Mitchell wasn't the father of Tiffany's baby. Without Tiffany alive to testify, prosecutors said there was no other evidence to support the sex charges.
Although the criminal charges were dropped, federal authorities accused Mitchell of violating his conditions of release from prison, which required that he stay out of trouble.
Federal prosecutors did not have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, as they do in criminal trials, that Mitchell had sex with Tiffany. They instead had to show by a preponderance of the evidence that Mitchell committed the sex acts.
Defense witnesses had portrayed Tiffany as a rebellious teenager who didn't always tell the truth. Two teenage boys testified that they'd had sex with Tiffany. One of them said Tiffany had told him he was the father of her baby.
Defense attorney Claire Rauscher told the judge that Mitchell didn't have sex with the teen.
"This is his sister," Rauscher said. "She had been a part of the family for almost her entire 15 years."
Rauscher explained that Mitchell tried to convince Tiffany to have an abortion because he wanted to help her.
"He was looking out for her interests," the defense lawyer said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Cullen told the judge that Tiffany wasn't trying to get back at Mitchell with her allegations. Mitchell had kicked Tiffany out of the home he shared with his wife and children.
"She didn't want to talk about (the sex)...She wasn't trying to pin something on him. In her own mind, it wasn't a crime...It was just sex."
The prosecutor then told the judge that Mitchell desperately tried to get Tiffany to abort the baby.
"He was terrified she was carrying his baby," Cullen said. "He was worried that child was his."
Tiffany Wright stood alone in the dark, waiting for her school bus.
It was just before 6 a.m., and her foster grandmother had walked back home to get Tiffany's water bottle.
Tiffany, 15, was eight months pregnant but determined to stay on track in school. She wanted to be a lawyer. And after just a few weeks at Hawthorne High, she had impressed teachers as smart and ambitious, despite a difficult childhood.
At 5:51, Tiffany sent a text.
"Wheres the bus?"
One stop away, replied her friend, already on the bus.
At 5:55, as the bus lumbered toward Tiffany's stop, people began calling police to report gunshots.
A school bus dispatcher radioed Tiffany's bus driver: Change course - something's happening ahead.
Tiffany lay dead in the road, shot in the head, that morning, Monday, Sept. 14. Her baby girl was delivered at the hospital and lived a week, but died Sunday.
Nobody's charged in the killings, but police call Tiffany's adoptive brother, Royce Mitchell, a "person of interest."
In the months before she died, local agencies took steps aimed at stabilizing her home life and keeping her safe. But her story exposes failures in the system that was supposed to protect her.
Among the missteps:
•In February, a Mecklenburg court clerk appointed Mitchell as Tiffany's temporary guardian — even though he was a felon who served time in federal prison. He was also tried in 2006 for murder, but found not guilty. And last year, he was accused of domestic violence, though the case was dismissed.
•In July, social workers told police that Mitchell, 36, might have committed statutory rape with Tiffany, but police didn't question him about it for seven weeks, and didn't charge him with the rape until after Tiffany was killed.
•This month, Mecklenburg social services failed to cut off communication between Tiffany, who was in foster care, and Mitchell, said a source close to the investigation.
On the day of Tiffany's killing, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police jailed Mitchell for statutory rape and indecent liberties with a child, naming Tiffany as the victim.
Police defend their work, saying they followed the industry's best practices - which takes time. Police didn't feel a need to rush, they say, because they believed Tiffany was secure, hidden in a foster home with no threat to her safety.
Police say it's hard to prove statutory rape: Of the 262 reports of statutory rape police received over three years, only 16 percent - 42 cases - were accepted by prosecutors.
Experts say statutory rape cases are complicated because they involve victims ages 13, 14 or 15 who often consider themselves voluntary participants in sex with someone at least six years older. So victims can be reluctant to help police.
But child advocates say in cases like Tiffany's, police should act more aggressively. An immediate arrest sends a signal to a suspect and can persuade them to stay away from victims.
"The cases may be difficult to win, but they're not difficult to charge," says Brett Loftis of Charlotte's Council for Children's Rights.
UNCC criminologist Paul Friday says: "Often, nothing is done in these kinds of cases because they're based on improper assumptions about the rationality of someone that age. But the minors are often unaware of disease, birth control and they can be exploited by someone."
Adopted by foster mother
Tiffany first entered the child welfare system as a toddler in Buffalo, N.Y., when her mother lost custody.
She was adopted at 4 by her foster mother, Alma Wright, an older woman with eight grown children, who was excited about raising another child.
One of Wright's grown sons was Royce Mitchell, a star quarterback in high school who'd gone on to play for a semi-pro team in Buffalo. But Mitchell also was indicted in 1999 as part of a drug trafficking ring and went to federal prison.
While he was in prison, authorities also charged Mitchell with an earlier murder, but a jury found him not guilty.
In 2004, Alma and Tiffany left Buffalo for North Carolina, settling near Kings Mountain. Tiffany made friends easily at school and church. She ran track at Bessemer City High School.
In 2007, Mitchell was released from prison and followed his mother to North Carolina.
But last fall, Alma Wright got sick. Friends at church helped out with Tiffany, inviting her for dinners and weekends. Tiffany spent time with Mitchell and his wife, too.
Alma Wright died Jan. 25, and Tiffany moved in with the Mitchells in Charlotte.
On Jan. 30, Royce Mitchell asked a Mecklenburg court to appoint him and his wife as Tiffany's guardians.
On his application, he wrote: "We are seeking guardianship because we were requested to do so by Mrs. Alma Wright before she died."
He wanted to transfer Tiffany to West Mecklenburg High School.
The court set a hearing for Feb. 5 and appointed a child advocate to study the situation and look after Tiffany's best interests in court.
There's no transcript of what happened in court, and the clerk who handled Tiffany's case declined to discuss his decision.
Frederick Benson, a Mecklenburg assistant clerk of superior court, appointed Mitchell the temporary guardian of Tiffany's welfare.
It's unclear if Benson, a lawyer, knew about Mitchell's criminal background. Court clerks are not required to perform background checks in guardianship cases, says Clerk of Superior Court Martha Curran. It's up to each clerk to decide what checks are necessary, and they often rely on court-appointed child advocates to advise them in such cases.
Tiffany's advocate, lawyer Martha Efird, declined to discuss her actions in the case.
It was in the weeks surrounding the Feb. 5 court hearing that Tiffany got pregnant, if hospital estimates are accurate.
But friends say Tiffany, who started at West Mecklenburg High in February, wouldn't realize for four or five months that she was pregnant.
On Feb. 27, clerk of court Benson ordered DSS to conduct a "home study" of the Mitchell household. Officials won't release their findings.
But Mitchell didn't keep custody long, according to several of Tiffany's friends in King's Mountain.
In late March, Mitchell left Tiffany at a group home called With Friends in Gastonia, according to Marlene Jefferies and Cruceta Jeffeirs, two adult family friends who watched Tiffany grow up.
The group home wouldn't confirm that. But the friends say the home reported to social services that Tiffany was abandoned. And she was soon back in foster care.
On March 31, Jeffeirs, a Shelby pastor, wrote a letter to Benson seeking custody of Tiffany: "My desire is to see Tiffany accomplish all the goals that she has set for herself and I believe she can do that in a stable environment with lots of guidance and love."
DSS officials in Gaston and Mecklenburg won't discuss Tiffany's case or answer questions about what steps they took to protect her.
But friends and family say Tiffany was eventually placed in the care of foster parent Susan Barber, in a townhome off Mallard Creek Road in Derita.
By July, it was clear Tiffany was pregnant, friends say.
Barber tried to shield Tiffany from talking to those she believed might be bad influences, according to Tiffany's cousin Brittany Page. But a source close to the investigation said Tiffany and Mitchell continued communicating.
Despite repeated attempts, Barber could not be reached.
As the school year approached, Tiffany prepared to change schools again, this time to Hawthorne High in Charlotte, which offers a special program for pregnant students.
Delayed Investigation
On July 27, social workers reported to police that Royce Mitchell might have committed statutory rape with Tiffany.
It took eight days for a detective to look at the case, and three days more for it to be officially assigned to Teresa Johnson, a detective with CMPD's youth crime and domestic violence unit.
Another 12 days passed before Johnson interviewed Tiffany.
It's unclear when detective Johnson discovered Mitchell's background, but it wasn't enough to ramp up the investigation. Investigators say they believed Tiffany was safe in a foster home and faced no threats from Mitchell.
Police say their performance in the case followed procedure and met standards.
Police interview alleged victims immediately if the crime has occurred within the previous 72 hours, so they can gather evidence that may remain. But in cases like Tiffany's - where months had elapsed since the alleged offense - police try to arrange just one interview when children and teen victims of abuse are involved.
Police acknowledge that strategy takes time but minimizes trauma and reduces the chances that young victims might be led into inaccurate testimony by repeated questioning.
Police also let such victims decide when they want to be interviewed at the county's child-victim center called Pat's Place. There, specially trained interviewers talk to victims, while social workers, psychologists, police and others watch from another room.
Tiffany chose an Aug. 19 interview. She didn't say much during the formal interview. But later that day, Johnson won her trust and obtained enough information to move forward with the investigation.
The next day, Aug. 20, the detective made her first call to Mitchell to ask him about the charge, she says. Johnson left a message and gave him a few days to call back.
When Mitchell didn't respond, she made calls over the next two weeks to social workers and a federal probation officer to ask Mitchell to come talk to police.
Police say they didn't immediately arrest him because they believed they could get better information if he talked voluntarily.
On Sept. 9, a federal probation official told Johnson that Mitchell was not coming in.
On Sept. 10, a team of social workers, police and other agencies held a standard follow-up meeting to discuss how to proceed in Tiffany's case.
On Friday, Sept. 11, detective Johnson phoned Mitchell's wife and left a message. She asked her to call back to discuss Tiffany, Johnson says, but didn't give details of the rape allegation.
That Monday, Tiffany was shot and killed.
As emergency vehicles rolled to the scene, Tiffany's school bus was diverted from its normal route. But the students could see flashing lights. Tiffany's friends on the bus, Cimone Black and Tamia Corpening, began to worry.
"I kept texting her phone...," Cimone said. Then she started calling, but all she got was voice mail.
The bus continued on to Hawthorne. For Tamia, the hourlong ride was excruciating.
A Federal Judge sent Royce Mitchell back to prison for 30 months Wednesday.
He believed the story told on tape by a girl now dead, Tiffany Wright, who claimed Mitchell had sex with her twice. That was statutory rape, the judge found, because Mitchell is 36 and Tiffany was just 15.
And even though Mitchell wasn't convicted of a crime, U.S. Chief District Judge Bob Conrad found that Tiffany's allegations were likely true - which meant Mitchell had violated the terms of his 2007 release from federal prison.
So he sent Mitchell back.
Tiffany's story detailing her sexual contacts with Mitchell was "credible" and "reliable," Conrad said Wednesday.
"I found her to be sincere," he said. "I found her to be embarrassed to talk about the details."
Tiffany, a Hawthorne High School student, was shot dead in September while waiting for her school bus. Her statement taped by a detective in August was played in court Tuesday. The detective testified that she believed Tiffany. And Tiffany's foster mother added heft by detailing what the girl had called "her deep dark secret" about Mitchell.
Mitchell, who is Tiffany's adoptive brother, shook his head as the judge announced his rulings.
"I did not have sex with Tiffany," Mitchell, 36, told the judge before being sentenced. "I most certainly did not. This is definitely a nightmare for me and my family. I wish Tiffany could be here."
Tiffany was eight months pregnant when she was killed. Her baby also died. Police haven't charged anyone in her murder, but they call Mitchell a person of interest in the killing.
In a soft voice, Tiffany said in her taped interview that Mitchell had not forced or threatened her to have sex. But Tiffany did say that Mitchell had pressured her to have an abortion, and according to her foster mother, offered to pay $5,000.
Tiffany and her foster mother both said the teen believed Mitchell was the father of her baby. But a DNA test performed after Tiffany's murder showed he wasn't.
"We would have much preferred that Tiffany had been in the courtroom to testify about what happened...," Acting U.S. Attorney Edward Ryan told reporters Wednesday following Mitchell's sentencing. "But somebody made that impossible.
"Our hearts go out to Tiffany and her child as well as to the many people in our community who truly loved her and tried to help her under very difficult circumstances."
Mitchell was sentenced in 2002 to five years and 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy. He was one of 29 people busted in a$1million-a-year cocaine ring that authorities said brought 44 pounds of crack into Buffalo, N.Y., each month, according to the Buffalo News.
Mitchell was released from prison in 2007 and placed on four years' supervision.
After Tiffany was gunned down on Sept. 14, police arrested Mitchell - charging him with statutory rape and taking indecent liberties with Tiffany.
But prosecutors dismissed the sex charges in October after the DNA test showed Mitchell wasn't the father of Tiffany's baby. Without Tiffany alive to testify, prosecutors said there was no other evidence to support the sex charges.
Although the criminal charges were dropped, federal authorities accused Mitchell of violating his conditions of release from prison, which required that he stay out of trouble.
Federal prosecutors did not have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, as they do in criminal trials, that Mitchell had sex with Tiffany. They instead had to show by a preponderance of the evidence that Mitchell committed the sex acts.
Defense witnesses had portrayed Tiffany as a rebellious teenager who didn't always tell the truth. Two teenage boys testified that they'd had sex with Tiffany. One of them said Tiffany had told him he was the father of her baby.
Defense attorney Claire Rauscher told the judge that Mitchell didn't have sex with the teen.
"This is his sister," Rauscher said. "She had been a part of the family for almost her entire 15 years."
Rauscher explained that Mitchell tried to convince Tiffany to have an abortion because he wanted to help her.
"He was looking out for her interests," the defense lawyer said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Cullen told the judge that Tiffany wasn't trying to get back at Mitchell with her allegations. Mitchell had kicked Tiffany out of the home he shared with his wife and children.
"She didn't want to talk about (the sex)...She wasn't trying to pin something on him. In her own mind, it wasn't a crime...It was just sex."
The prosecutor then told the judge that Mitchell desperately tried to get Tiffany to abort the baby.
"He was terrified she was carrying his baby," Cullen said. "He was worried that child was his."
Tiffany Wright stood alone in the dark, waiting for her school bus.
It was just before 6 a.m., and her foster grandmother had walked back home to get Tiffany's water bottle.
Tiffany, 15, was eight months pregnant but determined to stay on track in school. She wanted to be a lawyer. And after just a few weeks at Hawthorne High, she had impressed teachers as smart and ambitious, despite a difficult childhood.
At 5:51, Tiffany sent a text.
"Wheres the bus?"
One stop away, replied her friend, already on the bus.
At 5:55, as the bus lumbered toward Tiffany's stop, people began calling police to report gunshots.
A school bus dispatcher radioed Tiffany's bus driver: Change course - something's happening ahead.
Tiffany lay dead in the road, shot in the head, that morning, Monday, Sept. 14. Her baby girl was delivered at the hospital and lived a week, but died Sunday.
Nobody's charged in the killings, but police call Tiffany's adoptive brother, Royce Mitchell, a "person of interest."
In the months before she died, local agencies took steps aimed at stabilizing her home life and keeping her safe. But her story exposes failures in the system that was supposed to protect her.
Among the missteps:
•In February, a Mecklenburg court clerk appointed Mitchell as Tiffany's temporary guardian — even though he was a felon who served time in federal prison. He was also tried in 2006 for murder, but found not guilty. And last year, he was accused of domestic violence, though the case was dismissed.
•In July, social workers told police that Mitchell, 36, might have committed statutory rape with Tiffany, but police didn't question him about it for seven weeks, and didn't charge him with the rape until after Tiffany was killed.
•This month, Mecklenburg social services failed to cut off communication between Tiffany, who was in foster care, and Mitchell, said a source close to the investigation.
On the day of Tiffany's killing, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police jailed Mitchell for statutory rape and indecent liberties with a child, naming Tiffany as the victim.
Police defend their work, saying they followed the industry's best practices - which takes time. Police didn't feel a need to rush, they say, because they believed Tiffany was secure, hidden in a foster home with no threat to her safety.
Police say it's hard to prove statutory rape: Of the 262 reports of statutory rape police received over three years, only 16 percent - 42 cases - were accepted by prosecutors.
Experts say statutory rape cases are complicated because they involve victims ages 13, 14 or 15 who often consider themselves voluntary participants in sex with someone at least six years older. So victims can be reluctant to help police.
But child advocates say in cases like Tiffany's, police should act more aggressively. An immediate arrest sends a signal to a suspect and can persuade them to stay away from victims.
"The cases may be difficult to win, but they're not difficult to charge," says Brett Loftis of Charlotte's Council for Children's Rights.
UNCC criminologist Paul Friday says: "Often, nothing is done in these kinds of cases because they're based on improper assumptions about the rationality of someone that age. But the minors are often unaware of disease, birth control and they can be exploited by someone."
Adopted by foster mother
Tiffany first entered the child welfare system as a toddler in Buffalo, N.Y., when her mother lost custody.
She was adopted at 4 by her foster mother, Alma Wright, an older woman with eight grown children, who was excited about raising another child.
One of Wright's grown sons was Royce Mitchell, a star quarterback in high school who'd gone on to play for a semi-pro team in Buffalo. But Mitchell also was indicted in 1999 as part of a drug trafficking ring and went to federal prison.
While he was in prison, authorities also charged Mitchell with an earlier murder, but a jury found him not guilty.
In 2004, Alma and Tiffany left Buffalo for North Carolina, settling near Kings Mountain. Tiffany made friends easily at school and church. She ran track at Bessemer City High School.
In 2007, Mitchell was released from prison and followed his mother to North Carolina.
But last fall, Alma Wright got sick. Friends at church helped out with Tiffany, inviting her for dinners and weekends. Tiffany spent time with Mitchell and his wife, too.
Alma Wright died Jan. 25, and Tiffany moved in with the Mitchells in Charlotte.
On Jan. 30, Royce Mitchell asked a Mecklenburg court to appoint him and his wife as Tiffany's guardians.
On his application, he wrote: "We are seeking guardianship because we were requested to do so by Mrs. Alma Wright before she died."
He wanted to transfer Tiffany to West Mecklenburg High School.
The court set a hearing for Feb. 5 and appointed a child advocate to study the situation and look after Tiffany's best interests in court.
There's no transcript of what happened in court, and the clerk who handled Tiffany's case declined to discuss his decision.
Frederick Benson, a Mecklenburg assistant clerk of superior court, appointed Mitchell the temporary guardian of Tiffany's welfare.
It's unclear if Benson, a lawyer, knew about Mitchell's criminal background. Court clerks are not required to perform background checks in guardianship cases, says Clerk of Superior Court Martha Curran. It's up to each clerk to decide what checks are necessary, and they often rely on court-appointed child advocates to advise them in such cases.
Tiffany's advocate, lawyer Martha Efird, declined to discuss her actions in the case.
It was in the weeks surrounding the Feb. 5 court hearing that Tiffany got pregnant, if hospital estimates are accurate.
But friends say Tiffany, who started at West Mecklenburg High in February, wouldn't realize for four or five months that she was pregnant.
On Feb. 27, clerk of court Benson ordered DSS to conduct a "home study" of the Mitchell household. Officials won't release their findings.
But Mitchell didn't keep custody long, according to several of Tiffany's friends in King's Mountain.
In late March, Mitchell left Tiffany at a group home called With Friends in Gastonia, according to Marlene Jefferies and Cruceta Jeffeirs, two adult family friends who watched Tiffany grow up.
The group home wouldn't confirm that. But the friends say the home reported to social services that Tiffany was abandoned. And she was soon back in foster care.
On March 31, Jeffeirs, a Shelby pastor, wrote a letter to Benson seeking custody of Tiffany: "My desire is to see Tiffany accomplish all the goals that she has set for herself and I believe she can do that in a stable environment with lots of guidance and love."
DSS officials in Gaston and Mecklenburg won't discuss Tiffany's case or answer questions about what steps they took to protect her.
But friends and family say Tiffany was eventually placed in the care of foster parent Susan Barber, in a townhome off Mallard Creek Road in Derita.
By July, it was clear Tiffany was pregnant, friends say.
Barber tried to shield Tiffany from talking to those she believed might be bad influences, according to Tiffany's cousin Brittany Page. But a source close to the investigation said Tiffany and Mitchell continued communicating.
Despite repeated attempts, Barber could not be reached.
As the school year approached, Tiffany prepared to change schools again, this time to Hawthorne High in Charlotte, which offers a special program for pregnant students.
Delayed Investigation
On July 27, social workers reported to police that Royce Mitchell might have committed statutory rape with Tiffany.
It took eight days for a detective to look at the case, and three days more for it to be officially assigned to Teresa Johnson, a detective with CMPD's youth crime and domestic violence unit.
Another 12 days passed before Johnson interviewed Tiffany.
It's unclear when detective Johnson discovered Mitchell's background, but it wasn't enough to ramp up the investigation. Investigators say they believed Tiffany was safe in a foster home and faced no threats from Mitchell.
Police say their performance in the case followed procedure and met standards.
Police interview alleged victims immediately if the crime has occurred within the previous 72 hours, so they can gather evidence that may remain. But in cases like Tiffany's - where months had elapsed since the alleged offense - police try to arrange just one interview when children and teen victims of abuse are involved.
Police acknowledge that strategy takes time but minimizes trauma and reduces the chances that young victims might be led into inaccurate testimony by repeated questioning.
Police also let such victims decide when they want to be interviewed at the county's child-victim center called Pat's Place. There, specially trained interviewers talk to victims, while social workers, psychologists, police and others watch from another room.
Tiffany chose an Aug. 19 interview. She didn't say much during the formal interview. But later that day, Johnson won her trust and obtained enough information to move forward with the investigation.
The next day, Aug. 20, the detective made her first call to Mitchell to ask him about the charge, she says. Johnson left a message and gave him a few days to call back.
When Mitchell didn't respond, she made calls over the next two weeks to social workers and a federal probation officer to ask Mitchell to come talk to police.
Police say they didn't immediately arrest him because they believed they could get better information if he talked voluntarily.
On Sept. 9, a federal probation official told Johnson that Mitchell was not coming in.
On Sept. 10, a team of social workers, police and other agencies held a standard follow-up meeting to discuss how to proceed in Tiffany's case.
On Friday, Sept. 11, detective Johnson phoned Mitchell's wife and left a message. She asked her to call back to discuss Tiffany, Johnson says, but didn't give details of the rape allegation.
That Monday, Tiffany was shot and killed.
As emergency vehicles rolled to the scene, Tiffany's school bus was diverted from its normal route. But the students could see flashing lights. Tiffany's friends on the bus, Cimone Black and Tamia Corpening, began to worry.
"I kept texting her phone...," Cimone said. Then she started calling, but all she got was voice mail.
The bus continued on to Hawthorne. For Tamia, the hourlong ride was excruciating.
Tiffany Wright's Grandmother Shirley Boston, speaks to New York Reporters about how her granddaughter's death could have been avoided.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg DSS System Officials did NOT allow Ms. Boston to attend Tiffany's Funeral, nor will they tell her where Tiffany's gravesite is located.
It is NOT Ms. Boston's fault that Tiffany was placed in Foster Care.
Tiffany was placed in Foster Care because of neglect at the hands of her biological mother, nevertheless NC DSS Officials have treated Ms. Boston as if she were the criminal instead of Royce Mitchell (Tiffany's Killer).
A Federal Judge heard taped testimony from slain teen Tiffany Wright on Tuesday, who said she had sex with Royce Mitchell, her 36-year-old adoptive brother.
Tiffany, who was pregnant when she was fatally shot while waiting for her school bus in September, told a detective in the recorded interview that she and Mitchell had sex twice.
Tiffany said she wasn't forced or threatened, and that she believed Mitchell was the father of her child.
Mitchell's attorney told the judge Tuesday that Tiffany made the whole story up.
If U.S. District Judge Bob Conrad believes that sex occurred, he could send Mitchell back to prison for violating terms of his 2007 release.
The story of Tiffany's life and death rocked Charlotte, as details of how the system failed to protect her have emerged.
Police charged Mitchell with statutory rape - but prosecutors dropped the case after a DNA test showed that Mitchell was not the father of Tiffany's baby. Without Tiffany alive to help make her case, prosecutors said they couldn't prove a crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
But the burden of proof is lower in probation revocation hearings: The government need only prove that the preponderance of the evidence shows that sex likely occurred.
In the taped interview played in court Tuesday, Tiffany softly described how the first sexual encounter happened at the home where she lived with Mitchell and his wife. She said Mitchell texted her: "Come downstairs."
When she did, she said: "He was like 'You wanna (have sex)' ... I think I shrugged."
The interview was taped in August during the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police investigation into allegations made by Tiffany, who was taken from the Mitchell's home and placed in foster care.
Detective Teresa Johnson testified Tuesday: "I did believe her."
Tiffany, a 15-year-old Hawthorne High School student, was eight months pregnant when she was killed. Police call Mitchell a "person of interest" in the killing. Doctors were able to deliver Tiffany's baby girl, but the infant died after a week in intensive care.
Tiffany also told the detective on tape that Mitchell took her to an abortion clinic in Charlotte in July. "I already knew it was too late to get an abortion so I really didn't care," she said.
Tiffany's foster mother Susan Barber also took the stand. She said Tiffany told her that Mitchell tried to persuade the girl to get an abortion and even offered to pay her $5,000.
"She told me she had a deep dark secret ... She told me Royce was the father of the baby," Barber said. "I started to cry."
Mitchell's defense attorney said Tiffany gave contradictory statements - and that Tiffany had fabricated the sexual encounters.
"This never happened," Claire Rauscher told the judge. "She made this up."
The defense portrayed Tiffany as a rebellious, hot-headed teen who didn't always tell the truth.
Two teenage boys testified that they'd had sex with Tiffany. One recalled how Tiffany told him he was her baby's father.
"I thought she was lying," the teen said.
Probation officer Clifton Johnson testified that he questioned Mitchell about Tiffany.
"He said he didn't have any sexual contact with Tiffany Wright," Johnson said.
If Conrad decides Mitchell likely had sex with the minor teen, Mitchell could face up to three years in prison for violating terms of his prison release.
He served five years on a drug-trafficking charge in New York, and his release agreement required him to stay out of trouble. A man so much older engaging in sex with a 15-year-old girl, however, constitutes statutory rape under N.C. law.
The hearing will resume today when Judge Conrad rules on whether to allow a private polygraph expert as the final witness for Mitchell.
His attorney argued polygraphs have been admissible in special court hearings.
But a prosecutor argued the polygraph is tainted - and should be barred - because Mitchell knew a poor result would not be submitted as evidence.
"There was no pressure on Mr. Mitchell when he took that polygraph," the prosecutor said.
Tiffany Wright stood alone in the dark, waiting for her school bus.
It was just before 6 a.m., and her foster grandmother had walked back home to get Tiffany's water bottle.
Tiffany, 15, was eight months pregnant but determined to stay on track in school. She wanted to be a lawyer. And after just a few weeks at Hawthorne High, she had impressed teachers as smart and ambitious, despite a difficult childhood.
At 5:51, Tiffany sent a text.
"Wheres the bus?"
One stop away, replied her friend, already on the bus.
At 5:55, as the bus lumbered toward Tiffany's stop, people began calling police to report gunshots.
A school bus dispatcher radioed Tiffany's bus driver: Change course - something's happening ahead.
Tiffany lay dead in the road, shot in the head, that morning, Monday, Sept. 14. Her baby girl was delivered at the hospital and lived a week, but died Sunday.
Nobody's charged in the killings, but police call Tiffany's adoptive brother, Royce Mitchell, a "person of interest."
In the months before she died, local agencies took steps aimed at stabilizing her home life and keeping her safe. But her story exposes failures in the system that was supposed to protect her.
Among the missteps:
•In February, a Mecklenburg court clerk appointed Mitchell as Tiffany's temporary guardian — even though he was a felon who served time in federal prison. He was also tried in 2006 for murder, but found not guilty. And last year, he was accused of domestic violence, though the case was dismissed.
•In July, social workers told police that Mitchell, 36, might have committed statutory rape with Tiffany, but police didn't question him about it for seven weeks, and didn't charge him with the rape until after Tiffany was killed.
•This month, Mecklenburg social services failed to cut off communication between Tiffany, who was in foster care, and Mitchell, said a source close to the investigation.
On the day of Tiffany's killing, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police jailed Mitchell for statutory rape and indecent liberties with a child, naming Tiffany as the victim.
Police defend their work, saying they followed the industry's best practices - which takes time. Police didn't feel a need to rush, they say, because they believed Tiffany was secure, hidden in a foster home with no threat to her safety.
Police say it's hard to prove statutory rape: Of the 262 reports of statutory rape police received over three years, only 16 percent - 42 cases - were accepted by prosecutors.
Experts say statutory rape cases are complicated because they involve victims ages 13, 14 or 15 who often consider themselves voluntary participants in sex with someone at least six years older. So victims can be reluctant to help police.
But child advocates say in cases like Tiffany's, police should act more aggressively. An immediate arrest sends a signal to a suspect and can persuade them to stay away from victims.
"The cases may be difficult to win, but they're not difficult to charge," says Brett Loftis of Charlotte's Council for Children's Rights.
UNCC criminologist Paul Friday says: "Often, nothing is done in these kinds of cases because they're based on improper assumptions about the rationality of someone that age. But the minors are often unaware of disease, birth control and they can be exploited by someone."
Adopted by foster mother
Tiffany first entered the child welfare system as a toddler in Buffalo, N.Y., when her mother lost custody.
She was adopted at 4 by her foster mother, Alma Wright, an older woman with eight grown children, who was excited about raising another child.
One of Wright's grown sons was Royce Mitchell, a star quarterback in high school who'd gone on to play for a semi-pro team in Buffalo. But Mitchell also was indicted in 1999 as part of a drug trafficking ring and went to federal prison.
While he was in prison, authorities also charged Mitchell with an earlier murder, but a jury found him not guilty.
In 2004, Alma and Tiffany left Buffalo for North Carolina, settling near Kings Mountain. Tiffany made friends easily at school and church. She ran track at Bessemer City High School.
In 2007, Mitchell was released from prison and followed his mother to North Carolina.
But last fall, Alma Wright got sick. Friends at church helped out with Tiffany, inviting her for dinners and weekends. Tiffany spent time with Mitchell and his wife, too.
Alma Wright died Jan. 25, and Tiffany moved in with the Mitchells in Charlotte.
On Jan. 30, Royce Mitchell asked a Mecklenburg court to appoint him and his wife as Tiffany's guardians.
On his application, he wrote: "We are seeking guardianship because we were requested to do so by Mrs. Alma Wright before she died."
He wanted to transfer Tiffany to West Mecklenburg High School.
The court set a hearing for Feb. 5 and appointed a child advocate to study the situation and look after Tiffany's best interests in court.
There's no transcript of what happened in court, and the clerk who handled Tiffany's case declined to discuss his decision.
Frederick Benson, a Mecklenburg assistant clerk of superior court, appointed Mitchell the temporary guardian of Tiffany's welfare.
It's unclear if Benson, a lawyer, knew about Mitchell's criminal background. Court clerks are not required to perform background checks in guardianship cases, says Clerk of Superior Court Martha Curran. It's up to each clerk to decide what checks are necessary, and they often rely on court-appointed child advocates to advise them in such cases.
Tiffany's advocate, lawyer Martha Efird, declined to discuss her actions in the case.
It was in the weeks surrounding the Feb. 5 court hearing that Tiffany got pregnant, if hospital estimates are accurate.
But friends say Tiffany, who started at West Mecklenburg High in February, wouldn't realize for four or five months that she was pregnant.
On Feb. 27, clerk of court Benson ordered DSS to conduct a "home study" of the Mitchell household. Officials won't release their findings.
But Mitchell didn't keep custody long, according to several of Tiffany's friends in King's Mountain.
In late March, Mitchell left Tiffany at a group home called With Friends in Gastonia, according to Marlene Jefferies and Cruceta Jeffeirs, two adult family friends who watched Tiffany grow up.
The group home wouldn't confirm that. But the friends say the home reported to social services that Tiffany was abandoned. And she was soon back in foster care.
On March 31, Jeffeirs, a Shelby pastor, wrote a letter to Benson seeking custody of Tiffany: "My desire is to see Tiffany accomplish all the goals that she has set for herself and I believe she can do that in a stable environment with lots of guidance and love."
DSS officials in Gaston and Mecklenburg won't discuss Tiffany's case or answer questions about what steps they took to protect her.
But friends and family say Tiffany was eventually placed in the care of foster parent Susan Barber, in a townhome off Mallard Creek Road in Derita.
By July, it was clear Tiffany was pregnant, friends say.
Barber tried to shield Tiffany from talking to those she believed might be bad influences, according to Tiffany's cousin Brittany Page. But a source close to the investigation said Tiffany and Mitchell continued communicating.
Despite repeated attempts, Barber could not be reached.
As the school year approached, Tiffany prepared to change schools again, this time to Hawthorne High in Charlotte, which offers a special program for pregnant students.
Delayed Investigation
On July 27, social workers reported to police that Royce Mitchell might have committed statutory rape with Tiffany.
It took eight days for a detective to look at the case, and three days more for it to be officially assigned to Teresa Johnson, a detective with CMPD's youth crime and domestic violence unit.
Another 12 days passed before Johnson interviewed Tiffany.
It's unclear when detective Johnson discovered Mitchell's background, but it wasn't enough to ramp up the investigation. Investigators say they believed Tiffany was safe in a foster home and faced no threats from Mitchell.
Police say their performance in the case followed procedure and met standards.
Police interview alleged victims immediately if the crime has occurred within the previous 72 hours, so they can gather evidence that may remain. But in cases like Tiffany's - where months had elapsed since the alleged offense - police try to arrange just one interview when children and teen victims of abuse are involved.
Police acknowledge that strategy takes time but minimizes trauma and reduces the chances that young victims might be led into inaccurate testimony by repeated questioning.
Police also let such victims decide when they want to be interviewed at the county's child-victim center called Pat's Place. There, specially trained interviewers talk to victims, while social workers, psychologists, police and others watch from another room.
Tiffany chose an Aug. 19 interview. She didn't say much during the formal interview. But later that day, Johnson won her trust and obtained enough information to move forward with the investigation.
The next day, Aug. 20, the detective made her first call to Mitchell to ask him about the charge, she says. Johnson left a message and gave him a few days to call back.
When Mitchell didn't respond, she made calls over the next two weeks to social workers and a federal probation officer to ask Mitchell to come talk to police.
Police say they didn't immediately arrest him because they believed they could get better information if he talked voluntarily.
On Sept. 9, a federal probation official told Johnson that Mitchell was not coming in.
On Sept. 10, a team of social workers, police and other agencies held a standard follow-up meeting to discuss how to proceed in Tiffany's case.
On Friday, Sept. 11, detective Johnson phoned Mitchell's wife and left a message. She asked her to call back to discuss Tiffany, Johnson says, but didn't give details of the rape allegation.
That Monday, Tiffany was shot and killed.
As emergency vehicles rolled to the scene, Tiffany's school bus was diverted from its normal route. But the students could see flashing lights. Tiffany's friends on the bus, Cimone Black and Tamia Corpening, began to worry.
"I kept texting her phone...," Cimone said. Then she started calling, but all she got was voice mail.
The bus continued on to Hawthorne. For Tamia, the hourlong ride was excruciating.
Welcome to the BLACK POLITICAL BUZZ Blog. (Established 2008)
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