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that. I don’t like people to beafraid of me. Particularly, Idon’t like people to be afraid ofmy religion, like there’s some-thing weird about it,” he said.“So I engage them so they won’tcome away with a bad feelingabout me or my religion.”Abdul-Hakeem will be engag-

ing people at The RegulatorBookshop on 9th Street in Dur-ham on Thursday at 7 p.m.That’s when he’ll be readingfrom and discussing his book,“The Athaan in The Bull City:Building Durham’s IslamicCommunity.”Athaan translates to “Islam

call to prayer,” and the book isabout the now-growing interna-tional Muslim community inDurham and how it got its startamong black Americans. Thebook was published in Septem-ber, so it predates the violenceof Paris and San Bernardino,Calif. It also predates the de-monizing of Islam by politicianstrying to ride fear of Muslims

into the White House.When asked if he sees himself

as an ambassador for Islam,Abdul-Hakeem was succinct. “IfI’m serious about my religion, Ihave to be,” he said “I wantpeople to know what it is, thatit’s not a bunch of crazy peopletrying to blow up stuff.”He said he’s not surprised that

some people have that world-view. The demonizing and per-secution are “not surprising,especially if you study history,and it’s not just happening withthe Muslims,” he said. “It hap-pened to Jesus and anyone elsewho invited people to join theirreligion.”People who’ve known Abdul-

Hakeem for decades – such asthose with whom he worked asan assistant city planner forDurham for nearly 30 years orattended N.C. Central Uni-versity and UNC-Chapel Hill –consider him gregarious, out-

M ost of us have had it,a time we wouldn’tleave the house forfear of someone

looking at us.Oh, so I’m the only one?Mine was the early ’80s, and

if you ever saw me during myhigh-top fade and blue Mem-ber’s Only jacket phase, you’dunderstand why.It’s a good thing Nazeeh Ab-

dul-Hakeem doesn’t have asimilar complex about peoplelooking at him.He knows people are going to

gaze when he walks down thestreet, browses in a bookstore,shops for groceries – and he’sused to it. Especially now.Over 6 feet tall, bearded and

dressed unmistakably like aMuslim, he was garnering suspi-cious glares even before someRepublican presidential candi-dates decided to make Mus-lims Public Enemy No. 1 inAmerica – the great, fearsome“other.”

“I always wear my Muslimgarb, even when I wear a sportcoat,” he said. “I have a beard. Iwear a kufi hat.”So what does Abdul-Hakeem

do when he catches someoneglancing furtively at him?“I try to break the ice ... I

don’t allow themto run away withtheir fears,” hesaid. “I’ll speak,say, ‘Hello, howya doing?’ If I seesomeone dressedlike a hunter, I’llgo up and say‘Hello’ and ‘So,you’re a hunter.What do you

hunt?’”Warm, sometimes congenial

conversations result, he said –conversations that would’venever occurred had he merelylet their gazes and unaskedquestions go unanswered.“People really cast some

strange looks at you. I don’t like

COMMENTARYBY BARRY SAUNDERS

Proud,Muslim,eager totalk to you

Abdul-Hakeem

SEE SAUNDERS, 5A

RALEIGHA three-member N.C.

State Bar panel rejected arequest from prosecutorsMonday to find ChristineMumma, head of the N.C.Center on Actual Inno-cence, guilty of profes-sional misconduct withouta full hearing on the alle-gations.Mumma, an advocate

for the falsely accused,was investigating claimsof innocence by a wrong-fully convicted man whenshe took the actions thatresulted in the disciplinaryhearing expected to lastthrough the week.The bar, which oversees

lawyers in this state, con-tends that Mumma used“methods of obtainingevidence that violate thelegal rights of a third per-

son” while investigatingthe claims of a man whowas incarcerated for morethan three decades for acrime he did not commit.Attorneys representing

Mumma argue that anymissteps their client mighthave made while investi-gating the innocenceclaims of Joseph Sledgewere motivated solely byher interest in freeing awrongfully convicted man.Sledge, a septuagenar-

ian who was wrongfullyconvicted of a 1976 dou-ble-homicide and impris-oned for 36 years, wasdeclared innocent in Jan-uary 2015 by a three-judgepanel that consideredevidence Mumma hadhelped gather.Sledge was at the hear-

ing on Monday afternoonto support Mumma.“It’s a misunderstand-

ing,” Sledge said. “Trulythat’s all this is.”Sledge might still be in

prison, her team of at-torneys contends, had itnot been for Mumma’sinitial interest in investi-gating the claims of in-nocence and her zealouspersistence in trying to getthe case before a BladenCounty judge or the N.C.Innocence Inquiry Com-mission.In a five-page complaint

made public in May, theState Bar took issue with

the way Mumma, a NorthCarolina lawyer for 16years and The News &Observer’s 2007 Tar Heelof the Year, had a waterbottle tested for DNAevidence during her in-vestigation into Sledge’sclaims of innocence.The Bar contends Mum-

ma used “methods ofobtaining evidence thatviolate the legal rights of athird person,” in violationof professional conductrules, in obtaining theDNA testing of that bottlewithout permission of thewoman from whose homeit was taken.

CLIENTS’ SUPPORTIn addition to Sledge,

others who had been ex-onerated in high-profilewrongful conviction caseswere at the hearing, too.Dwayne Allen Dail, who

served 18 years in a stateprison for a 1987 rape hedid not commit, toldmedia crews he thoughtthe case was brought totry to slow down Mummain her quest to free thewrongfully convicted fromprison.“Chris Mumma has had

a target on her back sinceshe started this work,”Dail said outside thecourtroom during a break.“Out of all of the yearsthat Sledge was in prisonwrongfully, Chris Mummais the only one being heldin any kind of way respon-sible. And I just thinkthat’s ridiculous.”Willie Grimes, declared

innocent of a 1987 rapeconviction, sat quietly inthe back of the courtroom,as did Larry Lamb, whotraveled back to North

PHOTOS BY CHRIS SEWARD cseward@newsobserver.com

Lawyer Christine Mumma, right, of the N.C. Center for Actual Innocence talks with Dwayne Dail at the N.C. State Bar inRaleigh on Monday. Dail was exonerated of rape charges largely due to the work of Mumma’s organization.

LEGAL SYSTEM: LAWYER BEFORE DISCIPLINARY PANEL

Mumma, fighter forwrongly convicted,faces hearing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Panel rejects prosecutors'request for no evidentiaryhearing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Wrongfully convicted turnout to support theirsupporter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Prosecutors allegeprofessional misconduct. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

By Anne Blytheablythe@newsobserver.com Joseph Sledge, center, listens to proceedings at the N.C.

State Bar on Monday.

SEE MUMMA, 5A

VIDEO

Watch video from the hearing with

this article at nando.com/local.

The frenzy over a $1.4billion Powerball jackpotcould be a windfall for theN.C. Education Lottery,but none of it will go toteachers.In a little-noticed

change during the 2015budget session, lawmakersshifted distribution oflottery proceeds fromteachers and assistants tobus drivers, janitors andother noninstructionalsupport staff. A Senatebudget writer said at thetime that the shift wouldensure that teacher sala-ries aren’t funded by avariable source of money.Regardless of the shift,

state lottery officials sayno one will get big raisesor a surge of staffing justbecause North Caroliniansare lining up to get theirshot at the world-recordjackpot.Because revenue comes

from all lottery games, it’snot even clear whetherthis year’s take will top the$529 million budgeted,said Van Denton, commu-nication director for theN.C. lottery. And that’sonly about 4 percent ofthe state’s education bud-get.That money is budgeted

for support staff ($310million), school construc-tion ($100 million), pre-kindergarten ($78 million)and scholarships ($41million). On Monday,however, the EducationLottery’s website stilllisted classroom teachersand assistants as gettingmore than half the reve-nue, based on the 2014-15budget. Denton said heplans to revise that chart“ASAP.”Since it was approved in

2005, North Carolina’slottery has been contro-versial. Some lawmakersand citizens find gamblingimmoral and destructive,but for many people cashfor education tilts the bal-ance toward the positive.Now gambling fever

and hopes that educationwill benefit are both run-ning strong.While the scope of the

education windfall re-mains unclear, “this is anexciting time for us at thelottery,” Denton said.From Nov. 7, when the

Powerball pot reset to theminimum $40 million, toSaturday, when it sat at$948 million, North Car-olina sold $65 million inPowerball tickets. Sat-urday’s sales alone hit arecord-setting $17 million,about six times the salesfor one week earlier, Den-ton said.With no winner Sat-

urday, fantasies of becom-ing a billionaire havefueled further sales. Thenext drawing is Wednes-day night.

Most of the money thatcomes in, however, goestoward prizes and costs forrunning the lottery. For allgames combined, just over26 cents on every dollargoes toward education.For the Powerball, it’sabout 38 cents, or 76 centson every $2 ticket, Dentonsaid.That means the $65

million in recent Power-ball sales translates toabout $25 million forNorth Carolina’s educa-tion budget. But the neteffect will depend onwhether people are buyingPowerball tickets insteadof or in addition to otherstate lottery tickets – andon what happens duringthe remaining 5 1⁄2 monthsof the budget year.

Taylor Knopf of The(Raleigh) News & Observercontributed.

N.C. EDUCATION LOTTERY

Teachersleft out inPowerballfrenzy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Since November, Powerball sales have brought in $25million for education in North Carolina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Last year, state legislators dropped teachers fromlottery proceeds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BY ANN DOSS HELMSahelms@charlotteobserver.com

62 PERCENTof N.C. lottery money goesfor prizes

26 PERCENTgoes toward education

7 PERCENTgoes to retailers

4 PERCENTgoes toward lotteryadministration

PAGE: 5A, PUB. DATE: TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016 C M Y K

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COURTESY OF STEVE EPSTEIN

Steve Epstein of Raleigh took this photo of his family from the top of TableMountain in Cape Town, South Africa, a few days before Christmas.

YOUR BEST SHOT: ON TOP OF TABLE

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

More photos: To share your photo with N&O readers, submit it to yourtriangle@newsobserver.com or mail it to Your Best Shot at The News & Observer, 215 S. McDowell St.,Raleigh, NC 27601. Send a high-resolution image with details about the photo, includingwhen it was taken, and how to reach you. Submitting a photo grants The N&Opermission to use it in print an unlimited number of times. For more information, callRichard Stradling at 919-829-4739.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Several North Carolinacollege students have wona new scholarship thatpays the full cost of gradu-ate study in China.On Monday, the inaugu-

ral class of SchwarzmanScholars was announcedin New York and Beijing.Modeled on the presti-gious Rhodes Scholarshipin Great Britain, theSchwarzman award willprovide students with anopportunity to earn a mas-ter’s degree at TsinghuaUniversity in Beijing.Among 111 winners

were several Triangleresidents and others whohave attended college inNorth Carolina:

A Emma Campbell-Mohn, a Duke Universitysenior from Westport,Conn., who is majoring inpolitical science and Asianand Middle Eastern stud-ies.

A Larry Han, 21, ofRaleigh, who attendsUNC-Chapel Hill, wherehe is a Morehead-CainScholar studying bio-statistics and mathemat-ics.

A Addison McLamb ofLexington, who is major-ing in Chinese at WakeForest University.

A Regina Parker, 22, ofChapel Hill, who attendsthe U.S. Military Academywhere she majors in bio-chemical engineering andU.S. politics.

A Max Seunik, 23, of

Ontario, Canada, whograduated from UNC thisyear as a Morehead-CainScholar who studiedhealth policy and Islamicand Middle Eastern stud-ies.

A Ivana Thomas, 21, ofDurham, who is a psychol-ogy major at HamptonUniversity in Virginia.The winners were se-

lected from more than3,000 applicants from 32countries. About 44 per-cent of the first class comefrom the United States; 21percent are from China.Scholars will live in

Beijing for a year of study,cultural immersion, lec-tures and travel. They willbe exposed to leaders inbusiness and politics andwill choose one of threetracks of study – publicpolicy, economics andbusiness or internationalstudies.The scholarship covers

tuition, travel and a per-sonal stipend, supportedby the program’s endow-ment, which now stands at$375 million. It was cre-ated by New York billion-aire Stephen Schwarzman,co-founder of Blackstone,a private equity and fi-nancial firm. Schwarzmancontributed $100 millionto the program and leads afundraising campaign thataims to bring the endow-ment to a total of $450million.

Jane Stancill:919-829-4559,@janestancill

N.C. studentswin scholarshipsto study in China. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Schwarzman Scholars program modeled on RhodesScholarships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Inaugural class includes six with North Carolina ties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

111 winners will spend a year studying in Beijing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BY JANE STANCILLjstancill@newsobserver.com

Carolina from Massaschu-setts. Lamb was wrongful-ly imprisoned for morethan 20 years for the mur-der of a Duplin Countybootlegger.Gregory Taylor, who

spent 17 years wrongfullyincarcerated before be-coming the first freed byNorth Carolina’s uniqueInnocence Inquiry Com-mission, added: “She’sworked very hard for re-form and very hard forexonerations, and alongthe way, I believe, certainpeople might be resentingthat, and that’s why we’reall here today.”I. Beverly Lake, a form-

er chief justice of the N.C.Supreme Court who had aheavy hand in the estab-lishment of the InnocenceCommission, also wasamong the dozens in thecrowd to support Mumma.

BOTTLE CONTROVERSYThe bar complaint con-

tends that, in October2013, Mumma visited thehome of a woman shehoped to obtain a DNA

sample from. Her brothershad been suspects at onepoint during the investiga-tion, and the DNA couldfurther that theory oreliminate the men as sus-pects. After dropping bythe home and not gettingpermission from the wo-man for a DNA sample,Mumma left the homewith a water bottle thatwas not hers. After realiz-ing she had walked outwith the bottle, Mummadecided to have it testedfor DNA.Jim Cooney, a Charlotte

attorney on Mumma’sdefense team, describedher actions as similar tomistakenly taking some-one’s pen. “No reasonableattorney would concludeyou committed a crime,”Cooney said.Leanora Hodge, an

attorney for the state bar,argued that what Mummadid was more like openingsomeone’s mail. “She tookthe water bottle and sentit for testing because shewanted to see what wasinside,” Hodge said.

Marie Andrus, the wo-man whom state bar pros-ecutors contend had herrights violated, testified atthe hearing Monday thatshe did not know the wa-ter bottle was missinguntil state authoritiescontacted her. Andrus saidshe has a long simmeringdistrust of law enforce-ment and the justice sys-tem, and wanted to pro-tect her brothers fromfalse accusations.Since then, Andrus has

met with Mumma, takentime to listen to why shedid what she did and for-given her. Andrus praisedMumma for trying to freethe wrongfully convicted.“I don’t know of anyone

who is human who hasn’tmade some kind of mis-take in some kind of way,”Andrus said. “The goodoutweighs the bad.”

Anne Blythe:919-836-4948,@AnneBlythe1

FROM PAGE 2A

MUMMA

CHRIS SEWARD cseward@newsobserver.com

Larry Lamb, left, and Greg Taylor have a laugh togetherduring a break as lawyer Christine Mumma goes beforethe State Bar in Raleigh.

going. “I have very goodrelations with the people ofDurham, I’ve been involvedin a lot of city governmentstuff and people know mefrom those interactions.The Goldsboro native was

born Ezekiel Louis Bectonand converted to Islam in1979 after years of studyingthe religion. He was a geog-raphy major at NCCU – “Ilove the world and was verycurious,” he said – and wasdrafted into the Army.“My draft number was

‘one.’ That’s the only lotteryI’ve ever won,” he said with

a laugh, “and the only oneI’ll ever participate in,despite that $1.3 billion.”Hmmph. I reckon some

people just don’t need allof that moolah. We all,though, need a betterunderstanding of Islamand its believers. Thurs-day night seems like agood time to start.

Barry Saunders:919-836-2811,bsaunders@newsobserver.com, @BarrySaunders9

FROM PAGE 2A

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COURTESY OF JAYNE STEPHENS

Jayne Stephens of Durham sent this photo of herson, Navy Lt. Adam Stephens, saying goodbye to his2-week-old daughter Emily Claire before deployingfrom Tokyo, Japan, last fall. The photo was taken byAdam’s wife Lauren.

YOUR BEST SHOT: EMILY’S DAD

.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

More photos: To share your photo with N&O readers,submit it to yourtriangle@newsobserver.com or mail it toYour Best Shot at The News & Observer, 215 S. McDowellSt., Raleigh, NC 27601. Send a high-resolution image withdetails about the photo, including when it was taken, andhow to reach you. Submitting a photo grants The N&Opermission to use it in print an unlimited number oftimes. For more information, call Richard Stradling at919-829-4739.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

RALEIGHChristine Mumma, a

lawyer who gets teary-eyed when talking abouther efforts to free thewrongfully convicted,became emotional onTuesday as she testified inher defense at a N.C. StateBar disciplinary panelhearing.Mumma, an attorney in

North Carolina sinceMarch 1999, has beenfighting professional mis-conduct accusations bythe organization that over-sees lawyers in this state.On the second day of a

disciplinary panel hearing,Mumma's team of lawyersbegan putting evidence onin her defense after a fullday and a half of listeningto bar prosecutors lay outtheir case.The allegations are tied

to Mumma's work towardfreeing Joseph Sledge

from the state prisonsafter he was wrongfullyconvicted of a doublemurder.Sledge, exonerated with

the help of Mumma's at-tention to his case, hasbeen at the N.C. State Barheadquarters in downtownRaleigh, where Mummaand her team of high-pro-file attorneys have spentthe past two days offering anarrative that they hopewill exonerate her.Sledge and others freed

with Mumma’s assistancehave speculated thatMumma is being targetedby a judicial system whosetarnishes she helped ex-pose.In October 2013, while

investigating Sledge'sclaims of innocence,Mumma and a workerfrom the N.C. Center onActual Innocence went tothe home of the sister oftwo brothers who hadbeen suspects in the caseyears earlier.After failing to persuade

the woman to provide aDNA sample that could betested to include or ex-clude her brothers as sus-pects, Mumma picked upher note pad and otheritems she had brought into

the homeandgrabbed awater bot-tle, too.Once she

was at hercar, sherealized thebottle

wasn't hers. She decidedto keep it, she said, be-cause she was persuadedthat Sledge was innocent.If DNA on the bottlematched DNA from thecrime scene, Mumma saidshe thought she wouldhave a strong enough caseto persuade Jon David, theDistrict Attorney in Bla-den County, to considerrelief for Sledge.“I thought about the

potential the bottle mighthave for Joseph,” Mummatestified on Tuesday. “Iwas continually asking forDNA to get Joseph home.”Tests of the bottle did

not turn up DNA thataided Mumma in her fightfor Sledge, but he wasexonerated based on otherevidence.

Mumma later told thestate bar about her action.She contacted the barafter being told by theN.C. Innocence InquiryCommission, which alsowas investigating theSledge case, and David,the district attorney fromthe county where theSledge case was based,that they would file acomplaint if she did notreport the action herself.The hearing on Tuesday

also touched on a portionof the bar complaint thatinvolved documents thatMumma provided to areporter at The News &Observer.Mumma told the panel

hearing her case that sheprovided a digital versionof a hearing transcript toMandy Locke, a staff writ-er who had been chron-icling the Sledge case,unaware that she wouldprint out a copy for anoth-er N&O reporter.The bar prosecutors

have raised questionsabout whether the tran-script was a public docu-ment.Mumma’s attorneys

contend the transcript waspart of the public record.Bar prosecutors began

their cross-examination ofMumma late Tuesdayafternoon. They plan topick up their questions onWednesday morning.

Anne Blythe:919-836-4948,@AnneBlythe1

Mumma takes standBY ANNE BLYTHEablythe@newsobserver.com

Mumma

RALEIGHNorth Carolina has

fallen short of goals forcommunity housing forpeople with mental illness,but says it is working tomeet the terms of anagreement with the U.S.Department of Justice.To avoid a federal law-

suit over inappropriateinstitutionalization ofpeople with mental illness-es, the state agreed in2012 to find more housingin the community, providemore community mentalhealth services and devel-op supportive employmentfor people who are in adultcare homes or on track toenter one.The Department of

Justice, in a Novemberletter, said the state hadfailed to address gaps inservices and to reach July2015 goals for housing andsupportive employment,which provides assistancewith job tasks, coachingand followup with employ-ees and employers. Thestate had agreed to pro-vide at least 708 peopleaccess to housing by themiddle of last year.In a December reply to

the Justice Department,

state Department of Healthand Human Services Secre-tary Rick Brajer said Justicewas undercounting thepeople who had been pro-vided housing. He acknowl-edged that the state hadnot hit its target.As of June 30, the state

had provided housing to519 people covered by thesettlement, Brajer wrote,exceeding by more than100 the count by the re-viewer who was monitor-ing the state’s compliance.Jessica Keith, the DHHS

special adviser on theAmericans with DisabilitiesAct, said Tuesday that thenumber is 651. By July2020, the state is supposedto have provided 3,000slots.DHHS is working with

the Housing FinanceAgency to develop a state-wide housing plan, hasworked on identifyinggaps in services and isworking on providingsupportive employment tomore people covered bythe settlement, Brajerwrote.“The State respectfully

disagrees with the assess-ment of the State’s ‘ongo-ing noncompliance’ withthe agreement,” he wrote.“Your letter is untimely, asthe State continues tomake marked efforts and

changes in support ofbeing in substantial com-pliance with the agree-ment by June 30, 2020.”The Joint Legislative

Oversight Committee onHealth and Human Servic-es heard an update on theagreement Tuesday.Keith told legislators

that the state has funded44 additional transitioncoordinators and 24 more“in-reach specialists” towork at regional mentalhealth agencies. The in-reach specialists talk topeople living in adult carehomes about options liv-ing in the community.Transition coordinatorshelp people who want tolive in the community findmental health, physicalhealth and other servicesthey need.The state has done con-

siderable work to complywith the agreement, saidEmery Milliken, the law-yer for DHHS. “It really isbuilding and transforminga system in North Car-olina, a system of how wedeliver services. And thereis along the way coursecorrection that will benecessary, and that is apart of the agreement.”

Lynn Bonner:919-829-4821,@Lynn_Bonner

Mental health settlementin the works, N.C. saysBY LYNN BONNERlbonner@newsobserver.com

For more inFormation, call (919) 828-9450

Saturday, Jan. 16th • 10am-5pmSunday, Jan. 17th • 10am-3pm

•Silver Dollars •Stamps•Coins •Covers•Supplies •Currency•Proof Sets •Jewelry•Gold & Silver •Postcards•60 Dealers •Buy & Sell

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To reach the newsroomContact editors in the News & Observer newsroomat 919-829-4520 or metroeds@newsobserver.com

As the jackpot rose to$1.5 billion, state Rep.Paul “Skip” Stam threwsome ice water on Power-ball fever.Stam is an Apex Repub-

lican andthe Housespeakerpro tem,and he’s a

longtime critic of the statelottery. On the eve ofWednesday night’s draw-ing, he issued a news re-lease that said the ad-vertised jackpot “greatlyexaggerates the prize.”“The largest-value ‘jack-

pot’ in the history of theNC Lottery is up for grabsWednesday night at $1.5billion,” Stam wrote. “Un-fortunately, this alsomeans that gamblers are

prey to deceptive advertis-ing techniques that theNC ‘Education’ Lotteryhas employed since itsinception. The problem isthat there are not thatmany ‘jacks’ in the ‘pot.’ ”He said the prize would

be only $930 million if awinner took the lump-sumpayment option.“It could just as well be

advertised as a ‘TrillionDollar Jackpot’ with theoption of taking the mon-ey over 1,000 years forthe winner’s heirs,” hesaid. “That would reallyget sales moving!”Stam says lawmakers

should ban “deceptiveadvertising” in which thelottery lists the odds ofwinning a prize, but notfor various prize levels.

His release lists the oddsof winning the jackpot atone in 292 million and theodds of winning a $100prize at one in 14,494.“Lottery gamblers dis-

proportionately have low-er incomes and less edu-cation,” he said. “They areenticed to spend moneyfor a reward they aremuch less likely to receivethan they even imagine.”

SUIT CHALLENGESWORKPLACE LAWA coalition of national

groups sued Wednesday infederal court in NorthCarolina to strike down alaw that’s meant to stoppeople from taking jobs inorder to expose workplaceconditions.The law, which took

toed the bill in May, say-ing it didn’t do enough toprotect legitimate whis-tleblowers, and that itcontradicted another newlaw, which required work-ers to report abuse ofmentally ill and disabledpatients. The GeneralAssembly handily over-rode the veto. Sponsorsargued that employeeswho happen to discoverpoor workplace conditionswould still be protected.Plaintiffs are People for

the Ethical Treatment ofAnimals, Center for FoodSafety, Animal Legal De-fense Fund, Farm Sanctu-ary, Food & Water Watch,and Government Account-ability Project.

— STAFF WRITERS COLINCAMPBELL AND CRAIG JARVIS

Send tips todome@newsobserver.com.

effect Jan. 1, followedunsuccessful efforts topass an “ag-gag” bill thatwould protect agriculturaloperations from undercov-er investigations by ani-mal welfare groups. Lastsession, the bill wasbroadened to coveranyone who gets a jobwith the intent to publicizeunsafe or inhumane con-ditions, or to steal data,documents or other mate-rial.Employers can now sue

those workers for punitivedamages of up to $5,000a day. A number of ad-vocacy groups fought thebill, including the AARP,which said it would dis-courage reporting of elderabuse in rest homes.Gov. Pat McCrory ve-

UNDER THE DOME: N.C. POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Stam: Jackpot overstates ‘jacks in the pot’

IDs from 5 statesno good at BraggFORT BRAGGFort Bragg said

Wednesday that it nolonger accepts driver’slicenses from five states asvalid proof of identity forvisitors seeking to enterthe Army installation.Illinois, Minnesota,

Missouri, New Mexico andWashington state havebeen ruled out of compli-ance with the 2005 REALID Act, a federal anti-terrorism measure in-tended to improve thesecurity of state-issuedlicenses and IDs.“Driver’s licenses and

ID cards issued by thesestates cannot be used toaccess not just Fort Bragg,but all federal facilities, toinclude other militaryinstallations,” said FortBragg spokesman TomMcCollum.Visitors from the five

states can use U.S. pass-ports, military IDs andother federal ID cards toenter Fort Bragg.The REAL ID Act in-

cludes strict requirementsfor proof of identity, homeaddress and U.S. citizen-ship, along with measuresto make it difficult to altera driver’s license or make acounterfeit.The Department of

Homeland Security saidlast week that air travelerswill still be able to use IDsfrom non-compliant statesat airport security check-points until Jan. 22, 2018.DHS said 23 states now

meet Real ID standards,and 27 states and territorieshave been given more timeto comply. North Carolina’sextension for complianceexpires in October. Stateofficials say they expect torequest further extensionsand to bring North Car-olina into compliance byDecember 2017.

— STAFFWRITER BRUCESICELOFF

Marshals arrestmurder suspect

DURHAMAuthorities have arrest-

ed a 26-year-old man inChapel Hill who has beencharged with shooting aman to death in Durhamnearly two months ago.Durham police an-

nounced on New Year’sEve that Jamol Louis Dix-on had been charged withmurder in the slaying of32-year-old Sanna Man-neh on Nov. 18.Dixon, who lives in

Durham, was arrested bymembers of the U.S. Mar-shals Joint Fugitive TaskForce on Wednesday af-ternoon on North Colum-bia Street in Chapel Hill,said Durham policespokeswoman KammieMichael.Police found Manneh at

the intersection of LibertyStreet and Peachtree Placeat about 11 p.m. on Nov.19 after answering ashooting call.

— FROM STAFF REPORTS

Woman’s deathcalled suspicious

DURHAMPolice are investigating

what they described as the“suspicious” death of an18-year-old woman foundat her home Tuesday inEast Durham.Alondra Gonzalez Mejia

was found unconscious inher room in the 200 blockof Stokes Street aroundnoon Tuesday. Paramed-ics transported Mejia tothe hospital, where shedied, said police spokes-woman Kammie Michael.

— FROM STAFF REPORTS

To report an errorThe News & Observer is com-mitted to accuracy. To report anews content error in the paper,call 919-829-4860.

CORRECTIONS

RALEIGHThe state ABC Commis-

sion had a clear messageWednesday for a Chapel

Hill bar andothers whocontinue tosell alcoholto underagecustomers.“They

better notcome backbefore usagain, and I

hope they understandthat,” commission Chair-man Jim Gardner said.“And anybody else who’shad numerous violationsbetter not come back tothis commission.”The three-member

panel approved a negotiat-ed 21-day permit suspen-sion and $15,000 fine forHe’s Not Here, a FranklinStreet bar where formerUNC student ChandlerKania drank July 18, hoursbefore a triple-fatal wreck.The bar was among 80

businesses collectivelyfined more than $107,000Wednesday or had theiralcohol permits suspendedfor more than five days.The fines are due Feb. 5;the suspensions beginFeb.12.The decision negates an

earlier offer that wouldhave revoked He’s NotHere’s alcohol permits for50 days.The bar’s owners ap-

pealed to an administrativejudge and were allowed tochoose instead betweenserving a 50-day suspen-

sion or paying a $5,000fine – the maximum understate law – for April andJune permit violations. Theoffer in the July case was a30-day suspension, or a21-day suspension and$5,000 fine.Kania, 20, of Asheboro,

is accused of drinkingalcohol at an off-campusparty on July 18 beforeusing a fraternity brother’sidentification to patronizeHe’s Not Here and anoth-er Chapel Hill bar, LaResidence.Investigators said Kania

drove the wrong way onInterstate 85 about anhour later, causing the July19 head-on wreck. Hefaces multiple charges,including driving whileimpaired and three countsof second-degree murder.His blood alcohol level

after the wreck was 0.17 –more than twice thestate’s legal limit forsomeone 21 and older –investigators said. Both

bars, Kaniaand hisparentshave beennamed inthree civillawsuits.The ABC

Commis-sion settledthe case

against La Residence inNovember after rejectingan earlier penalty as nottough enough. The restau-rant had its permits sus-pended for 14 days inDecember and paid a$5,000 fine.Kania is under house

arrest at his parents’ Ashe-boro home, his bail set at

$1 million. His case willreturn March 8 to OrangeCounty Superior Court inHillsborough.Gardner said later that

he would have preferred torevoke the bar’s permitssince no one checked Ka-nia’s identification when heordered alcohol and theestablishment has hadmultiple violations in thepast. But this was the bestpossible outcome, he said.Underage drinking costs

North Carolina one life aweek and more than $1billion a year, he said. Italso contributes to roughly60 percent of the state’salcohol violations, he said.Getting businesses to

meet their responsibilitywill be a big job, Gardnersaid. The commission alsois taking a hard line as partof the state’s new “Talk itOut” campaign, he said.The campaign’s goal isgetting parents and chil-dren to talk about alcoholand reducing the numberwho drink before age 21.

Tammy Grubb:919-829-8926

ABC board penalizes ChapelHill bar for underage salesBY TAMMY GRUBBtgrubb@newsobserver.com

Gardner

Kania

RALEIGHA three-member panel

is expected to begin delib-erating on Thursday thefate of Christine Mummaand her standing amongher peers in the legal pro-fession.The deliberations will

cap three days of testimo-ny on allegations thatMumma, head of theNorth Carolina Center onActual Innocence, violatedprofessional conductcodes in her quest to freea wrongfully convictedman.Mumma is accused of

overstepping ethicalbounds when she had awater bottle tested forDNA without the know-ledge of the woman fromwhose home she had tak-en it.She also is accused of

providing a transcript tothe media that bar offi-cials contend was not thena part of the public record.The bar also accused

her of engaging “in con-duct involving dishonesty,fraud, deceit or misrepre-sentation” and acting in away that interfered with“the administration ofjustice.”Mumma contends that

she did not violate anyrules of conduct, that anymissteps she might havemade were done in herquest to correct an in-justice.The case of Joseph

Sledge, a septuagenarianwho spent more thanthree decades incarcerat-ed for a double murder hedid not commit, is at thecenter of the Mummaallegations.On Wednesday, the

hearing exposed a pal-pable friction between JonDavid, the Bladen County

district attorney who in-herited the Sledge case,and Mumma.David, who has been at

the hearing throughout

the week, took the standon Wednesday afternoonas a rebuttal witness forbar prosecutors.David and Lee Boll-

inger, an assistant districtattorney in Bladen Coun-ty, disagreed with Mum-ma’s narrative about whatthey expected from her inthe case.In her quest to win free-

dom for Sledge, Mummabegan meeting with Davidseveral years ago to out-line her findings fromalmost a decade of in-

vestigation into the in-mate’s claims of inno-cence.Mumma testified that

she thought David wasexpecting her to bring thedistrict attorney a newsuspect before he wouldconsider dismissing thecase.“I would never impose

on a criminal defendantthat he would do the stateof North Carolina’s job forhim and find the perpetra-tor,” David testified onWednesday. “I find thatsuggestion to be offen-sive.”

HARRY LYNCH hlynch@newsobserver.com

From left, attorney Christine Mumma and one of her defense team attorneys, Brad Bannon speak briefly as theafternoon recess ends in Mumma's disciplinary hearing by the NC State Bar in Raleigh, NC Wednesday afternoon.

Bladen County DAcontradicts Mumma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Bar hearing exposes friction between Jon David andChris Mumma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Closing arguments in first phase of hearing set. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BY ANNE BLYTHEablythe@newsobserver.com

SEE MUMMA, 5A

PAGE: 5A, PUB. DATE: THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2016 C M Y K

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diners be seated – servethe same purpose just aseffectively.The committee plans to

tackle other sidewalkdining-related issues dur-ing weekly meetings over

the next month beforepresenting all of its recom-mendations to the CityCouncil. So, Raleigh lead-ers aren’t likely to vote onWednesday’s proposedchange until March.

By then, the committeehopes to suggest otheralternatives to marking offdining space on downtownsidewalks.Durham embeds med-

allions into the sidewalk to

show where businessescan place tables and chairson the sidewalk, and thatidea drew support fromseveral committee mem-bers on Wednesday.

Paul A. Specht:919-829-4870,@AndySpecht

FROM PAGE 2A

BARRIERSDavid and Bollinger

said on several occasionsthat reports about theSledge case published inMarch 2013 in The News& Observer left themfighting an image thatthey “had in innocent manlanguishing in prison.”David described the

Sledge case as being partof a “soap-opera-like at-mosphere” and he sug-gested that Mumma wasbehind that “by leakingdetails to the press.”Mumma’s attorneys

pointed out that thoughDavid contended “leaks tothe media” were “very

troubling,”he did notfind anyfactualerrors in thenews re-port.By the

summer of2013, David

was meeting with stafffrom the N.C. InnocenceInquiry Commission, astate agency unique toNorth Carolina that “ischarged with providing anindependent and balancedtruth-seeking forum forcredible post-convictionclaims of innocence.”Mumma’s organization

has referred cases to theCommission, several ofwhich have resulted inhigh-profile exonerations.Sledge won freedom

through the commissionprocess, but Mumma alsowas seeking relief througha different court process.David and Mumma

were at odds about theschedule for that processafter the report on Sledgewas publicized by themedia.Attorneys for Mumma

asked the district attorneyon Wednesday about theirclient’s contentions thathe said “game on” duringa time when court dead-lines loomed and shethought she had a limitedwindow to make a strongcase for freeing Sledge.“I was very concerned

of the public’s perceptionthat we had an innocentman languishing in prison,and we were doing every-thing in our power to gethim out,” David said. “Shewas asking me instead tostand in a back room andwave a magic wand andmake that happen, and Ithought that was wildlyinappropriate.”But defense attorneys

pointed out that David didnot push for the DNAtesting that Mumma pur-sued.They also pointed out

that he had a heavy handin the bar complaint filedagainst Mumma.He also alerted the

second in command at theState Bureau of Investiga-tion about the water bottleincident and the next daySBI agents were investi-gating whether a larcenyhad occurred.The hearing continues

on Thursday.Jerry Parnell, who has

served on state and na-tional legal ethics panels,and Lane Williamson, aformer member of theState Bar’s DisciplinaryHearing Commission,both testified for the de-fense on Wednesday thatMumma’s actions werewarranted. She had anobligation to representSledge, a man who couldhave spent the rest of hislife in prison for crimes hedid not commit, the at-torneys said, and balancehis rights with whether totest a bottle she picked upunintentionally from thehome of a family memberof a potential suspect.In balancing those in-

terests, Williamson said,“the scale hits theground” in favor ofSledge.

Anne Blythe:919-836-4948,@AnneBlythe1

FROM PAGE 3A

MUMMA

David

newsobserverstore.comor 919-836-2829

Take offExplore the intricacies of Orvilleand Wilbur Wright’s flyingmachine with this beautifulannotated illustration.

PAGE: 1A, PUB. DATE: FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016 C M Y K

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Vol. 2016, No.15

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N.C. COLLEGES BANHOVERBOARDS

RALEIGH

C hristine Mummastepped away from thetable she had beenbehind for much of this

past week on late Thursdayafternoon and walked into a

crowd of applauding attorneysand fans.A three-member N.C. State

Bar disciplinary panel had justannounced the decision to ad-monish Mumma, a licensedattorney in North Carolina since1999, for a minor ethical vio-lation.A written admonition is the

lowest level of discipline thatthe bar can levy on an attorney.After a two-year struggle to batback misconduct allegationsthat could have resulted in theloss of her license, Mumma,head of the N.C. Center onActual Innocence, was relieved.“It’s been over two years that

I’ve been dealing with this, andI’m just glad it’s over,” an emo-tional Mumma told gatheredmedia afterward. “I really justwanted it to be over. It’s in-terfered with my life. It’s in-terfered with my family’s life.

STATE BAR HEARING

Bar admonishesinnocence lawyer

SEE MUMMA, 9A

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Attorney found to crossethical line while working tofree wrongly convicted man. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Panel’s action is mildestdiscipline State Bar can levy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BY ANNE BLYTHEablythe@newsobserver.com

PHOTOS BY TRAVIS LONG tlong@newsobserver.com

Attorney Christine Mumma gets a hug Thursday from exonerees including Willie Grimes, Larry Lamb, Joseph Sledge, Dwayne Dail (behindSledge) and Greg Taylor after a misconduct hearing at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh.

Attorney Brad Bannon and Mumma listen as the disciplinary panelfinds that Mumma violated a professional conduct rule.

VIDEO

Watch video of Christine Mumma’s reaction

to the panel’s ruling with this article at

nando.com/local.

The government said fiveassailants affiliated withthe Islamic State wereamong seven people killedin Jakarta after a suicidebombing and shootings. 7A

NATION & WORLD

ISIS ATTACKSIN INDONESIA

The state NAACP, part of alawsuit over voter photo IDrequirements, is in a dis-pute with election officialsover the proper informationvoters should receive. 2A

TRIANGLE & N.C.

NAACP CRITICIZESVOTER ID INFO

SMITHFIELDThe economic impact of a

$272 million cargo facilityproposed for Johnston Countywould extend from centralNorth Carolina to the coast,state and local leaders saidThursday.CSX said it plans to build a

450-acre intermodal railroadterminal on Interstate 95 thatwould become an East Coasthub for cargo containers thattravel on ships, trains andtrucks.Dubbed CCX, or the Car-

olina Connector, the freightcenter is expected to serve thegrowing Raleigh metropolitanmarket, attract new employ-ers to Eastern North Carolinaand stimulate shipping trafficat the Wilmington port.“We’ve been waiting years

for intermodal rail service toreturn to the Port of Wilming-ton, so this is an absolutegame changer for us,” PaulCozza, CEO of the State PortsAuthority, said by email. “It is

SEE CSX, 9A

The News & Observer

Micro39

70

70ALT

30195

PlannedCSX

intermodalterminal

Selma

JOHNSTON

DEVELOPMENT

CSX planstoutedas ‘gamechanger’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

$272 million hub wouldemploy 300 people. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

CSX is looking for $100million in state funding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BY DREW JACKSONAND BRUCE SICELOFFjdjackson@newsobserver.combsiceloff@newsobserver.com

PAGE: 9A, PUB. DATE: FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016 C M Y K

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It’s interfered with mywork.”Mumma’s misconduct

was tied to her quest tofree Joseph Sledge, now71, who was imprisonedfor almost four decadesfor a double homicide hedid not commit.Defense attorneys and

others gathered at thedisciplinary hearing formuch of the week ques-tioned why the Mummacase rose to the level of adisciplinary panel.Some speculated that

she was being targeted forher work freeing thewrongfully convicted.They questioned whyprosecutors linked to theSledge case had neverfaced misconduct allega-tions.“I think it’s outra-

geous,” said Rich Rosen,who taught Mumma at theUNC School of Law andhelped establish the In-nocence and Capital Pun-ishment projects there. “Ithink this is a public em-barrassment for the bar.”The disciplinary case

dates to October 2013,

when Mumma went to thehome of a woman whosebrothers had been sus-pects in the double killingof which Sledge waswrongfully convicted.Her work on his in-

nocence claims showedhairs found at the scenedid not match the DNA ofSledge, and she pushedBladen County DistrictAttorney Jon David toreopen the investigation ofthe homicides.David and Mumma

clashed over how to pro-ceed, and the hearing thisweek revealed a palpablefriction between the two.Jim Cooney, a Charlotte

lawyer and one of fourmembers of Mumma’shigh-profile defense team,told the panel in his clos-ing arguments Thursdaythat David spent moretime investigating Mum-ma than Sledge’s claims ofinnocence.“Ms. Mumma did what

we expect an honorableattorney to do,” Cooneysaid. “When she had theevidence that convincedher an injustice had taken

place, she took all neces-sary steps to correct it.”The bar brought profes-

sional misconduct allega-tions against Mummaafter learning that theattorney had a water bot-tle tested for DNA thatshe took from a relative ofa potential suspect in theSledge case.Mumma has said she

unintentionally picked upthe bottle while at thehome of Marie Andrus,whose brothers had beensuspects in the doublehomicide.Andrus testified this

week that she has forgivenMumma and supportedher efforts to free an in-nocent man from prison.But at the time, she haddeclined to provide a DNAsample.Andrus said that she

had a distrust of law en-forcement and the justicesystem, and that she want-ed to protect her brothersfrom being framed.State Bar prosecutors

contend that Mummaviolated the rights of An-drus when she tested thewater bottle without herpermission.The bar also accused

Mumma of engaging “inconduct involving dish-onesty, fraud, deceit or

misrepresentation” andacting in a way that in-terfered with “the admin-istration of justice.”She was accused of

providing a reporter atThe News & Observer atranscript that the barcontends was not a publicrecord, though her at-torneys contend it was,and then not being forth-coming with her col-leagues in the professionabout how the mediaobtained the document.Mumma and her at-

torneys argued that sever-al thoughts were drivingher “zealous” behavior asshe tried to meet her obli-gations for representing awrongfully convicted man.She was worried about

court deadlines approach-ing and her belief thatDavid would not work tofree Sledge unless he hada new suspect. David re-jected that allegation.Leanor Hodge, the at-

torney representing thebar in its complaint, urgedthe panel Thursday to seepast “the fog” that shecontends Mumma and herdefense team created.From the start, Hodge

argued that the Sledgecase should not factor intothe panel’s decision.Hodge pointed out that

though David and Mum-ma had clearly taken ad-versarial positions overhow to proceed with theSledge case, a judge hadinformed them in a hear-ing that he wanted to hearall the evidence in thecase and that a decisionon whether to grant reliefwould not be made untilall the evidence was in.Hodge said that Mum-

ma also knew the N.C.Innocence Inquiry Com-mission was investigatingthe case and intended topursue DNA testing of thesuspects in which Mummawas interested. The com-mission is a state agencyunique to North Carolinathat “is charged with pro-viding an independent andbalanced truth-seekingforum for credible post-conviction claims of in-nocence.”Hodge claimed Mumma

concocted a narrativeabout feeling overly pres-sured by the district at-torney to produce a cred-ible suspect other thanSledge only after her ac-tions.“She knew what she was

doing was wrong,” Hodgesaid.Joseph B. Cheshire V,

also on the defense team,told reporters afterward

that he thought the barprosecution was meant topersecute a defense at-torney whose work hadexposed flaws in the jus-tice system and revealedprosecutorial misconduct.“I worry about the pros-

ecutions against peoplelike Chris Mumma,”Cheshire said afterward.“I worry about the impactit has on justice and themessage being sent topeople who have the cour-age to do that work.”Rick Glazier, a former

state lawmaker who nowheads the North CarolinaJustice Center, describedthe bar case as a waste ofresources that would havebeen better spent on in-vestigating claims of in-nocence, such as Sledge’s.“That’s where the re-

sources should be spent,”Glazier said. “Not onprosecuting a lawyer whowas doing an extraordin-ary job to try to work for aman’s freedom who wasinnocent and behind barsfor a crime he did notcommit. This state needsmore Chris Mummas, notless of them.”

Anne Blythe:919-836-4948,@AnneBlythe1

FROM PAGE 1A

MUMMA

further advancing thegovernor’s 25-year visionin terms of intermodalservice and will generatejobs and economic devel-opment throughout John-ston County and theState.”The terminal, to be built

between Selma and Micro,will use robotic cranes totransfer shipping contain-ers between trains, andbetween trains and trucks.CSX says the project,which could be completedby the end of 2019, willcreate 300 constructionjobs and could spawn1,500 jobs across the statein coming years.Based in Jacksonville,

Fla., CSX plans to spend$150 million and is seek-ing $100 million fromNorth Carolina’s StateTransportation Improve-ment Program, whichfunds highway and othertransportation projects.“We are excited about

developing infrastructurewithin North Carolina thatmakes the state’s portsmore competitive, lowerstransportation costs forbusiness, and promotesreliance on freight rail, themost fuel-efficient andenvironmentally friendlyform of land transporta-tion,” Louis Renjel, CSXvice president of strategicinfrastructure, said in anews release.The CCX hub is expect-

ed to handle everythingfrom agricultural productsto consumer goods.“It’s essentially an in-

land port,” said Chris

Johnson, Johnston Coun-ty’s director of economicdevelopment. “It’s abso-lutely massive.”N.C. Department of

Transportation officialswill evaluate the intermo-dal terminal project incoming weeks and deter-mine its eligibility for thestate program, which usesobjective data to ranktransportation projectpriorities. It would be thefirst rail project to winmajor state funding inDOT’s capital program,which was previouslylimited almost exclusivelyto highway projects.

TRUCKS AND TRAINS“The CCX will maxi-

mize both public and pri-vate investments for eco-nomic development andjob creation, preciselywhat was envisioned whenI worked with the GeneralAssembly to develop theSTI law and scoring pro-cess,” Gov. Pat McCrorysaid in a prepared state-ment.CCX will be several

times larger than thestate’s busiest rail in-termodal freight facilitiesin Charlotte and Greens-

boro.“We believe it will be

the largest one on the EastCoast,” said Paul Worley,DOT Rail Division direc-tor.Intermodal shipping

puts cargo in containersthat travel long distancesstacked high on ships ordouble-stacked on railcars, and finally on trucksthat deliver the goods toretail distribution centers,factories and other desti-nations.“Everything is becom-

ing containerized – that’sthe standard,” Worleysaid.DOT planners expect

that 60 percent of thecontainers will arrive atCCX on trucks for transferto the CSX “A” rail line,which parallels I-95 run-ning up and down the EastCoast.“It really plugs Eastern

North Carolina into thismajor national CSX net-work,” Worley said. “Youhave 40 to 50 trains a daygoing through this north-south corridor now.”The new rail facility is

likely to reduce or slowthe growth of long-haultruck traffic, because it

will offer a less expensiveshipping option for longdistances, he said. But itcould stimulate moreshort-distance trucking forshipments moving be-tween CCX and points inthe Triangle and centralNorth Carolina.CSX points to its North-

west Ohio IntermodalTransfer Hub as the bestglimpse into what John-ston County can expect.That terminal, whichopened in 2011, handles900,000 containers eachyear. Local leaders thinkthe Carolina Connectorcould surpass that num-ber.“When you look at our

community on a map, yousee that everything a facil-ity like this needs is righthere,” Selma Mayor Che-ryl Oliver said in a newsrelease. “This is a reallygood omen for all of East-ern North Carolina.”Already, food-service

company Sysco and med-ical-device maker Becton,Dickinson and Co. havelarge distribution centersin Johnston County.Johnston County is

giving CSX a standardeconomic incentives pack-age, said Johnson, theeconomic developmentdirector. The county willforgive real estate taxesfor seven years and per-

sonal property taxes forfive years, which he saidwould be worth $6 millionto $7 million.“Johnston County’s I-95

corridor took a tremen-dous hit in the mid-1990s,as we lost textiles, manu-facturing and tobacco,”Johnson said. “Now otherindustries will be lookingto Johnston County be-cause of this property.We’re ready for the waveof growth this will bring,and I think the ancillaryjobs this creates will bethe greatest benefit.”

Drew Jackson:919-553-7234, Ext. 104;@jdrewjackson

FROM PAGE 1A

CSX

News & Observer file photo

CSX trains like this one will one day converge onJohnston County to unload and receive cargo containers.

B obby Bell, among the most hon-ored outside linebackers ever toplay professional football, tookthe long way around to reach hisgoals. Whether a more direct

approach was desirable was irrelevant. Bellwas born black in Shelby on the cusp ofWorld War II, and the front door to oppor-tunity was closed.But Bell did not dream any less for being

raised in a thicket of racial restrictions. Hewanted to attend college, wanted to playsports, especially football, in which the fleet

228-pounder excelled. So he and his father,Pink Lee Bell, a man deprived of even amiddle-school education because he wasblack in the segregated South, charted analternate route that took the 6-foot-4 ath-lete from a textile mill village to uncommonsuccess.“I wouldn’t change anything,” the 75-

year-old said in a phone interview. Actually,he did change something – last year, Bellfinished the 13 credit hours necessary toearn his bachelor’s degree from the Uni-versity of Minnesota, fulfilling a commit-ment to his late father.The 2016 Super Bowl is the 50th edition

SUPER BOWL 50 | 6:30 P.M., CBS

MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ AP

Cam Newton breaks away from the Carolina Panthers huddle in San Jose, Calif. They will face the Denver Broncos in Santa Clara on Sunday.

And one for it all

Bobby Bell’s path from N.C. to the first Super Bowl

CINDY ORD Getty Images for Sirius

Shelby native and former NFL player BobbyBell speaks Thursday in San Francisco.

BY BARRY JACOBSColumnist

SEE BELL, 2A

PAGE: 1A, PUB. DATE: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2016 C M Y K

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important inaccuracies in twosworn affidavits.During the same time, the bar

privately dismissed complaintsthat three prominent prose-cutors – one running for at-torney general, another now aSuperior Court judge – used afalse affidavit in a racially divi-sive case that has roiled Win-

For most of 2015, the NorthCarolina State Bar vigorouslyand publicly pressed ethicscharges against two anti-deathpenalty lawyers for what wereeventually judged to be un-

ston-Salem for more than adecade.The affidavit, produced 12

years after the near-fatal as-sault, was the first and onlydocument to allege that thevictim, in the first minutes afterthe attack, identified her assai-lant as a black man, in a case

where police pursued whitesuspects for the first five monthsof the investigation.A city-funded investigation

concluded that it had no confi-dence in the verdict in what isknown as the Silk Plant Forestcase. So did a veteran FBI agent,who called it the sloppiest in-vestigation he had ever seen,and called the affidavit “ludi-crous.”The State Bar is silent on this

case, saying the law preventsthem from even acknowledginga complaint was filed.Duke law professor James

Coleman, who filed the com-plaints, was silent as the bar

N.C. JUSTICE

State Bar lets prosecutorswalk in race-related case. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Duke law professor saysprosecutors used ‘false’ affidavit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Records show victim never ID’dassailant as black male. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Prosecutors, includingcandidate for AG, are silent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BY JOSEPH NEFFjneff@newsobserver.com

SEE AFFIDAVIT, 6A

TRAVIS LONG 2011 News & Oberver file photo

James Coleman Jr. of Durham.

It was a high schoolchampionship loss thattaught the Carolina Pan-thers QB how to win. 1B

ON BECOMINGCAM NEWTON

Columnist Luke DeCockremembers the excitementin Raleigh the last time thePanthers went to the SuperBowl. This time, he’s notfeeling it. 3B

DOES RALEIGHREALLY CARE?

This may be his finalgame, but after 18 yearsthe Broncos QB has expe-rience on his side. 5B

PEYTON MANNINGNOT DONE YET

Get live updates fromthe game, photos, play-by-play, gamecast andupdating box score atnando.com/panthers.

MORE ONLINE

PAGE: 6A, PUB. DATE: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2016 C M Y K

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+6A SUNDAY FEBRUARY 7 2016From Page One NEWSOBSERVER.COM

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prosecuted Cassandra Stubbs ofthe ACLU and Gretchen Engelof the Center for Death PenaltyLitigation. But now Coleman istalking about the complaints hefiled against the prosecutors. Heprovided The News & Observerwith his correspondence withthe state bar, giving a rare

glimpse into aclosed world.Coleman said

the three ForsythCounty prose-cutors – formerDistrict AttorneyTom Keith, cur-rent District At-torney Jim

O’Neill, now a candidate forattorney general, and AssistantDistrict Attorney David Hall,now a Superior Court judge –used the affidavits to discredithis client, Kalvin Michael Smith,and impugn Coleman’s integrity

and that of hiscolleagues at theDuke WrongfulConvictions Clin-ic.“The decisions

are indefensible,”Coleman wrote tothe state bar’sGrievance Com-

mittee after it dismissed thecomplaints. “A criminal justicesystem in which prosecutors arefree to procure and secretly usefalse evidence for any purpose isunlikely to be one in which jus-tice prevails.”The grievance committee

works in secret, much like agrand jury. The public can seethe cases where the bar elects topursue charges but has no in-sight into the cases that thecommittee declines to pursue.“I can’t even confirm that Mr.

Coleman filed a grievance,” saidKatherine Jean, chief counsel forthe State Bar.The three prosecutors de-

clined to be interviewed. DavidFreedman, a Winston-Salemdefense attorney who defendedthem before the bar committee,said Coleman’s assertions werewrong.“The baseless claims of Mr.

James Coleman ... have beenreviewed by and determined tobe without merit by two experi-enced and respected SuperiorCourt Judges, The North Car-olina Court of Appeals, a Feder-al Judge in the Middle Districtof North Carolina, The FourthCircuit Court of Appeals andThe North Carolina State Bar,”Freedman said in a statement.Coleman said those judges,

courts and State Bar neverforced the prosecutors to answerthe basic question: How did theyuse the affidavit?

A DIVISIVE CASEIn December 1995, Jill Marker

was five months pregnant andworking at Silk Plant Forest, astore that sold artificial plants,when at the close of business anassailant beat her severely,nearly killing her. Marker gavebirth months later while still in acoma. Today she is blind, brain-damaged, physically disabled

and requires 24-hour care.For months, Winston-Salem

police focused on Kenneth La-moureux, a white man with ahistory of domestic violence.Marker had told a friend thatLamoureux became angry whenshe refused to go on a date withhim. Witnesses saw him in thestore the night of the attack.After Lamoureux moved from

Winston-Salem, the case detec-tive dropped him as a suspect;he died in 2011. Police finallycharged Smith, who was con-victed in 1997 and sentenced to29 years in prison.Doubts about the case soon

spread. The Duke WrongfulConvictions Clinic took upSmith’s case in 2003. In 2004,

The Winston-Salem Journal rana five-part seriesquestioning thehandling of thecase.In 2009, the

Silk Plant ForestCitizens ReviewCommittee, an

investigative body set up by theWinston-Salem City Council,concluded that it had no confi-dence in the police investiga-tion. In 2012, retired FBI agentChris Swecker concluded after a15-month investigation that thepolice investigation was soflawed and incomplete thatSmith deserved a new trial.“It was the sloppiest investi-

gation I have ever seen,” Sweck-er said in a recent email.

‘IT WAS FALSE’The path to Coleman’s com-

plaint began in January 2008, 11years after Smith’s convictionand as Smith’s lawyers werearguing for a hearing to examineevidence not heard at trial.Duke law professor TheresaNewman, who directs the DukeWrongful Convictions Clinicalong with Coleman, receivedan email from Arnita Miles, whoidentified herself as a formerWinston-Salem police officer.Miles said she was the first

officer to interview Jill Markerat the store after the assault.According to Miles, Marker saidher attacker was a black male.She also said Marker dictated aletter that night, as a last mes-sage to her husband, and askedMiles to give it to him. Milessaid she passed it on that nightto the lead detective.Newman was surprised. She

knew the court and police filescontained no references toMarker identifying her attackeras a black male or to a letterdictated that night. She immedi-ately wrote to two of the prose-cutors – Keith and Hall – sayingthat Miles’ claims were odd,even unbelievable.“There is nothing in the file

that indicates that Jill said that,”Newman wrote. “If Jill did saythat, it is particularly hard (ac-tually impossible) to understandwhy the investigation pursuedwhite male suspects for sometime before turning to blacks.”Hall replied the next day,

saying he knew Arnita Miles as“a straight shooter” who wouldmake a “VERY reliable wit-ness.”Because of the push for a new

hearing, the SBI assigned anagent to assist prosecutors. Fol-

lowing the emails between New-man and Hall, the agent in-terviewed Miles. The agentturned up problems which heshared in a report to the prose-cutors.Miles did file a report follow-

ing the attack. In it, she wrotethat she was not the first officerat the scene. She wrote thatMarker was incoherent and didnot describe her attacker. Milestold the SBI she could not ex-plain the discrepancy betweenwhat she wrote in 1995 hoursafter the assault and her 2008claims.The SBI agent also obtained

the letter from Miles to Mark-er’s husband. Miles said shewrote it the night of the attack,

but the letter was dated fivemonths later and congratulatedMr. Marker on the birth of hisson. It does not mention anydetails about the assailant.Hall, the assistant district

attorney, used parts of the SBIagent’s report as the foundationfor an affidavit to be signed byMiles. The draft affidavit saidMarker had identified a blackassailant minutes after the at-tack, but did not mention thatthe SBI had noted that this con-tradicted Miles’ 1995 reports.Hall attached the letter to Mark-er’s husband as an exhibit.In March 2008, Hall sent

Smith’s lawyers an unsigneddraft of that affidavit.Coleman said he ignored the

document, knowing the prose-cutors could never use it incourt: “We had already told Hallit was false.”They never received a signed

and sworn affidavit. Colemanand Newman said they forgotabout Arnita Miles for the nextfour years.But the affidavit was still in

play, as they would find outlater.

A PROSECUTOR’S PUSHIn December 2008, a Win-

ston-Salem police detectiveassigned to the Silk Plant ForestCitizens Review Committeeinterviewed Miles and confront-ed her with the contradictionsbetween her 2008 statementsand her own records from 1995.Miles conceded that after all

these years, her memory mightnot be correct. She told thedetective they should go bywhat she wrote in her originalreport, which said there was nodescription of the suspect. IfMarker had mentioned a blackassailant, Miles said she wouldhave put it in the report.District Attorney Tom Keith

apparently didn’t know aboutthat interview, because threedays later he wrote to the chair-main of the Silk Plant ForestCitizens Review Committeecomplaining that “no effort hasbeen made … to interview form-er Detective Arnita Miles.”Keith wrote that ethical rulesprevented him from revealingdetails but her observationswere significant.The Duke lawyers learned of

the signed and sworn affidavitin June 2012, following a meet-ing between District AttorneyJim O’Neill and Swecker, theretired FBI agent with experi-

ence auditingcriminal investi-gations, includinga critical 2010audit of the SBIcrime lab.Swecker came

to the same con-clusion as the SilkPlant Forest Citi-

zens Review Committee: Theinvestigation was deeply flawedand incomplete. Swecker didnot conclude that Smith wasinnocent, but said he deserved anew trial.At the meeting with Swecker

and in a followup email, O’Neillcited the Miles affidavit as proofthat Marker had identified herattacker as a black male.“I am holding in my hand a

sworn affidavit by Arnita Miles,who was one of the first officersat the scene and the person whospoke with Jill while she lay onthe floor of Silk Plant Forest,”O’Neill wrote. “Despite thisevidence, the Duke InnocenceProject continued to parade thename of Kenneth Lamoureauxas the person who likely com-mitted this crime, knowing fullwell that Jill Marker said herattacker was a black man.”Swecker was shocked.“I was taken aback that he

attached any credibility to thataffidavit,” Swecker said in arecent interview. “The affidavitwas not even remotely credibleto anyone who looked at theevidence in the case.”Freedman, the lawyer for the

prosecutors, said Swecker’sresponse is immaterial to thecase.“Different people are shocked

by different things,” Freedmansaid.The prosecutors never used

the affidavit in court or intro-duced it into evidence, so therewas no misconduct, Freedmansaid.Legal misconduct can occur

inside and outside of court,Coleman said.“I can think of no situation

where it is ethical for a lawyer toobtain a sworn affidavit that isfalse and use it for any pur-pose,” he said.At the State Bar, Coleman’s

complaint was assigned to Pat-rick Murphy, a retired careerprosecutor with the AttorneyGeneral’s office. Murphy madehis recommendation to theGrievance Committee: no ruleviolations occurred and thecomplaint should be dismissed.John Silverstein, the chair of

the Grievance Committee, saidhe relied on the recommenda-tion of staff lawyers. When theyrecommended dismissals, whichoccur about 100 times a month,he said his policy was to reviewthe letter and sign off.

Joseph Neff: 919-829-4516,@josephcneff

LEW STAMP PHOTOGRAPHY

In 2011, Jill Marker (left), injured in a brutal assault in 1995, is aided by her morning nurse Cathy Dillon as Marker prepares for physical therapy.

RALEIGHBob Orr, a former North Car-

olina Supreme Court justice,says it’s time for a comprehen-sive outside review of the stateagency that oversees lawyers.Orr, a licensed lawyer in

North Carolina for four decades,is part of a committee looking atlegal professionalism as part ofChief Justice Mark Martin’srecently launched review of thestate justice system.Orr said he hoped one recom-

mendation from that studywould be an external evaluationof the N.C. State Bar, establish-ed in 1933 as the state agencythat licenses and disciplineslawyers.The call for evaluation comes

amid questions about the bar’saggressive prosecution of threedefense attorneys who haveworked on Racial Justice Actand innocence inquiry cases.Two of the cases were

dismissed after high-profileprosecutions and the otherresulted in an admonition, thelowest disciplinary action thebar can take.“The state bar as an organiza-

tion has grown exponentially insize – in the number of staffers,the number of members, thenumber of prosecutors,” Orrsaid in a recent telephone in-terview. “It’s become very in-sular and very insulated.”The bar, which has more than

28,000 members, has devel-oped a divide similar to the oneexisting “in the society we livein,” Orr said.“There are two extreme

camps,” Orr said, describingone side as more supportive ofprosecutors and the other moresupportive of defense attorneys.Orr sees a mindset of antag-

onism in disciplinary cases be-cause many of the bar lawyersare former prosecutors them-selves.Orr and other lawyers ques-

tion whether this prosecutorialbackground is why the bar haspursued defense lawyers whohave exposed prosecutorialmisconduct and other flaws inthe justice system.“The ability to use the bar

disciplinary process as a tool, aweapon, so to speak, is prettypowerful,” Orr added.Katherine Jean, who is the

head lawyer for the bar, said ina recent statement that the greatmajority of investigations beginwhen one person files a griev-ance alleging misconduct byanother person. Complaints canbe filed anonymously.“The Bar recognizes that, as a

result, not all misconduct isinvestigated or addressed, but itcan only investigate situationsthat are brought to its attentionor that it learns of from publicreports of misconduct,” Jeansaid following a request forcomment from MargaretMcDermott Hunt, president ofthe State Bar.Jean said when misconduct

allegations are reported to thebar, a grievance committeemade up of lawyers and non-lawyers evaluates whether thereis probable cause to believe theactions were a violation of theRules of Professional Conduct.The “guiding principle is that

the protection of the publicrequires all lawyers – no matterwhat types of practices theyhave or what situations theymay find themselves in – tocomply with the Rules of Profes-sional Conduct,” Jean said.“As a profession integral to

the functioning of one of ourbranches of government, law-yers are justifiably held to highstandards,” Jean added. “Inher-ent in those high standards isthe principle that the ends can-not justify unethical conduct asa means to an end. The StateBar has and will apply thosehigh standards thoughtfully andconsistently.”

Anne Blythe: 919-836-4948,@AnneBlythe1

FROM PAGE 1A

AFFIDAVIT Amid questions,ex-N.C. justice seeksreview of State BarBY ANNE BLYTHEablythe@newsobserver.com

Hall

Smith

O'Neill

Keith