Update on UNC coed murder case.

eadad
Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:27:26 +0000

The Prosecutors have tried in vain to keep arrest warrants and autopsy reports sealed in order to not jeopardize their case against these two monsters. A Durham reporter has been trying to get both this information and autopsy reports released for several months but the Prosecutors office has been fighting vehemently to keep the records sealed so that there would be nothing to harm their chain of evidence in the case.

Given that there is still the potential that this was gang related, and the fact that the identity of the confidential informant could be compromised if the information became public, you can hopefully understand why they were trying so hard to keep this sealed. It is not uncommon for Confidential informants to have threats placed against them and their families or even worse to be killed once their identities are revealed. The absence of an informant or a “changed story” after a threat or worse loss of an informant could let these two get off on the charges.

You can see that their defense attorney is saying it was all based on “hearsay” which is why the prosecutors did NOT want to release ANY of this information because once it is public knowledge their case can be considerably weakened.

Today the information was released; this is from CNN.com

"The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student body president who was killed this year was shot several times, including in her head, according to her autopsy report released Monday.Unsealed warrants show Eve Carson was abducted and then shot by both men.

Unsealed warrants show Eve Carson was abducted and then shot by both men.

Eve Carson, 22, was found slain on March 5.

Carson’s autopsy report lists six gunshot wounds, but says two were probably from the same bullet, according to North Carolina’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Carson’s death shocked the community and drew national attention. An estimated 10,000 people turned out for a service remembering her.

Her autopsy – released after a North Carolina newspaper filed a court motion to have it unsealed – describes wounds to various parts Carson’s body. It says shotgun wounds to her head and hand “most likely represent a single shot with the hand acting as an intermediate target.”

One of the other four wounds was also a gunshot to her head.

A separate, handwritten summary of the medical examiner’s report says Carson was “shot multiple times” and found lying on her back, with one arm bent behind her head.

The autopsy says sexual assault testing was done. It does not say whether any sign of sexual assault was found.

Two suspects, Demario James Atwater, 22, and Lawrence Alvin Lovette, 17, have been charged with first-degree murder. Lovette’s attorney said the warrants against the suspects rely on hearsay. Atwater’s attorney cautioned against “any rush to judgment.”

Court documents released Friday say Carson was kidnapped from her apartment and forced to provide her abductors with ATM access to her bank account before she was shot to death in the early hours of March 5.

The documents – applications for search warrants – say a confidential informant told police in the days after the death that Atwater had told her he and Lovette had entered Carson’s home through an open door and forced Carson to accompany them in her car.

The informant said she had talked with Atwater after a picture was displayed on television showing someone attempting to use Carson’s ATM card at a convenience store two days after Carson’s body was found.

The informant said the two men drove Carson to an ATM, obtaining her PIN number from her.

“The CW [informant] learned that Carson was forced into the back seat with Atwater, and Lovette drove Carson’s vehicle,” the court documents said. “That information is consistent with video footage taken from an ATM camera on that date.”

The witness told police Atwater said the two got about $1,400 from Carson’s account. Bank records show that was approximately the amount taken from the account over a two-day period, the documents said.

And the informant said that both suspects shot Carson, according to one of the affidavits. “This information was corroborated by crime scene search information that two separate weapons were used in the homicide,” the documents said.

The documents said police believe Carson was subjected to a sexual assault “of an unknown nature” and asked for a search warrant to collect DNA swabs from the suspects.

But Orange County, North Carolina, District Attorney Jim Woodall told CNN Friday the collection and testing done on Carson’s body was routine, and authorities do not believe she was sexually assaulted.

Prosecutors had fought to keep her autopsy sealed. Following a motion by the Raleigh News & Observer newspaper, prosecutors agreed to allow the report’s release.

Carson, a native of Athens, Georgia, was a pre-medicine student double-majoring in political science and biology. She was a recipient of the university’s prestigious Morehead Scholarship and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, UNC has said."