Situation normal. Gross incompetence or corruption in the case of murder suspect Laurence A. Lovette Jr.? You be the judge:
The Jan. 16 deal enabled Lovette, who’s 17, to get out of jail two days before he allegedly participated in the murder of Duke University graduate student Abhijit Mahato.
According to the homeowner, authorities should have charged Lovette with first-degree burglary, a more serious felony than breaking and entering, because he broke into her home on Nov. 7 while she and her husband were sleeping inside.
The case “demonstrates either the complete incompetence of the district attorney’s office or an example of criminal corruption,” she wrote in the summary she assembled for officials. …
The homeowner said the lead detective, Cpl. Patrice Vickers, considered Lovette “a dangerous person.”
The homeowner said Vickers also told her Lovette confessed after his arrest and that he’d be charged with first-degree burglary.
But court records show he was instead indicted for felony breaking and entering. No explanation was available Tuesday because Lovette’s file was with Assistant District Attorney Tracey Cline, who is handling the Mahato case.
The homeowner claimed another assistant district attorney, Frances Miranda-Watkins, began arranging Lovette’s plea bargain in mid-December.
She alleges that Miranda-Watkins found “no indication” in her paperwork that the victims had been asleep inside the home.
Attempts to reach Miranda-Watkins and District Attorney David Saacks were unsuccessful Tuesday.
Mayor Bill Bell’s reaction: form a committee:
“I’m not interested in blaming anyone,” Bell added. “I’m interested that we step up to the plate and find out what occurred in her case.”
He’s got that weasely bureaucratic buck-passing talk down pat. Question for voters: Why shouldn’t he be interested in blaming someone? That’s the problem with Durham. No matter how many scams, corrupt deals or examples of plain incompetence roll around, nobody wants “to blame anyone.” That’s why it doesn’t go away.
