Although I am pleased readers of the Uptown paper will be confronted by front-page, above-the-fold evidence of Charlotte’s broken criminal justice system, there is nothing particularly newsworthy about Marcus Kennedy. Not given the backdrop of Charlotte’s repeat violent offenders.
Yes, Kennedy was arrested over 30 times and now stands accused of raping a 12-year-old girl who was on the way to school. But this is perfectly normal behavior for Charlotte’s criminal class. We’ve documented case after case after case. They are predators in the most literal sense possible.
It is perfectly Charlotte-normal for Kennedy to be arrested 30 times yet show only four (4) convictions in the state criminal database. Charges just melt away in the current system — even a felony cocaine charge from April against Kennedy. Poof. Gone.
The only thing that has changed is that CMPD chief Rodney Monroe is calling bullbleep on Charlotte-normal. County prosecutor Peter Gilchrist is MIA as the system he has devised and implemented finally, after 20 years, gets some serious scrutiny.
That’s big news.
Update: Unreal. Un-frickin’-real.
On a hunch I went back and checked up on our buddy Laquail Wallace, the violent repeat offender last seen being turned loose by Peter Gilchrist on August 29th after CMPD threw up a dragnet to catch the guy. Sure enough, Wallace was arrested again on September 10th on a felony charge of possessing stolen goods. And spent a day in jail before being released. Ten days later Wallace was arrested on four more felony charges, including breaking and entering with force. He has remained in the Mecklenburg County jail on those charges, which means it must be about time to plead everything down and release him for time served.
