A boy nicknamed "Murder" by his fellow gang members was acquitted by a Wake County jury yesterday of yes, you guessed it, first degree murder. When the verdict was read, 17-year-old Latrell Latham appeared to laugh at the outcome of the trial that could have sent him to prison for life.
Two people who are not laughing are the widow of 74-year-old Richard Brown, the church deacon Latham was accused of pumping five bullets into at his mailbox, and prosecutor Howard Cummings. Cummings still believes that despite the verdict, investigators arrested the right person for the crime. At trial, Cummings laid out the gritty underbelly of the gang culture in Raleigh where young men shoot and kill innocent people at random in order to increase their stature in the gang.
Unfortunately, due to the rules of what can be permitted as evidence in a criminal courtroom, the jury never heard Latham's nickname. Maybe it would have made a difference, maybe not. But if I was a juror who turned on the news last night, or read the newspaper this morning, and had just discovered this fact, I would have a hard time sleeping at night.
Judge Paul Ridgeway told Latham he should "take this opportunity to have a second chance at life." Let's hope that Latham does change his ways, and let's also hope he changes his nickname-not just for the community's sake, but for those twelve jurors who allowed him that second chance.
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