In the past two years, Durham District Attorney Tracey Cline put two drug dealers in prison for life in separate murders. How Cline did it is under review – by the courts and the state agency that regulates lawyers.
Records show that crucial information was kept from defendants Angel Richardson and Keith Kidwell during their prosecutions on separate murder charges.
Juries heard much of the information in question, but defense lawyers say it was obtained from Cline only after persistent questioning – and some information surfaced only during the trials.
In Richardson’s case, two people had given statements to police that cast doubt about him as the shooter in a 2006 contract killing.
In Kidwell’s, questioning during his trial turned up a separate, undisclosed folder in police files that was full of forensics documents in the 2005 homicide in which he was charged. Inside it were fingerprints and footprints from important locations in the crime scene that didn’t match Kidwell or the victim. There was also a photo log that investigators acknowledged was needed to understand the crime scene evidence.
According to testimony, Cline’s office had checked out at least part of that file before the trial began.
Kidwell’s lawyer, Lisa A. Williams of Durham, said she was stunned when the forensics file was disclosed late in his trial.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Williams said. “I thought my head was going to explode.”
Now, lawyers for both men are arguing to the state Court of Appeals that the information was provided so late that it gave little time to pursue leads and undermined a fair verdict. Both men, who say they are innocent, want new trials.
