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Harlem Based Advocacy Group Joins Nyamodi Youth Investigation: Al Sharpton’s National Action Network Looking Into Black Teen’s Human Rights Case

The case of Shannon Nyamodi is so bizarre and simply an abuse of authority by the North Carolina courts that his mother Elizabeth Crudup has spent countless sleepless nights, while feverishly fighting to have her son freed from a Franklin County jail, that she has single handedly launched a campaign to bring more exposure to her son’s flight, and quest for freedom. With the assistance of a young Washington D.C. based attorney the mother was provided with various contacts, which include a law firm whose attorneys handled the Trayvon Martin case, and the Harlem, New York based National Action Network. A telephone call was facilitated with the mother and a NAN Crisis Manager (Ms. June Moses), who after having been briefed on the particulars of Shannon Nyamodi’s case, promptly directed her to the Charlotte, North Carolina branch of the NAN organization, and documentation and other crucial information was provided to NAN authorities.

Although the contact for the most part is in the very early and preliminary stages, the organization’s potential involvement has the possibility to garner long sought national exposure to a human rights case that has began to gain steam from various advocacy groups outside of the state of North Carolina. Other sources say that the Wake Forest University Law School, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and other N.C. state University Law Schools have also shown interest in representing, and playing an active role in the criminal case of Shannon Nyamodi. The young man’s story perhaps was seen by many locals in the Franklin County area as an a typical criminal case pertaining to simply another violent black youth. Official documents in the case point to something entirely different, and as a result of what can only best be described as possible prosecutorial misconduct, has mushroomed into a human rights case which entail serious violations of the teen’s Constitutional Rights.

The involvement of Reverend Al Sharpton’s NAN organization would give the teens case a tremendous legal boost, as the organization is known for it’s legal professionals who could bring further scrutiny on this case, as well as the manner in which the North Carolina courts are handling criminal cases involving people of color. Previous TPC articles have discussed the apparent expediency in which Shannon Nyamodi’s allege codefendant (a white female) had her case disposed of in the state’s juvenile courts, while Shannon’s case hasn’t even hurdled past it’s pretrial stages 16 months later. It’s a great disparity which should be publicized nationally. The fact that state courts have allowed a man to be held in jail with no official charges against him within it’s state court management docket system, spells serious trouble and concern for North Carolina courts who may be purposefully circumventing established federal law.

Additionally, a complaint made to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) citing the youth’s unlawful detention, and an official complaint having been filed with the North Carolina State Bar against Maitry “Mike” Klinkosum for allegedly threatening Shannon Nyamodi (Klinkosum’s own client), are other aspects of this case which demonstrate that peculiar abnormalities exist pertaining to the manner in which the state has handled the prosecution of this defendant. Shannon’s mother has repeatedly refused to play the race card to rationalize the seemingly injustice impacting her son, while holding on to constant belief that his plight is simply being manipulated by evil individuals involved in the case. She continues to hold out hope, praying that justice and the truth will prevail, and believes that there are decent God fearing people within the system who will eventually do the right thing and set her son free.

Moreover, TPC’s investigation into the Shannon Nyamodi case has consistently questioned why state prosecutors sought having the case taken of the docket in the first place. When the criminal complaint was filed with the FBI, federal authorities quiz the mother on whether the case had been dismissed. The removal of a case from a court’s docket typically indicates that the state has no desire to prosecute or a “nulle prosequi” is declared by the court, and meaning that the charges have been dropped. With Shannon continuously being detained in a county jail, the judge, prosecutors, and even the defendants own attorney should all have reasonably known that serious infringements were being imposed upon this defendant’s constitutional rights. If the courts had brought the case to trial in a reasonable manner of time there would be no discussion related to federal statues. Baring complete ignorance or incompetence by state officials, there appears to be some dynamic which predicated the state to take such a posture in this case.

The unexplained destruction of 160 old historical records by the North Carolina state archive department (the biggest story currently in Franklin County) may also factor into this case. Elizabeth Crudup told TPC weeks ago that while she was at the courthouse obtaining documents related to her son’s case, that the county clerk’s office was preparing to place her son’s case files within the court’s archives, and if that is in fact what has occurred than the records  pertaining to the criminal case of Shannon Nyamodi may have been destroyed and lost forever. In a bizarre and unexplained action, Franklin County historical records which were discovered by county clerk officials was mysteriously destroyed, when state archive officials arrived at the county court house with sheriffs under the cover of darkness, confiscated historical records dating back to the Civil War, and took them to the county incinerator  and burnt them. Shannon Nyamodi’s case file which include all of the state’s alleged evidence against him, may have been included in the files which were destroyed.

Some how it seems that officials entrusted with upholding the law of the people in the state of North Carolina may possibly have been left far behind when comparing society’s standards of law and government. It remains to be seen how of all of this plays out, and whether the citizens of the Franklin County community will respond to insure that the people’s trust will be upheld in the bizarre case of young Shannon Nyamodi.

To Be Continued ..

 

 

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

 

 

Nyamodi Youth Detention Reported To FBI As A Federal Crime: Black Teen Now Feared To Be Held Hostage By State Of North Carolina

In the United States every citizen is guaranteed certain Constitutional rights under the law, although states within our union approach the implementation of government legislation in various contrasting ways, the Constitution is often seen as a safeguard toward liberties that the founding fathers intended all Americans to fall heir, and often times cases arrive within our society that stretch the boundaries of justice when state courts in our nation make questionable rulings when people of color encounter the criminal justice system. The disturbing story of Shannon Nyamodi just happens to be such a case. Nyamodi is a black teen held by the Franklin County Deputy’s Office for allegedly shooting a white woman in the face at point blank range. Despite earlier reports that the victim had stated he wasn’t involved, and official police reports on record in the case supporting his non involvement, somehow the youth was subsequently charged for the crime anyway.

The teen has since been held in custody for nearly 16 months in a strange sequence of events in which a Superior Court judge ordered the case taken off of the North Carolina court management docket system until such time that the state prosecutor handling the case decides to bring it back on. The ruling extended tremendous discretion to the state while completely ignoring any speedy trial rights guaranteed a criminal defendant under federal law. Also, the ruling is a direct infringement upon the 6th amendment rights of this defendant as applied to the 14th amendment outlined within the U.S. Constitution. These bizarre elements of Shannon Nyamodi’s plight to regain his freedom perhaps reveals serious violations by North Carolina courts, and establishing one of the greatest human rights struggles of modern time. In essence, the teen is being held in captivity with no pending charges against him in the state’s court dockets, an indication which typically indicate that a case has been dismissed by the court, and highlighting what maybe an unprecedented occurrence of a criminal defendant having his charges dropped while remanded to custody by county jail officials in the state of North Carolina.

Shannon’s story has began to acquire national attention from bloggers, radio broadcast, and other media sources outside of the state. His case is seen by many followers as a human rights case, but other disturbing events have occurred creating serious concerns for the teen’s personal safety and overall well being. The youth’s attorney has been paid a $50,000 dollar retainer to represent him, but has failed to perform his obligations to his client reasonably expected by an attorney related to a criminal case of this nature. In fact, last week attorney Maitry “Mike” Klinkosum (a former North Carolina state prosecutor) who was hired by the Nyamodi family allegedly made threats toward his client, and the Nyamodi family. Klinkosum allegedly told Shannon “if you talk to your mother or anyone else in this case, I’ll make sure you get 30 years in prison.” The attorney cited issue with Shannon’s mother diligent and tenacious involvement in securing her son’s freedom. Additionally, Shannon has been placed on segregation within the confines of the Franklin County jail. A measure that jail administrators have claimed was to protect the youth from other violent offenders also held at the detention center.

Those claims made directly to Ms. Elizabeth Crudup (Shannon’s mother) are believed by many corrections professionals associated with the case, to be a smoke screen to hinder exposure of a possible covert attempt to isolate the teen, making him more prone and vulnerable to agree to some sort of plea deal to gain his freedom. Detainees in correctional settings who are placed on segregation are normally subjected to confinement to their cell for 23 hours a day while being allowed out for only one hour as ordered by federal consent decrees implemented to safeguard prisoners from cruel and unusual punishment. These practices are also normally assigned to the most violent offenders in correctional facilities. There has been no indication that the youth has been in trouble while being detained, and his jailer’s strange housing classification for Shannon Nyamodi may be part of a disturbing culture of misconduct by court, prosecutors, and corrections officials to break the teen’s spirit to obtain a guilty plea from him for criminal charges that many believe were fabricated against him from the very start.

The case of Shannon Nyamodi has also acquired attention from various criminal justice advocacy groups who aided the teen’s mother in composing a Habeas Corpus document to have the state court present a lawful premise for the youth’s continued detention. The Habeas was struct down by the state’s senior superior court judge (Hobgood) without even affording the teen an actual hearing. An occurrence that legal professionals say is a “strange judicial practice” indigenous to North Carolina courts, especially considering the heinous nature in which the defendant’s Constitutional Rights have been violated. In fact, Shannon Nyamodi has only made one court appearance during this entire ordeal, which was during his initial arraignment for the charges he now faces. The Habeas document did afford the mother an impromptu one on one dialogue with judge Hobgood in his chambers.

Since that time her contact with her son has slowly come to a complete hault. She attempted to visit her son on January 21, 2014, and was advised by the jail administration that her son doesn’t wish to speak to her or anyone else. Elizabeth Crudup says it’s simply unconscionable that her son would refuse to speak with her. This suspicious turn of events fuels a growing perspective that Shannon Nyamodi is in fact being purposely cut off from all contact from those who would advocate for fairness related to this case on his behalf. Now that the youth has allegedly been threatened by his own attorney, and seemingly cut off from his family, the stakes have been raised pointing to complete uncertainty of Shannon Nyamodi’s life. His languishment in a county jail for nearly 16 months with no official charges against him on the North Carolina court docket system, and no indication in sight pointing to when the young man will have his day in court has created a sense of urgency and a crisis that should be a concern to every American in our nation.

Countless practicing attorneys have offered their disbelief, and outrage related to the judicial handling of Shannon’s case, and upon the urgence of sources associated with the Nyamodi family, his mother has taken action to have her son’s case investigated by federal authorities. Elizabeth Crudup has filed a criminal complaint with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) charging that court officials, and law enforcement agencies are holding Shannon Nyamodi hostage at the Franklin County jail in North Carolina. It has always been the position of the Nyamodi family for shannon to  be afforded the same fairness as every American citizen is entitled under state and federal law, by simply having his day in court. For some reason prosecutors have taken ill advised measures to prolong prosecution of Shannon. The strange judicial handling of this young man’s criminal case not only raises continued suspicion as to why the state has hidden this case in the state court archives for so long, but may potentially point to prosecutorial abuse, misconduct, and actually may reveal exculpatory evidence establishing the complete innocence of young Shannon Nyamodi in this crime altogether.

The Nyamodi family is leaning on hope that a federal inquiry into the case of Shannon Nyamodi will bring to bare the obvious Constitutional Rights violations surrounding his case, and act as a measure of accountability while insuring that harm won’t fall upon him while being detained in the Franklin County jail. The family asked for continued prayers for their son from the public, and encourage followers of his story to write him directly to encourage him to be strong, not to give up hope, and not take a plea deal nor accept any responsibility for this crime. Elizabeth Crudup says that young Shannon’s attorney has been pressuring to take a plea deal ever since he received the $50,000 dollar retainer the family paid him, and believes that her son’s detention in segregation is being conducted to break him while ustilizing duress to obtained an admission of guilt. Letters of support for Shannon Nyamodi can be sent to: Shannon Nyamodi, 285 T. Kemp Road, Louisburg, NC 27549.

Also, CALL/EMAIL MIKE KLINKOSUM or any of the partner attorney’s at Cheshire Parker Schneider http://www.cheshireparker.com Phone: (919) 833-3114 Fax: (919) 832-0739. Tell them to do their jobs and stop persecuting Shannon Nyamodi TODAY!

To Be Continued ..

 

 

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

 

 

TPC Obtains New Details In Nyamodi Youth Case: Habeas Corpus Document Outlines Why Young Black Man Should Be Released

There is a very large contingency of people in the Franklin County, North Carolina community and it’s surrounding area who believe that Shannon Nyamodi shot Rhonda MacClean in the face at point blank range, and robbed her on August 16, 2012. Despite official police reports establishing that the victim more than likely didn’t indicate who she believed her assailant was in the crime during the initial stages of the investigation, she has now come forward publicly stating that the black youth was in fact the person who shot her. Previous TPC articles have discussed her strange emergence after nearly fifteen months has elaspped since she was severely wounded that fall night, but pundits who support her newly discovered claims actually have created the myth that Nyamodi’s legal counsel is to blame for the case’ delay proceeding to trial.

Any perception which infers Maitry “Mike” Klinkosum (Nyamodi’s current legal counsel) has repeatedly requested continuances is this case, is sorely misguided, and derives from a perspective of complete ignorance related to the official record before the North Carolina Superior Court. Official documentation in the case already has been provided in various articles on this blog pointing to the state’s attorney prosecuting the case, having a suspicious desire to remove the entire record from the court’s Management Docket System altogether, and without any indication from the state or court as to when the case would return to the system for prosecution. The constant outcry from the victim and her public supporters, who make such uninformed claims, are not only disturbing, but may point directly to a culture of judicial misconduct indigenous to North Carolina courts when minorities encounter it’s criminal justice system.

Comparing Nyamodi’s co defendant’s (a minor who is white) case, which has already been disposed of with an alleged disposition convicting the youth (according to her mother) for her role in the crime, to that of Shannon Nyamodi who has been languishing in jail for nearly fifteen months, we see a complete disparity related to the right for a speedy trial which was upheld in one instance, and has been completely violated pertaining to constitutional law in the other case. In fact all of the request before the court for continuance in this case have been requested by the state, and granted by North Carolina’s courts. There is no documentation on the record which would suggest otherwise. There has only been two continuances requested in the case which were requested by the state’s attorney.

On February 20, 2013 the state was granted a motion request in which both the prosecution and the defense had declared the case “Exceptional” (nothing suggested that it was) to have the case removed from the docket system, until such time the state decided to place it back on for prosecution. Although attorney Klinkosum didn’t challenge the motion (another bizarre element of the case), and agreed to have the case taken off, it’s disturbing that the court allowed such prosecutorial discretion while failing to establish a timetable for bringing the case back on the docket. The only other continuance which occurred was on December 16, 2013 in which the state was supposed to get the case moving forward again, and only after Shannon Nyamodi’s mother insisted the cast be tried to avoid her son from languishing in jail. Ms. Crudup (Shannon’s mother) revealed to TPC that she was in court December 16, 2013 when her son’s case was called before the court and continued again at the state’s request. The state’ attorney advised the judge that they would be keeping Shannon’s case open, because they had given attorney Klinkosum a plea deal to present to his client. Klinkosum never spoke to his client that day nor any other time sense the state made such a statement in open court. Shannon Nyamodi has never considered taking a plea deal in the case, and has never had one presented to him. These facts are supported by official documentation, his mother’s eyewitness account of the court proceeding on 12/16, and should dispel all rumors declaring that it’s a “run and hide for as long as you can” posture by the defense in this case. View official court record depicting the state’s request to shelve the case below:

casearchive

Notice that the February 20, 2013 motion (continuance) was requested by the state.

 

Writ of Habeas Corpus

Neither the state or the defense attorney in this case have shown interest in expediting the criminal trial of Shannon Nyamodi. The defendant’s mother has been more proactive in freeing her son than his own hired legal counsel. Ms. Crudup solicited help from a criminal justice advocacy group AXJ (Action For Justice of Franklin County) who immediately became disturbed after learning the merits of the case. The agency cited serious constitutional right violations which center squarely around the length of time Shannon Nyamodi has been detained without a trial date. AXJ’s involvement in the case has resulted in a tentative court date of January 21, 2014 being ordered by judge Hobgood, after being presented with a Habeas document pertaining to the youth’s case.  The “writ of habeas corpus” filed on behalf on Shannon Nyamodi can not be ignored, as it brings to bare justification for his continued detention while his case has been removed from the docket system.

The state of North Carolina no longer has a speedy trial statue after it was repealed by legislators in 1989 for some unknown reason. A defendant is still entitled to a speedy trial under the 6th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The AXJ Habeas spells out how the initial judge (Hight) erred in granting a motion to have the case taken off the docket without establishing a timetable to put it back on. Although the case has been given “Exceptional” status, the court is still required to move it forward to protect a defendant’s rights under the constitution which appears to have been created by the nation’s founders to prohibit a person’s infinite languishment in prison without knowledge of anticipated prosecution. For example:

Habeas Corpus ad subjiciendum

It is an independent civil action and a form of collateral attack to determine not the guilt or innocence of the person held in custody, but whether the custody is un lawful under the U. S. Constitution. The petition must show that the court ordering the detention or imprisonment made a legal or factual error. The writ of habeas corpus serves as an important check on the manner in which state courts pay respect to federal constitutional rights. The writ is “the fundamental instrument for safeguarding individual freedom against arbitrary and lawless state action.” Harris v Nelsom, 394 U.S. 286, 290-91(1969).

When Superior Court Judge Hight granted the state’s motion, removing the case from it’s court management docket system, he erred by not establishing when the case would appear back in the system, allowing the prosecution tremendous discretion related to the defendant’s right to expedient prosecution guaranteed under federal law, and all while ordering Shannon Nyamodi’s continued incarceration. Perhaps Hight’s unlawful order may be a simple oversight on his part, it happens all the time in a court of law, but the core of these proceedings focusing on why the case was give “Exceptional” status and removed from the docket in the first place. When criminal cases require “Exceptional” consideration, typically a party to the proceedings require an extended period of time for attorneys to develop arguments for trial. A presiding judge is more inclined to grant a postponement for parties to develop their case, but removing the case off of the docket entirely clearly demonstrates almost a year later, that the state had serious reservations regarding it’s prosecution of Shannon Nyamodi from the very start. The court has failed to demonstrate on record as required by law why the case is “Exceptional”, the need for such an extended continuation, and never set a time table reestablishing the speedy trial process.

The Habeas document submitted in this case illustrates how the state has obtained an unfair tactical advantage in the case, while the defendant was denied due process under federal law. The 6th amendment to the United States constitution is the part of the United States Bill of rights that set forth rights related to criminal prosecutions. The Supreme Court has applied the protections of this amendment to the states through Due Process Clause of the 14th amendment. In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy among others, the right to a speedy and public trial and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him. One of the main principles that The Founding Fathers intended the Speedy Trial clause to serve was to ensure a defendant’s right as to a fair trial. The longer the commencement of trial is postponed the more likely it is that witnesses will disappear, memories will fade and evidence will be lost or destroyed. Of course, both the prosecution and the defense are threatened by these dangers, but only the defendant’s life, liberty, and property are at stake in a criminal proceeding.

The right to speedy trial arises only after a person has been arrested, indicted or otherwise formally accused of a crime. Shannon Nyamodi has been in jail since August the 16th 2012 to present day. The last court date of December the 16th, he was not even brought into the court room and was the first court date since February 20, 2013. Shannon is essentially languishing in jail which is contrary to his 6th amendment rights. A delay of at least one year in bringing a defendant to trial will trigger the presumption that the 6th amendment has been violated, with the level of judicial scrutiny increasing in direct proportion of the length of delay.

The prosecution may not excessively delay the trial for its own advantage, but a trial may be delayed to secure the presence of an absent witness or other practical considerations (e.g. change of venue). Legislation permits courts to provide prosecutors with additional time upon showing of exceptional circumstances. Provision should be made for the court to determine on motion of the prosecution or the defense or on its own motion, that a case is of such complexity that the presumptive speedy trial time limit should be extended in order to enable the parties to make adequate preparations for pretrial proceedings or for the trial itself. The court should give substantial weight to the extension of the speedy trial limit on these grounds that is made, with good cause shown, by either the prosecution or the defense. In the event that a determination of complexity is made. Although judge Hight granted a state motion for exceptional status in this case, he failed to establish a revised time limit and didn’t state on the record the reasons for the extended time. (criminal justice standard 12-2.1 (d) ).

The prosecution’s failure to bring the case to trial within 70 days of Shannon’s arrest, despite the granted motion of “Exceptional” status in the case, is a violation of the 6th amendment applied to the states through the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Any violation of the speedy trial clause of the amendment is cause for dismissal of a criminal case.  Shannon Nyamodi’s case was declared exceptional by the superior court judge on Feb.20th 2013. The judge did not establish a revised time limit or state the reason for extending time. At any time that action is taken that has the effect of extending the time otherwise allowed under the speedy trial rule or statute, the court should set forth its reasons on the record and should confirm, with the prosecution and the defense, the date by which a trail must be held or the case otherwise resolved. The court failed to set forth a reason for its ruling and therefore dismissal of the charges with prejudice is the only recourse and should forever bar prosecution for the offenses charged and any other offense required to be joined to the offense. (criminal justice standard 12-2.6 (c,d)).

These standards are typically applied based on case law research, and now we must see if the North Carolina courts will waste further public resources by continuing to perpetuate the unlawful detention of Shannon Nyamodi, in a case which the state hasn’t demonstrated sufficient grounds to even present a compelling argument that the youth was even involved in this horrible crime. In fact, the state appears to be hiding in this case. Even though judge Hight failed to establish a timetable to resolve the case, it’s very disturbing, suspicious, and completely unfair to the defendant to have the case removed from the docket system for nearly a year. It appears that tactics were used to hide the case within the court’s archives in an attempt to circumvent constitutional speedy trial laws. In essence, it seems that the mindset is, if there is no case officially on record, then any expedient rights due a defendant is neutralized, and not applicable to 6th and 14th amendment statue because technically no pending charges actually exist during the timeframe in which expedient prosecution rights begin. If my perspective bares even a remote possibility of actually having occurred in this case, then perhaps the actions by the state and the North Carolina courts is a crime more heinous for which young Shannon Nyamodi has been charged and subsequently been detained.

To Be Continued ..

 

 

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

 

 

 

 

Further Proof Something Is In The Water In North Carolina: Nyamodi Youth Own Attorney Threatens Client Saying He Will Help Prosecution Convict Him With 30 Year Prison Sentence

When young Shannon Nyamodi was charged with an awful crime back on August 16, 2012 in which police authorities allege the black youth shot Rhonda MacClean in the face at point blank range and robbed her in the town of Youngsville, North Carolina, his family in the U.S., Africa, and other nations abroad chipped in to raise the youth’s legal expenses. They hired well known North Carolina attorney Maitry “Mike” Klinkosum to defend Shannon in a case many believe the teen was essentially setup and framed as the assailant who perpetrated such a heinous crime.

Klinkosum who is actually a former state prosecutor, has done nothing to aid Shannon Nyamodi in his quest to regain his freedom. From the very start the plight of a young man who had no prior criminal history, and wanted to join the U.S. Armed Forces, was faced with a tremendous upheaval. When his family began shopping around for an attorney to defend him, Klinkosum had been hired as Shannon’s defense counsel, but was even told later on by the Nyamodi family that they were going to go with someone else. The family had sought to get their money back ($30,000.00) before Klinkosum manipulated Shannon into signing paperwork naming him as his attorney. He visited the Nyamodi youth at the county jail on a Sunday and stated that if he signed the documents he would have him out of jail by Monday morning at the latest. The teen’s naivety to the criminal justice process, and his family’s inexperience related to obtaining a hired lawyer is exactly how Klinkosum became the youth’s attorney.

Klinkosum’s actions have been so counterproductive in defending Shannon Nyamodi that his mother is convinced that he is working for the prosecution against her son. The mother’s fears have just taken center stage in recent days. Ms. Elizabeth Crudup (Shannon’s mother) spoke with her son over  the phone this past Tuesday (1/14/2014) and was told by him that he couldn’t speak with her any longer until after his upcoming court date (1/21/2014). She was so alarmed by her son’s bizarre comments, his frame of mind, and began to quiz him. The youth told his mother that attorney Klinkosum had threatened him with jail time. According to Crudup, her son had even told jail officials that he no longer wanted contact with his mother. Extended dialogue between Shannon and his mother revealed that his own attorney had stated, “if you talk to your mother again or anyone else related to his case, I will make certain you get 30 years in prison.” Shannon’s younger sister also received a text message from her Aunt (the family member who wrote the $30,000 check) stating that Klinkosum had threatened to help the state prosecute Shannon also. Klinkosum apparently has taken issue with the National attention Shannon Nyamodi’s story has garnered in recent weeks.

When Ms. Crudup went to Klinkosum’s office to give him a copy of the Habeas Corpus document for her son at the direction of judge Hobgood, a secretary requested that she leave the building immediately because they (Law office) wasn’t taking anything from her. Crudup luckily had an entourage with her on that day, and when she left the  building the Habeas document was accepted by an office secretary from others who had accompanied her there. Klinkosum had been so inept representing Shannon Nyamodi that his mother began investigating why the criminal process in her son’s case was taking so long. She discovered that Klinkosum had agreed to allow the state to take the youth’s case off the North Carolina Superior Court Management Docket System indefinitely. The attorney’s actions related to such a motion granted by the court raised suspicion by the Nyamodi family. Why would any defense attorney ignore his own client’s right to a speedy trial and allow him to languish in jail for an infinite period of time?

The case has been off the docket for nearly a year with no pending charges against Shannon Nyamodi, and his attorney hasn’t made any effort to bring the case into court. In fact, the only reason Shannon will be making a court appearance on the 21st is because Action for Justice (a criminal justice advocacy group) composed a Habeas document outlining the severity of constitutional rights violations related to the case. The day Ms. Crudup presented the Habeas to judge Hobgood, a county court clerk was listening in on a phone call via speaker from Crudup to Klinkosum’s office, advising him of Shannon’s January 21, 2014 court date to address the Habeas. The county clerk overheard Klinosum’s office stating that they wouldn’t be in court on that day because the attorney was too booked. Continued exposure of the case more than likely resulted in a volume of calls to the attorney’s office, and on January 11, 2014 Klinkosum telephoned Ms. Brenda Nyamodi who is Shannon’s Aunt, and advised her that he would be returning the $30,000.00 in it’s entirety and would quit the case on Monday (1/13) because Shannon’s mother had put his name all over the internet and that he has a family which he was afraid some crazy person might attempt to harm.

Monday came and went without the money being returned, and on Tuesday Shannon advised his mother that Klinkosum threatened him by helping the state convict him with a 3o year prison sentence. Klinkosum notified Brenda Nyamodi on Wendsday and made similar threats pertaining to Shannon’s mother involvement in the case. These strange turn of events with Klinkosum backing off on his plans to quit the case are very alarming. I’m certain that the North Carolina Bar will have a serious problem with the manner in which Klinkosum sneakily acquired representation of Shannon Nyamodi, but threatening statements of this nature could possibly result in his disbarment from practicing law in the state altogether. Attorney’s and their clients often have differences in the manner in which cases are being handled, and when parties are unable to resolve differences the appropriate fashion to handle such division is for the attorney to step down, or request from the judge to have their appearance excused from the case.

When a defendant’s life is on the line, having been locked up for over a year with no pending trial date, and facing potentially serious felony charges as in this case a defense attorney must demonstrate diligence on their client’s behalf. It’s an attorney’s obligation to protect his clients rights of expedient prosecution and it’s simply baffling that Klinkosum condoned the state’s motion to place the case on ice for such a long time without having ever appealed to the court for the purpose of having a new timetable stated on record in order to resume his client’s speedy trial rights after such an extended delay in the case’ prosecution. Now that more detailed information pertaining to Shannon’s case has been provided to TPC, perhaps a more clear understanding of Klinkosum’s poor handling of the youth’s case can be formulated. Klinkosum received an additional $20,000.00 dollars from Shannon Nyamodi’s uncle in the United Kingdom making the total amount $50,000.00 dollars of expenses paid to him by the Nyamodi family.

The manner in which he obtained representation of Shannon Nyamodi was illegal. Although Shannon is the adult defendant is this case, he didn’t pay Klinkosum to represent him. The Nyamodis told Klinkosum to his face when it was apparent to them that he wouldn’t be a good fit to represent Shannon that they were going to go with someone else, and his covert tactic of manipulating the youth into signing paperwork is an act which questions his ethics practiced related to this client and he should have known this. Klinkosum took advantage of the limited communication a defendant who is in custody has with the outside world to manipulate him into signing documents. He essential told the youth that his family had hired him as an attorney to get him to sign paperwork. Klinkosum contacted Shannon’s Aunt later and more than likely told her Shannon wants him to represent him, and that’s how he was able to obtain payment for his services (which have been non existent according to the family).

The Aunt of the defendant has postpartum depression and was having difficult stress issues related to a high risk pregnancy at the time she paid him. Her condition has deteriorated even worst since that time which the family believes Klinkosum honed in on to manipulate her into signing checks. Klinkosum refuses to speak with Ms. Crudup regarding her son’s case, in an effort she describes as a “divide and conquer” tactic to isolate her, who is challenged with mental deficiencies, from her and the family. Crudup is an extremely intelligent, articulate Oxford University Alumni, and would be a more suitable person to speak with from the family to assist in gaining Shannon’s freedom.

Mo11

Young Shannon Zacharia Nyamodi with his younger brother as a recent high school grad just months before his life was turned upside down and was placed in a county jail cell.

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Shannon Nyamodi during more happier days. His mom says her son was a well spirited kid who was well mannered, humble, loved people, and could never commit such a heinous act of violence which he is accused of.

 

The attorney’s refusal to speak with competent family members of his client (who actually paid him), his peculiar posture of allowing the state to archive Shannon’s case for nearly a year without protecting his speedy trial rights, and the recent threats he made to his client and other family members creates suspicion surrounding his integrity, ethics, and responsible duty to his client in this case. Attorneys associated with TPC advise that if Klinkosum had issue with Shannon Nyamodi revealing or divulging sensitive/confidential information in the case, his appropriate course of action should have been to request the presiding judge grant his withdrawal from appearing in the case. Threatening a defense client that he will “make sure he gets 30 years in prison” tends to infer some other dynamic transpiring with attorney Klinkosum that hasn’t fully been exposed. More importantly, Klinkosum directing Shannon not to speak to his mother about the case again is very compelling related to his mother’s earlier fears that Klinkosum was working against her son.

When Klinkosum allowed the state to take the pending criminal case against Shannon Nyamodi off the docket system without offering any kind of rebuttal to force prosecutors hands to present a case against his client, it demonstrated that he may not have had his client’s best interest at hand, and if either party needed extra time to prepare their case the judge could have simply granted a postponement (a common practice). However, removing a criminal case from the docket system altogether is almost never heard of in most jurisdictions around the nation. Cases are often removed from the active docket and placed in a “Stet Docket” (inactive) while prosecutors often lack sufficient evidence to try a case, but such procedural action by prosecutors almost always comes with conditions. Prosecutors come to an agreement with defendants where they promise not to pursue criminal charges for a period of time, as long as the defendant remains out of trouble. Shannon Nyamodi’s case wasn’t even on that docket, but rather in the court’s archive which is typically the destination for cases with a final disposition.

It’s very disturbing that the court was successful in overlooking Shannon’s right to speedy prosecution and simply unconscionable that the state did so with the assistance of the defendant’s own legal counsel. By now Klinkosum should have a good understanding of all of the evidence the state alleges to have against his client, and the state knows what it has, and considering these facts it raises concern and a consistent argument as to why neither side is in no hurry  to prosecute the criminal case against Shannon. Klinkosum has been busy in court the past year working other high profile criminal cases. He has recently started jury selection for another Franklin County case which is in conflict with his January 21. 2014 court date in which he is suppose to be representing Shannon Nyamodi. It makes the inquisitive mind wonder how much he is being paid for those cases, because he was paid $50,000.00 dollars to represent Shannon and hasn’t filed a single motion in the case on behalf of his client. View a News article clip related to a Franklin County criminal that Klinkosum his handling below:

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Attorney Mike Klinkosum is handling a high profile murder case which conflicts with his court date of Shannon Nyamodi’

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A year later the attorneys in the case haven’t filed any motions to move the case forward and the defense attorney has began to threaten his client and members of his family because of national attention related to Shannon Nyamodi’s human rights case. It may be time for a federal investigation into the state court system to see how many more Shannon Nyamodis are locked up with no pending charges in the court’s docket system. Obviously in North Carolina criminal cases are handled differently down there in comparison to other states, so if you happen upon Franklin County, don’t drink the water. It just might be contagious.

To Be Continued ..

 

 

The People’s Champion

I’m Daid Adams

Young Bunn, N.C. Deputy’s Involvement In Nyamodi Case Suspicious: Sources Tells TPC Officer Tasked With Youth’s Arrest Is A Rookie

Very compelling information related to the Shannon Nyamodi human rights case continues to be provided to TPC from sources familiar with the case. The latest details are even more disturbing than particulars that have already been outlined in previous articles. Shannon’s arrest has always troubled many followers of this case, especially considering he was taken into custody roughly twelve hours after the actual crime was committed. Police reports which included official documents from a Franklin County Sheriff Commander suggest that the suspected shooter was unknown to authorities when they sought to obtain a search warrant for the residence where the shooting occurred. This would completely dispel any notion that the victim in the case had identified her assailant to police working the crime scene that night. It’s even more doubtful that police had completed their processing of the home and finalized the entire investigation to name a suspect for the crime.

Baring any discovery evidence authorities obtained later, it appears hearsay evidence is the only connection to Shannon Nyamodi that cops would have to even identify the youth as a person of interest. In fact the story Franklin County Sheriffs fed to the media about this case was obtained on August 17, 2012 nearly 39 hours later, by an allege confidential informant (CI) who gave a statement to Lt. M. Little of the Youngsville police. Since official police reports clearly indicate that Shannon had not been identified at the scene as the suspected shooter by the victim, his arrest in such an early stage of the investigation sticks out like a sore thumb when details related to Shannon and his alleged co defendant’s motive for the crime were provided to police hours later the next day. To understand that cops probably didn’t have probable cause to arrest Shannon Nyamodi the night of the crime, we have to analyze other factors which highlight his arrest being even more suspicious.

None of the reports from that night indicate that Deputy Ralph D. Almkuist participated in the investigation or was even at the scene on the night of August 16, 2012 when an assailant shot Rhonda MacClean in the face and robbed her. Documents submitted to the Franklin County Superior Court by Capt. L. Mitchell naming Deputy A. Barrett as the affiant who provided information justifying Search Warrants, establishes this officer as being a crucial witness who could support evidence obtained from witness statements who were at the crime scene during the initial stages of police investigations into the shooting. Shannon was arrested a very short time (as far as investigations of these types of crimes go) after the crime, meaning no extensive investigative work was required to determine a suspect since the youth was charged the same day of the crime.

Perhaps Barrett participated in other investigative aspects of the case to further bolster probable cause to arrest Shannon Nyamodi, but even if he participated in the case in that capacity, there are no reports indicating his conclusions justifying Shannon’s arrest, and his participation in any fashion becomes confusing since he isn’t assigned to the Youngsville area of the county where the crime occurred. Almkuist is in fact assigned to the Bunn, North Carolina area of Franklin County. I’m sure there is no law prohibiting a deputy from obtaining arrest warrants for suspects of crimes outside of their normally assigned area, but when officers do so they typically play a role in either the investigation of the crime or are privileged with pertinent particulars of a suspects involvement in a criminal case which they could testify to in a court of law. Without any documentation establishing Deputy Almkuist’ role in the criminal investigation, considering all police officials with arrest powers must give sworn testimony of their knowledge justifying the summation of charges outlined on any arrest warrant, and would ultimately compel them to appear in court during all criminal proceedings related to a crime for which they have acted as the complainant in the arrest of a suspect, raises concerns questioning whether Deputy Almkuist has even provided sufficient probable cause to the court for an arrest warrant in this case.

At some point I’m sure Deputy Almkuist would be obligated to travel to Louisburg, North Carolina which is the location of the Franklin County Sheriff Department’s headquarters, to process, book, or transport an arrestee at the county jail, but when the rather large stretch of geography he has to travel is considered, his having obtained an arrest warrant, and involvement in the subject shooting case raises a red flag while lacking explanation as to why an officer within the area wasn’t required to perform such a crucial task. It’s just more feasible to have an officer within the Youngsville area to get the warrant. The sheriff deputies in that area would have been in closer proximity of Louis where they’re required to obtained the warrant, and they would have been more acclimated with the case. Deputy A. Barrett would have been the ideal officer to obtain an arrest warrant in this case because he provided crucial preliminary information to command from the crime scene on the night of the shooting. View the distance of Bunn, North Carolina in comparison to the distance of Youngsville, North Carolina below:

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Youngsville, North Carolina is where the shooting Shannon Nyamodi is charged with actually occurred (southwest in Franklin County. Deputy Ralph D. Almkuist is assigned to the Bunn, North Carolina area of the county (southeast in Franklin County).

Sources tell TPC deputy Ralph D. Almkuist is a rookie within the Franklin County sheriff department, and this could explain why an arrest warrant was obtained for Shannon Nyamodi in such a short time frame. Given the short time of the youth’s arrest, it appears that deputies working the case may have not been comfortable in obtaining a warrant for Shannon or any other suspect in such an early stage of the investigation. I am even more inclined to believe that Deputy A. Barrett and other police personnel at the scene that night may have not been chosen for the task of obtaining the warrant because their experience as law enforcement officers would have presented opposition and unwanted dialogue regarding such questionable direction from supervision who sought the warrant in the first place.

It’s serious business to obtain an arrest warrant to have a person taken into custody, and when the crime is serious and of a violent nature which has been highly publicized in the media, an experience officer knows that all of the facts in the case must be accurate. So, the most important question is who gave Deputy Almkuist the directive, or asked him to obtain an arrest warrant for Shannon Nyamodi when he more than likely (because of his assigned area) didn’t possess sufficient knowledge about the case to have a suspect brought into custody. Moreover, if he is in fact a “rookie” officer as reported to TPC, he probably was manipulated by a sheriff official who was superior to him. Young officer are more inclined to follow orders, less assuming, and typically anxious to make a good impression to management. Unfortunately, most police agencies have a protocol regarding certain aspects of their work. More importantly. Deputy Ralph D. Almkuist may have falsely sworn before the court regarding probable cause for Shannon Nyamodi’s arrest in this case. Take a look at the arrest warrant in which Deputy Almkuist obtained for Shannon Nyamodi as sworn before the court in this case below:

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Shannon Nyamodi arrest Warrant PDF

 

The suspicion surrounding deputy Ralph D. Almkuist involvement in this case is further illustrated in the actual charges that are outlined on the arrest warrant itself. Shannon wasn’t only chrged with shooting the vitim in this case, but he was also charged with larceny. The complainant named on this arrest warrant (Almkuist) charged the youth with stealing Rhonda MacClean’s .22 caliber rifle on the night he alleged shot her in the face, and the officer actually swore to it before a court official who granted the arrest warrant. View charges filed against Shannon Nyamodi which led to a warrant for his arrest below:

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The larceny charge is very disturbing considering MacClean was completely hysterical, severely injured, and couldn’t possibly have known that her rifle had been stolen that night considering she told police that she was struck with a pole when they initially interviewed her. Police even indicated that they believed she never realized that she had been shot (that’s confusing considering the sound of a gunshot blast), and it isn’t clear how cops were even led to believe that a weapon of any kind was stolen from the home. Who communicated that to police? These facts supporting probable cause to believe that Shannon Nyamodi stole a weapon from the home during the crime, as Deputy Almkuist swore to in the arrest warrant document, becomes even more disturbing related to the youth’s being charge with this part of the crime when MacClean’s .22 caliber rifle was actually seized during the search of the home when the crime scene was being processed. View the seizure log of items confiscated from 109 Shearin Court after the crime below:

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Clearly the victim’s .22 caliber rifle was in the home at the time police investigators conduct a search of the property where the shooting occurred.

 

109 Shearin Court Search Warrant PDF (Last page of document)

 

Additionally, the time in which the warrant to search the residence  where this crime occurred was obtained presents perhaps the most compelling evidence that Deputy Ralph D. Almkuist had very limited knowledge of this case (in which he probably lied under oath before the court), is  demonstrated by comparing the 5:10 a.m. time in which the search warrant was obtained, in comparison to the 3:10 p.m. time of which Shannon Nyamodi was actually taken into custody. I’m sure that the sheriff department were aware and had already confiscated the .22 caliber rifle, and other weapons from the home within a ten hour time frame which is the period between when the warrant was obtained and the alleged suspects arrest. It’s not convincing that an officer actively involved in a criminal investigation of this nature wouldn’t be aware of such detail. Deputy Almkuist should have known that the weapon had already been confiscated, eliminating the probable cause to charge Shannon with larceny in this case. The larceny charge on the arrest warrant coupled with the weapon having been retrieved depicts the officer’s complete ignorance regarding vital aspects of the investigation, and established that he was more than likely simply directed by a superior officer to obtain a warrant and execute an arrest of Shannon Nyamodi. View the time indicating when the 109 Shearin Court search warrant was obtained in comparison to the Return of Service document indicating when Shannon was actually arrested below:

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Capt. E. smith obtained a search warrant for 109 shearin Court at 5:10 a.m. a few hours after the crime occurred.

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Deputy Ralph D. Almkuist indicated on his Return of Service document for the arrest of Shannon Nyamodi as 3:10 p.m. as the time he actually took him into custody.

 

The suspicion surrounding why, how, and who actually arrested Shannon Nyamodi related to this horrible crime is extremely perplexing to say the very least. Despite what any of the pundits out there think who believe that this kid is guilty, they should reflect on why Shannon Nyamodi has been locked up for 15 months, and why the state has essentially hidden his case file within the court’s management docket system archives. I’ll continue to cover this very bizarre case as more details develop.

To Be Continued ..

 

 

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Possible Falsifications And Forgery Involved In Nyamodi Case: Documents May Implicate Franklin County Clerk’s Office In Youth Frame Up Human Rights Case

As the disturbing case of Shannon Nyamodi begins to garner national attention, for many around the country and within the Franklin County community where the shooting incident occurred, the story is a hard sell for most to come to grips with the youth’s possible innocence related to the crime. A story where a woman’s own daughter hired a young black man to kill and rob her is simply a gut wrenching, callous, and such a cowardice act of betrayal that no parent should ever have to endure. The epidemic of violent crimes around the nation constantly played out through media coverage of stories like this, has a tranquilizing effect on an American public frustrated with the seemingly endless violent culture on the streets of our country.

Despite shocking news coverage highlighting heinous crimes of this nature, there have been crimes broadcast on national media that didn’t quite pan out the way media outlets and their producers had anticipated the stories to develop. The story of Shannon Nyamodi’s involvement in this crime perhaps may be a textbook example of a crime in the news which had the bottom fall right out of it as more details related to the case became public. When news stories of violent crimes spark the public’s interest, especially within the confines of small, close knit, and prideful towns like Youngsville, North Carolina where it’s citizens express complete outrage regarding such despicable behavior, news stories related to such crime are initially often times accepted as being credible.

The rarity of criminal behavior within rural southern American towns may be the cause for less scrutiny of media reports in comparison to news reports in big city America, but these towns shouldn’t be immune from the implementation of objectivity and fairness regarding cases like this. Crime is so prevalent in more urbanized settings around the country and in many of these cities, a watchful public is typically more suspicious by nature of an allege criminal’s guilt, and usually reserves judgement on a case, and not allowing the media to cause it to resolve on convicting a subject prior to a trial playing out in a court of law. Also, in places like North Carolina where some say towns are given a bad rap, labeling communities as being racist when crimes involving African Americans appear to be handled unfairly in the state’s penal system, and the stigmatization of it’s historical allegiance to the confederacy dating back to the Civil War may be the reason outraged has developed over the state’s handling of this case.

As I have recently discovered while interacting with citizens from Franklin County North Carolina in the Franklin County News Online Group on Facebook, there appears to be a large contingency of people who are convinced of Shannon Nymodi’s guilt related to criminal charges accusing him of shooting Rhonda MacClean in the face one fall night back in August of 2012. I’m not sure if many of those who I interacted with were friends, family, or acquaintances of the victim in this case, but their stringent opposition to the mere thought of Shannon’s innocence clearly spurned agitation from many within the social media thread. Many recited news reports from print and televised coverage of the case as their premise for determining the young man’s guilt, but what do they really know about this case? While I was accused of making racist statements and labeled a race baiter, clearly those comments came from perspectives unfamiliar with my reputation of being completely outspoken and one of the harshest critics of black on black violence within the African American community, and especially woman of color (the TPC Blog has a plethora of coverage related to these topics).

In the Shannon Nyamodi case I have presented documentation supporting my arguments pointing to what I believe was a conspiracy to convict an innocent man, but when people from Franklin County go on the defensive regarding a story like this without presenting facts to support their position, it creates serious concern that they are in fact coming from a prejudice poster, and fueling the suspicion of racism that many feel is indigenous to the culture of the state of North Carolina. I could sense while interacting in the FCNO social media thread that some prideful North Carolinians were disturbed by sweeping generalizations which label all white people in the community as racist. However, I believe the best way for these communities to combat such characterizations is to allow these kinds of cases to met themselves out in a Court of law while remaining objective and viewing all elements of the case with a common sense approach. Some of the Franklin County citizens inquired as to how I would feel if the shoe were on the other foot, and I’ll go on the record to say if Shannon Nyamodi did in fact shoot this woman and robbed her, then he belongs behind bars for a long time. I don’t believe that evidence exist to reach such a conclusion in this case, which I’ll outline further in this article.

The Frame Up

Fifteen months after she was shot in the face and robbed within her own home, Rhonda MacClean has come forward and publicly stated that Shannon Nyamodi was in fact the assailant who attacked her the night of August 6, 2012. It’s unclear after all this time, and without making statements to any media outlet since the crime occurred, why she has chosen a social media platform to vent her perspective on the case. More importantly, it should be noted that her recent statements contradict what police officials who were primary to the shooting scene that night, have documented in their reports related to the case. MacClean described to TPC in horrific detail the events of the night she was shot in the face, but her story doesn’t match what she told Franklin County Sheriff Deputy Barrett, nor Youngsville police Lt. M. Little. In fact statements she allegedly made to both officers contrasted, and it’s surprising that no mention was ever made of it from either police agency. In short MacClean told deputy Barrett that some unknown subject hit her in the head as she left her bedroom to check on her residence. MacClean told Lt. Little that she “heard the front door to her home open and went downstairs to see who and when she got downstairs she saw a man and she asked her daughter what was she doing and someone hit her in the head with the pole from behind her sliding door.”

Regardless of what anyone says about the case, these are the facts as reported by police officers who were at the scene that night. She describes being hit in the head and never mentioned anything about being shot by anyone (although police say they don’t believe MacClean realized that she had actually been shot,and probably mistakenly thought that she was struck with a pole). The odd part is that she described being hit in the head upstairs to Barrett and then downstairs to Lt. Little. Why isn’t it clear to her where she was attacked? Why wasn’t it clear to her that she had been shot? At some point she would have had to have remembered hearing the gun blast. I am wondering if the Complainant who filed for the arrest warrant for Shannon Nyamodi is aware of these contrasting statements that MacClean gave to police officers from different agencies? Take a look at snap shots from the reports and the contrasting statements below:

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Snapshot from Deputy Barrett’s reports showing MacClean’s statement.

 

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Snapshot from Lt. M. Little’s report highlighting MacClean’s statement.

 

Barrett’s Report PDF (Second Search Warrant Application at bottom of page 2)

Lt. M. Little Report PDF (Second report)

 

Now that we have established as a matter of fact that MacClean more than likely didn’t identify Shannon as the person who shot her that night,while communicating to police based on their initial reports that the assailant was some unknown person, and her statements to TPC describing having told police “there he is right there” becomes highly suspicious. For followers of this case to believe her now would mean that officers from the Franklin County Sheriff Department and the Youngsville Police were all incompetent, didn’t get it right, and failed to include such crucial information into police reports and  properly comprehend that she had fingered the perpetrator at the scene. It’s apparent that Nyamodi wasn’t identified as the shooter because he wasn’t immediately taken into custody, and an arrest warrant being obtain for him later on. Shannon was questioned at the scene and initially let go.

More disturbingly, when we digest all variations of MacClean’s account of that night (detailed in previous TPC articles) it’s revealed that she is actually saying there were three men invading the home at the time of the crime. The man who struck her in the head upstairs when she came out of her bedroom, the man who struck her in the head from behind the sliding door when she got downstairs (or Allegedly Shannon Nyamodi who the allege victim told TPC suddenly emerged from a bathroom, and shot her in the face “at point blank range”), and the man (allegedly Mike Young) who she says accosted her 13 year old handicapped daughter with a screwdriver while  all of these events played out in the home. Quite Frankly, the math isn’t hard to do here. A thorough investigator would have obtained all available data submitted in the case, including reports from personnel from other agencies who conducted field interviews with the victim and possible witnesses. This would have allowed lead investigators a complete look at how the crime possibly occurred.

It’s simply unimaginable that investigators would have accomplished this, had time to thoroughly examine data, and do so prior to obtaining an arrest warrant for Shannon Nyamodi by 3:10 p.m. which was the time of his arrest that day. Had investigators looked at all of the reports closely, they would have discovered the inconsistencies in the victims statements, and conducted a more thorough investigation to determine a clear picture of what she said occurred. The youth’s arrest within a twelve hour time frame when it was completely impossible to link him to the crime through any forensics evidence obtained from the crime scene such as DNA or fingerprints (Although the arrest, and search warrant for Nyamodi was obtained just hours after the crime, the warrant’s inclusion seeking DNA samples from the suspect couldn’t be obtained until he was actually in custody. How they linked him to any DNA before hand is confusing, and fingerprints potentially obtained from the crime scene couldn’t have linked him either, because he had never been printed before prior to his arrest for this crime.), continues to be problematic for authorities to establish compelling justification for charging Shannon in such a short time frame. To further compound these rather peculiar elements of this case, Deputy Barrett whose agency ultimately filed criminal charges against Shannon Nyamodi, indicated in his report that the “suspected shooter was no longer at the scene” upon police arrival, while he was securing the area of the crime.

We know this to be fact because Capt. William L. Mitchell, Barrett’s supervisor, included this information in his “Facts to Support Issuance of a Warrant” on the Franklin County’s Search Warrant application submitted before Superior Court Judge Hight.  These statements in the officer’s report alone are the most compelling indication that MaClean never identified Shannon Nyamodi as her shooter to police officers who interviewed her that night. This crucial information as outlined in official police documents related to this crime would also establish as a matter of fact, that even the Franklin County Sheriff’s Commander was under the impression that the assailant who shot Rhonda MacClean in the face was unknown to police when authorities sought a warrant to search the home where the crime occured, to obtain potential trace evidence in the crime.  View snapshots of Capt. Mitchell’s  Search Warrant Application highlighting “Facts to Support Issuance of a Warrant” indicating that the ‘suspected shooter was no longer at the crime scene” below:

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Snapshot of Capt. William L. Mitchell’s Search Warrant Application indicating police officials believed that the suspect shooter was unknown to police at the time the document was submitted to Superior Court.

 

Capt. Mitchell’s Search Warrant Application (Page 2, item #3, of second Warrant Application)

 

The above contained information in this article should raise sufficient suspicion as to how the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office not only arrested Shannon Nyamodi during such early stages of their investigation into the shooting, but why he was even charged with the crime in the first place. Perhaps the apparent  and suspicious alteration of Capt. Mitchell’s Search Warrant application, authorized by Superior Court Judge Donald W. Stephens may spell a starting point where the confusion and potential conspiracy to convict an innocent man began. The document contains a handwritten addendum with the judge’s allege initials indicating his input of an 8th probable cause for a search warrant. It’s unethical for a judge issuing a warrant requested by a police agency to assist in the composition of such a crucial document. The altered document with such compelling content is not only highly suspect, but why on earth would the judge add such content, when it was Capt. Mitchell seeking the warrant. Judge Stephens wouldn’t have knowledge of Shannon’s alleged confession, he more than likely wasn’t there at the time (to do so would be totally inappropriate and unethical), and clearly the person who wrote Judge Stephens’ initials was completely ignorant to the fact that the initials should actually have been Capt. Mitchell’s (the person submitting the Warrant Application).

Though some documents often have such notation included, documents created for legal or criminal purposes that  are used as evidence in a court of law, almost never have handwritten adjustments because it gives the impression of impropriety related to a document’s authenticity, and such altered input on any document typically includes the date in which the alteration transpired. The Search Warrant document to search the residence where the shooting actually occurred and authorized by judge Stephens is void of any indicators establishing when it was altered. View the altered official document below, taking notice of the handwritten initials on the far right in cursive script.

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The suspicious handwritten addendum to Capt. Mitchell’s Search Warrant Application authorized by Judge Donald W. Stephens, with Stephens’ allege initials altering the document.

See Capt. Mitchell’s (full Warrant Application above)

A closer look at the addendum reveals that the handwriting on the Search warrant document isn’t consistent with judge Stephens signature. It appears to be a close match, but clearly who ever initialed the document is a different author in comparison to Stephens’ signature.(Note: judge Stephens’ signature is in full cursive script, while the initials appear to be composed with cursive and manuscript.) Compare the initials in the addendum above to the judge’s actual signature below, taking notice of the manner in which both letters S, and D are written.

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Judge Stephens’ actual signature.

 

These findings are completely disturbing especially when we ponder why a Superior Court judge would alter an official court document, which could be construed as unethical on their part. Even if it was communicated to the judge by Capt. Mitchell or any other police official that Shannon Nyamodi had in fact confessed to the crime, how is it possible that police authorities were able to omit such compelling evidence in the Search Warrant Application requiring the addendum in the first place, related to such a serious violent crime? It can easily be established if the judge actually did input the handwritten addendum and if it is determined not to be an authentic alteration by him, it establishes that the document was altered by some official within the Franklin County Clerk’s Office who had access to the case file, and was done so after the document had been created and signed by the judge.

Moreover, since Ms. Elizabeth Crudup has continuously stated that her son has never as a matter fact, confessed to shooting Rhonda MacClean in the face nor robbing her on the night of the crime, only heightens suspicion as to why a County Clerk official with access to the case file would alter an official document indicating that the youth did in fact confess to the crime. All of these strange circumstances pertaining to official documentation in the case file, coupled with the state’s attorney prosecuting the crime strange motion to have the case taken off the court’s Management Docket System indefinitely is simply very troubling at the very least.

TPC has also discovered that the Franklin County Deputy who is listed as the complainant on Shannon Nyamodi’s arrest warrant and his indictment is actually a sheriff deputy assigned to a district in Bunn, North Carolina. It’s certainly not uncharacteristic for law enforcement officials from other jurisdictions to take part in a criminal investigation outside of their assigned area, but Deputy Ralph D. Almkuist’s request for Shannon’s arrest is highly suspect considering no incident reports related to this particular crime is available suggesting his involvement in the investigative process in this case. Deputy Almkuist even expressed doubt regarding Shannon’s guilt when he spoke to Ms. Crudup the day Shannon’s case was being indicted at the Superior Court House. Almkuist was pulled away from his discussion with Shannon’s mother, and after he came back out of the Sheriff’s office, he abruptly told Ms. Crudup that he couldn’t speak to her again.

Furthermore, documents in the case are void of any reports mentioning investigative findings by Almkuist, his participation in any way, nor any conclusions resolved by him to justify arresting Shannon Nyamodi for this crime. Captain Mitchell’s (Commander) Application outlining “Facts to Support Issuance of a Warrant” only indicated Deputy A. Barret as the affiant who contributed investigative data to Command regarding details obtained by The Franklin County Sheriff’s Department from the scene of this crime. Typically, police who actively work crime scenes act as a complainant in arrest warrants for suspects in a crime, because they have first hand knowledge regarding the particulars of the criminal investigation. Deputy Almkuist’s involvement in the arrest process gives the impression that he obtained the warrant under the direction of a superior, heightens suspicion when compiled with other very irregular elements of this case, and especially considering Almkuist’s assigned area is four towns away from Youngsville where the crime occurred. See a copy below of Shannon Nyamodi’s actual arrest warrant with Deputy Ralph D. Almkuist as the complainant seeking his arrest:

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Deputy Raplh D. Almkuist’s arrest warrant complaint for Shannon Nyamodi. Deputy Almkuist is assigned to Bunn, North Carolina four towns away from where the crime actually occurred.

Shannon Nyamodi Search and Arrest Warrant PDF

 

The fact that a sheriff deputy from another jurisdiction so far away actually sought an arrest warrant for Shannon Nyamodi in this case, it leaves the door of suspicion wide open for followers of this story to doubt whether Deputies involved in the actual investigation (like Deputy A. Barrett), and those assigned to the Youngsville area are convinced of the youth’s guilt. Any police official may present an arrest warrant before the courts to have a suspect brought into custody, but when they do so, they are compelled to sworn testimony just like a normal citizen in a court of law. I can’t see how Almkuist could do so when he didn’t actively participate in an active investigation. This leans toward further suspicion that he did so as a direct order. Obviously Capt. Mitchell didn’t direct him, although he out ranks deputy Almkuist, but he isn’t his commanding officer. Clearly someone within management outside uniformed area commands with authority to pull personnel from so far away gave the direction for Almkuist to obtain the warrant.

I further support this argument by highlighting a known fact that police personnel are often consumed with paper work related to cases they be involved in, and even if supervision request personnel to obtain warrants as a favor due to someone’s inability to do so, the request are usually met with opposition. Police named as complainants in arrest warrants must appear before the courts related to any arrest. Most responsible officers would never do so without knowledge of the particulars of a case, and this is why I believe Almkuist was more than likely directed to obtain the warrant without being actively involved in the investigation. I believe his direction probably came from the Sheriff’s office itself.

To Be Continued ..

 

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Allege Shooting Victim Emerges With Contrasting Version Of Crime: Tells TPC Nyamodi Youth Shot Her And Is Of African Royal Descent

As a trained journalist one must take exceptional caution when composing any article which has the potential of being read by the masses, while having tremendous impact on society’s perception of a story, and the inherited trust that established writers have developed from diverses audiences, care must be taken to strictly guard the insurance of objectivity and fairness. Often times while developing any news worthy topic that arise, all who may be a party to the discussion are often times unreachable or unavailable to solicit commentary related to a written piece. Upon such time that they are made available, it’s only within in sound journalism that a writer obtain additional content from their point of view, especially if previously written material may have, in the absent party’s opinion, been misrepresented, or doesn’t convey their complete perspective.

With that being said, my personal investigation into the Rhonda MacClean shooting in the small town of Youngsville, North Carolina did not afford TPC the opportunity to solicit comment from the victim in this case at the time previous Blog articles were composed. Now a woman has come forward identifying herself as the victim in this case. Since it can’t be established with complete certainty that she is in fact Rhonda MacClean, I’ll only refer to her as “The Woman”, and I caution readers to give her commentary the weight they deem appropriate. If “The Woman” is in fact the victim, by her own admission, “The Woman” purposefully has made herself unavailable to any media outlet which is completely understandable considering the gravity of her experience related to this horrible crime. “The Woman’s” sudden emergence with comment is the initial statement, according to her that she has offered any media organization since she fell victim to gunfire on that August night in 2012. Her version of events that night stand in staunch contrast to what TPC has previously reported related to this ordeal.

“The Woman” first appeared on a Facebook Group Franklin County News Online where she stated that Shannon Nyamodi had in fact shot her and robbed her. A series of comments by others participating in the thread which consisted of individuals who clearly felt that Shannon Nyamodi was in fact guilty, based on their comments. Some of the post were so contrasting to what police and court records show pertaining to the case, that it appeared that “The Woman” wasn’t who she said she was (the name of the poster identifying herself as the victim even spelled her name wrong i.e. McClean). TPC investigations led to obtaining the victims phone number, where she in fact stated that she was the person commenting in the FCNO Group on Facebook.

When I identified myself to her as the Administrator of The People’s Champion Blog she was agitated, but our continued dialogue resulted in very civil discourse regarding this case. “The Woman” spoke articulately, and displayed a civil demeanor while continuously conveying her christian values, and spirit of forgiveness. She also expressed her empathy and compassion for Ms. Elizabeth Crudup, her alleged assailant’s mother, and stated she understands her pain as a mother herself. “The Woman” went on to tell TPC that her daughter was complicit in the crime and has been convicted, and serving time for her role in the shooting. She dispelled the belief that her daughter escaped this crime without punishment. She also denied that Shannon was having sex with her and her daughter as rumors within the community had circulated.

“The Woman” went on to tell TPC that the night the shooting occurred that she heard a door to her home open and went to investigate. She says as she walked out of her bedroom door she saw a door to her closet move which frightened her (her bedroom is on the second floor). She proceeded down stairs and said she saw a man but believed he was hiding in the bathroom, then said she thought he may have left the house, and went to her daughter’s bed room to opened the door and asked her who the man was. “The Woman” says that’s when Shannon came out of the bathroom and shot her in the face at point blank range, and then proceeded to run out of the house. “The Woman” said she ran out of the house to an adjacent home of her neighbor’s for help. When police arrived she said she told police that Shannon was the man who shot her, and they took him away. I knew that police arrest warrants issued in the case show that Shannon was arrested along side her daughter at her neighbor’s home later on in the afternoon that day, so I inquired whether Shannon was placed in handcuffs, to determine if she actually observed him being arrested that night on the scene. “The Woman” told me that she had lost 6 pints of blood at that time and was unaware if he was in fact physically taken into custody.

I raised these facts with her only because she stated that the youths were both taken into custody the night of the shooting. “The Woman” then said that “well they were taken in for questioning.” I also reminded her when and where they were arrested and she said the police never let the pair out of their sights and were keeping close eye on them while they continued to work the crime scene building a case. “The Woman” said that the case against Shannon Nyamodi is solid, because police have bloody clothing which belong to Shannon. She says that after Shannon ran from her home, he took of his shirt (containing incriminating DNA evidence) and stuffed it in a nearby car. She says his prints were recovered from the scene and that the gun cover for the weapon that was used in the shooting was discovered thrown under Shannon’struck. “The Woman” said Shannon was shirtless ans sweating profusely.

“The Woman” says that money was discovered from the robbery at her home at an abandoned building nearby the crime scene, and that Shannon had been observed at the location previously that day and a neighbor had called police to report it because he was trespassing. “The Woman” says some of the money stolen was recovered from the abandoned building. She went on to say that her daughter has admitted conspiring with Shannon, and that he was suppose to kill her in the bed room according to text messages which were exchanged between the two. She says that her daughter even attempted to destroy the SIM Card for one of the cell phones she allegedly had, but that police were able to retrieve the data from the phone.

“The Woman” also stated that Mike Young who resides at the home she fled to for help after being shot, was also involved in the crime. She told TPC that Mike went into the bedroom of the home where her 13 year old daughter’s room is (who has a disability of Down Syndrome), stuck a screw driver/flash light in her back, and covered her mouth telling her “you stay right here.” “The Woman” says that she has repeatedly requested that the police investigate that aspect of the crime because Mike Young was in fact Shannon’s accomplice during this home invasion and shooting. None of these details are contained in police reports obtained by TPC in this case, Mike hasn’t been charged, and I asked MacClean if she was certain of the events that she described. She conveyed with certainty that she did identify Shannon Nyamodi as her assailant to police on the night of the shooting, and was persistent in her belief that his friend Mike Young had participated in the crime as she outlined.

However, “The Woman” says that she has since forgiven her daughter and young Shannon for what they have done. She has even requested that the State’s attorney offer Shannon a plea deal for his involvement because she wants the ordeal to be over, she realizes that Shannon has made a poor choice in his life, and doesn’t want him to spend the rest of his life in prison. She spoke regarding her faith and stated that her beliefs require her to have the power of forgiveness and wants Shannon to have a chance in life. “The Woman” says that she was anticipating going back to court regarding Shannon’s case last week, but his attorney is on vacation and honeymoon. She says that Shannon isn’t being treated unfairly by being locked up for so long, because his attorney continues to postpone the trial date.

“The Woman” also revealed that the state’s attorney in the case informed her that Elizabeth Crudup isn’t Shannon’s biological mother. The attorney told “The Woman” that Shannon was given up for adoption at a young age by a family in Africa with Royal bloodline. “The Woman” further explains that the “Royal Family” in Africa is paying Shannon’s legal fees. I am not sure how, even if it is determined to be factual, what relevance Shannon’s heritage or who pays is legal expenses factors in to the case. When pressed on these details “The Woman” simply said she is just conveying to me what the state’s attorney told her. Her comments in their entirety paint a different scenario of how the events of that night back in August 2012 actually unfolded, and followers of this case will have to deduct their own conclusions related to the credibility of what her commentary presents in relationship to police reports and court documents already presented for this case.

TPC Analysis Of Interview

Assuming that a rational and logical thinking person gives “This Woman’s” version of events related to this case full weight, as if her comments were in fact completely credible, then they would also have to conclude that her account in comparison to official documents in the case is extremely problematic. Any notion that would suggest that “The Woman” told the cops that night Shannon was in fact the person who shot her, in my opinion is completely and utterly untrue. We know this as a matter of fact because neither the Youngsville police nor the Franklin County sheriff’s office took Shannon Nyamodi into custody that night. Lt. M. Little’s report supports this as the youth was only questioned at the scene. Additionally, a search warrant application submitted to a county magistrate indicated that the teen had in fact confessed (although the actual document suggest that some one imputed this with a hand written addendum sometime after the document was created). Police officials wouldn’t have required an arrest warrant for Shannon, because according to “The Woman” she had already fingered the youth for the crime, and that would have been sufficient cause for his arrest on the spot. The fact that some one altered the search warrant application for Shannon’s home clearly suggest it was done so to bolster probable cause to obtain authorization to search his home, and would suggest that he hadn’t as a matter of fact been identified by the victim as her assailant for this crime.

You have a woman shot in the head who at least one officer admits in his report that he believed the woman was about to expire, and her alleged statement to them identifying Shannon as the person who shot her, would have presented a situation where cops more than likely would have pounced on the black youth, especially since a white woman had fingered him as having shot her in the face. Even if cops determined later that her account was inaccurate, the law in most state’s allow police agencies to detain potential suspects for at least 72 hours. Most agencies investigating a serious crime of this nature would siege such opportunity if for no other provocation but in the interest of public safety to insure a suspect doesn’t shoot or harm anyone else.

“The Woman’s” statements also drew further scrutiny to police reports obtained by TPC in the case. When we view the reports of Youngsville police officers Z. Phillip and M. Little, we clearly see that their reports were composed on different forms.  We also must take exception to the dates that each report indicate that they were created. Phillip’s report is in fact composed on what appears to be an Incident/Investigation Report form (probably the agency’s official document for such a report) and noted as having been composed on August 16, 2012. Most police agencies require officers submit a complete report immediate after their shift, especially when serious crimes occur. On the other hand, Lt. M. Little’s report is composed on what appears to be an Incident Supplementary Investigation form. Although the content of Little’s report would suggest that it’s his initial report for this crime, the document is dated August 20, 2012, and contains information from interviews the officer conducted with potential witnesses in the case which in fact occurred on August 17, 2012 a day after the crime had occurred.

As an experienced law enforcement officer who has composed thousands of incident reports, the diversity of the report forms the documents were composed on by these officers, along with contrasting dates suggest to me that Lt. M. Little had in fact rewritten his report all together 4 days after the actual crime occurred. Often times police officials are required to add supplementation to reports for a variety of reasons. An officer could have inadvertently omitted or forgot to include certain details in a report requiring additional information. The information is typically classified as a supplement to the officer’s initial report, and that’s why Supplementary Incident Report forms are designed to aid in this process. As a rule of thumb, to insure or dispel the appearance of integrity issues, officers almost never change the content of their original statements, baring supplemental reports as the only exception. Now in some agencies with storied past and histories of corruption, we see problems with official police reports all the time. In this case, Lt. M. Little appears to have composed his initial statement on a Supplementary Incident Report form.

The title of the form suggest on it’s face that the content contained in the report is an addition to some previously composed report. One might make the argument that perhaps the agency may have ran out of official Incident/Investigation Report forms similar to the form in which officer Z. Phillips composed his report on, but even if the benefit of doubt was given in this instance, it would not explain why Little’s report contained a narration consisting of information he should have entered in his initial report immediately after his shift on the night of the incident. His supplementary report should have only consisted of information he obtained on August 17, 2012 upon interviewing potential witnesses in the crime. I’ll give even more benefit of the doubt to this officer’s report while crediting a possible lack of appropriate forms being on hand at the time his report was composed, but even in that scenario the report should have been composed on blank paper to avoid the suspicion that the document was some how recomposed or altered from it’s original form. Then again. the fact that the report indicates it was composed 4 days after the actual crime on August 20, 2012 creates further suspicion related to the document’s development.

When we consider “The Woman’s” account she offered during my interview with her, juxtaposed to the incident report of Lt. M. Little (the officer who initially interviewed her at the scene that night), it’s simply unconscionable that a ranking police officer would forget to include a crucial statement by the victim in his official report for a serious felony crime that the victim had communicated to him Shannon Nyamodi was the person who shot her, is not only incredible but simply unbelievable. In fact, none of the documents related to this case obtained by TPC indicates that any law enforcement officer was told by “The Woman” that Shannon Nyamodi shot her in the face. The only document which suggest he shot her is the search warrant application with a suspicious handwritten addendum stating that the youth confessed to the crime. The fact that the police official who submitted that application believed the youth had confessed, demonstrates he/she were unaware of the alleged confession, or the official purposely falsified the document which still suggest that Shannon had not been identified as her shooter to police.

“The Woman” tells TPC that as she first walked out of her bedroom (on the second floor) she saw a closet door move which frightened her. That would indicate that the subject closet was on the same floor as her bedroom. I can’t help but wonder why she never investigated the moving door prior to going downstairs. She further states that upon going downstairs she observed a man in her house, but confusingly admits she thought the man had left or had hidden in the bathroom. She says she opened her daughter’s bedroom door and asked “who was that” when Shannon emerged from the bathroom and shot her in the face. Assuming the bathroom was in close proximity of the daughter’s bedroom when the shooting occurred, it would support her suspicion that who ever shot her had in fact hidden in the bathroom.

This account is entirely different from what Lt. M. little, a trained ranking officer indicated in his police report. According to Lt. Little’s report “The Woman” stated that when she went downstairs she saw a man and asked her daughter “what she was doing” and someone hit her in the head with the pole from behind her sliding door. Little’s report went on to say “The Woman” went down and while choking on blood and bleeding profusely when she heard her daughter say “she’s dead, the money is up here come on hurry.” Little’s report also reveals that “The Woman”, although she was seriously wounded, had the presence of mind to notice that her daughter and “some one else” stepped over her, leaving her on the floor bleeding. That’s what Little’s report indicates despite the “The Woman’s’ claims during her interview with me in which she claims to have positively identify Shannon Nyamodi as her assailant.

If “The Woman” had identified her shooter, it’s disturbing that Lt. Little didn’t indicate that statement in his report. Little only describes “The Woman’s” comments repeatedly in his report as “someone”, which suggest that the woman was uncertain who had stuck her with a pole (not shot her). I am concerned that she described during our interview, Shannon as having shot her with complete certainty after he emerged from the bathroom, but unable to identify anyone the night that Little questioned her at the scene. Also, she told TPC that Shannon came from out of the bathroom while telling Lt. Little that some one struck her from behind her sliding door. We do know based on little’s report that the sliding door is within close proximity of the daughter’s bedroom, because he described the area while going in side with someone to retrieve the victim’s youngest daughter, 13 who is handicapped (down syndrome) from the house. Little’ describes a sliding door being a jar, blood splatter in the hallway, front door, and an even larger pile of blood in the daughter’s room where she says she was when she was shot.

Little even indicates in his report that he took pictures with his cell phone while careful not to compromise the integrity of the crime scene. The report also revealed that Little noted a closet inside the victim daughter’s bedroom with a large amount a blood on the floor consistent with her having been on the floor after being shot. Little’s statement in his report is cause for concern related to “The Woman’s” statement to TPC. She only described a closet door when she first walked out of her bedroom on the second floor. She also told TPC that Shannon came out of a bathroom when she opened her daughter’s room door downstairs. So, it’s confusing why Little indicated in his report that she stated “someone” struck her with a pole from behind her sliding door. Clearly Little’s statement from the witness indicates she didn’t identify the person who attacked her, but more importantly the inconsistency in her account raises serious concern whether she actually could identify anyone as having been the person who shot her in the face.

Perhaps the most compelling portion of “The Woman’s” comments to TPC which establish unreliability in her statement is that she believes that Michael Young, Shannon’s friend and who resides at the neighboring home where she fled to for help, is believed by her to be complicit in the crime also. She stated during the interview that Michael also entered her home that night, went to her youngest daughter’s bedroom (on the first floor), covered the child’s mouth with his hands, while pointing an object (which she appeared confused about) in her back, and stating “you stay right here.” I question how she could have known this because her daughters rooms were separate locations in the house, and she had only been in her 16 year old daughter’s room a few moments, by her own account, momentarily when she was shot in the face. Did her daughter handicapped with Down Syndrome communicate this to her after the fact? This seems unlikely considering that Lt. Little along with another person from a neighbor’s home who knew her went to retrieve the child from inside of the house. The child’s inability to exit the home on her own accord highlights the severity of her disability, and with no reports existing by any of the officers at the scene that night suggesting that she had been interviewed by police revealing “The Woman’s” assertion that she was being held while the shooting and robbery transpired creates a lack of credibility to support Mike Young’s involvement in the case.

The officers reports don’t mention any of these claims by the victim, and more importantly, if she some how had the ability to gain knowledge of her accusations while the crime was occurring (highly improbable), why on earth did she run to Mike Young’s home for help? This demonstrates that her belief that Mike was involved had to have come after the shooting and robbery occurred. Information provided to TPC by sources with knowledge of the case suggest that “The Woman” may have implicated Mike’s involvement to counter his support of Shannon, and his grandmother’s comment she made to Lt. Little that Shannon was outside in the truck when the victim came to their home for help. This would also suggest that the victim statements to TPC were constructed to support the charges Shannon Nyamodi now faces related to this crime, which causes reexamination of Lt. M. Little’s report being composed on a Supplementary Incident Report form.

Sources say that police reports did exist describing the victim having told Little that Shannon wasn’t the person who shot her in the face. The awkwardness of what appears to be Little’s initial statement compiled with information from an interview with a potential witness the day after the crime, suggest that the report was composed on the Supplementary form 4 days later in an effort to conceal a previously composed report by Lt. Little, that contained “The Woman’s” statements in which she exonerated Shannon from his involvement in her shooting.  This would also mean that the victim has purposely altered her initial statements to the police. Many following the case question whether the victim’s sudden redirection of her account is related to assisting her daughter facing criminal charges for her role in the crime. There is no information available regarding the final disposition of her daughter’s case. View copies of the police reports of Z. Phillip and Lt. M. Little below while taking care to notice the heading or title of their individual forms their reports were composed on, as well as the dates indicated establishing when the reports were submitted:

Alleged Evidence

Moreover, “The Woman” alleges that DNA evidence was obtained in the crime when a blood stained shirt believed to have belonged to Shannon was discovered stuffed in a near by car. There is no indication in the victim’s statement establishing when police obtained the item, but Shannon’s mother previously revealed to TPC that Shannon had held the woman while comforting her until EMS arrived, and at some point took his shirt off because of the danger of blood borne pathogens, putting it on top of his truck, and was going to change shirts before police arrived questioning him. This would explain why the youth was shirtless when the cops arrived. Elizabeth Crudup also told TPC that the shirt in evidence was obtained by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) a week after the crime, and after Shannon had been arrested. She says the shirt remained on her son’s truck all that time in the elements before it was confiscated as evidence.

Her account is reinforced by the Young family who stated that the SBI knocked on the family’s door to inform them that they were there for the purpose of searching the truck in the yard for evidence. Ms. Crudup says the SBI not only took her son’s shirt, but also confiscated his music equipment (i.e. guitar, amplify, etc.). Any documentation of the agency’s inventory log from the search should indicate the actual date the SBI obtained possession of the items. This further draws suspicion as to why Shannon was arrested and charged with the crime within a twelve hour time period, when articles with DNA evidence possibly linking the teen to the crime was obtained days after his arrest. Also, “The Woman” stated to TPC that some of the money stolen in the robbery along with the alleged weapon used in the crime was obtained by the sheriff’s office a week after the crime. How could cops have linked his DNA or fingerprints to those items when police obtained them after Shannon had been taken into custody. The strongest part of my argument here is that Shannon Nyamodi had no criminal past, meaning he didn’t have traceable fingerprints in any criminal database, that would cause police to link him for prints obtained in their forensic discovery within the home where the crime occurred. They would only have had his prints available upon his arrest, booking, and subsequent fingerprinting which would have been his first of any kind in his life.

The search warrant for Shannon’s address listed as 116 Shearin Court was filed with the Franklin County C.S.C on August 20, 2012 at 10:51 a.m., and on the same day Lt. Little composed his Supplementary Incident Report in the case. The Search Warrant document had a box checked indicating that the warrant wasn’t executed in 48 hours as prescribed by the authorizing magistrate, and was returned not executed to the Franklin County, County Sheriff Clerk. The SBI was the agency charged with conducting the search, which they did inn fact execute, based of the Young family’s account in which they describe the shirt, and Shannon’s music equipment being confiscated. It’s unclear why the warrant was returned not executed when they in fact did search the truck on the Young’s property. A closer evaluation of these facts, shows that the warrant was turned back in not executed, probably because it would  reveal the actual date that the SBI obtained the alleged blood stained shirt, days later which police believed belong to Shannon Nyamodi. The SBI officer who submitted the warrant back to the County Clerk’s officer did in fact submit a falsified document, more than likely to mislead the court that a search was not executed. This shows at least one officer of the SBI complicity in what appears to be a conspiracy to convict an innocent man. By eliminating the execution of the search warrant, police can now claim that the blood stained shirt was discovered at anytime, like the night of the shooting, and justify taking Shannon into custody at such an early stage of the investigation. Yet, it’s highly doubtful that either of the investigating agencies could have processed DNA samples in such a short period of time, making Shannon’s arrest highly suspect at best.We see that the wheels of conspiracy began spinning on August 20, 2012 by observing the Franklin County Court Clerk’s stamp on Shannon’s search warrant, validating the time and date the document was submitted to the court. View Shannon’s search warrant document below taking care to notice how the document has a box with a an x mark indicating the warrant was not executed, and the County Clerk’s stamp validating when it was submitted to the courts:

“The Woman’s” comment which suggest that Shannon was allegedly seen at the abandoned building where the money and weapon were found earlier that day is only a circumstantial element of this case, and quite frankly way too convenient to even give such a perspective any credible weight what-so-ever. Other reports circulating in media which many say points to Shannon’s premeditation of this crime, where a young white male conveys that Shannon had advised him “if something happens and the cops question you, say I was at your house all night,” may be a fabricated story by one of the real perpetrators of the crime that witnesses in the community have fingered. The young man who made the statement, and one of the state’s star witnesses seen describing Shannon’s premeditation on the news is actually a male name Steven, believed to be a relative of the Sheriff whose agency is investigating the crime, and who witnesses have submitted an image of to TPC with him holding a rifle and wearing a black hoodie similar to the style in which Lt. Little indicates in his report that he was told by witnesses that the man fleeing the home after the shooting was wearing, upon his arrival at the scene that night.View the image below:

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The text messages which are suppose to have been obtained by police in the case should make for a very interesting piece of discovery evidence if the case ever makes it to trial, considering Shannon didn’t own a cellphone. His mother told TPC that the youth sold his phone when he initially began working to be able to afford lunch money for work. “The Women’s” comment regarding the cellphone SIM card that her daughter attempted to destroy may have text data on it linking some conspirator to the crime, but it’s believed by Shannon’s mother that the text exchange doesn’t link to a phone owned by her son. The more and more the documents and statements obtained in this case are examined, it becomes quite clear to the intelligent mind that a disturbing picture of a conspiracy exist to frame an innocent man for this crime.

Conclusion

Finally, “The Women” indicated that she didn’t feel that Shannon was being held unjustly nor treated unfairly by the courts. She stated that there were plans to go back to court next week in Shannon’s case in which she planned to plead to the state’s attorney to offer the teen a deal, in what she continuously described as her Christian posture of forgiveness in this case. I advised her that I was Go Fearing as well, but unlike her I don’t think that I share her sentiment toward a person I believe had shot me in the face. She conveyed that the only thing prohibiting Shannon’s case from moving forward was his attorney’s constant request for postponement in the case. Clearly that assertion is incorrect because TPC has already produced documents which reveal a motion by the state’s attorney to have the case removed from the court’s Management Docket System, and which was in fact approved by Judge Hight on February 2o, 2013. It’s statements like that from “The Women”  coupled with other inconsistent comments which stand in staunch contrast to established reports that hurts the credibility of this woman who claims to have been the victim in this case.

Moreover, the the opinion of many within the Franklin County, North Carolina community where the crime occurred, as seen in the thread of the Franklin County News Online Facebook Group, would suggest that the case against young Shannon Nyamodi is so solid that it’s a complete outraged that the case hasn’t been resolved. I concur with these sentiments regarding the manner in which the state has failed to expedite this case, but our collective concern for the state’s lack of forward motion should raise serious discussion and suspicion as to why it has taken so long to dispose of, if so many people believe the state’s case is a smoking gun. Shady and falsified police documents, inconsistent statements by the alleged witness (if you believe the woman I interviewed was in fact the actual victim), unexplained justification for the speedy arrest of Shannon Nyamodi, and most importantly the state’s desire to hide the case within the court Management Docket System indefinitely should spell trouble for the strength of their case against this young man by even those who support the state’s belief of his guilt.

According to “The Women” the victim’s daughter has already had her case disposed of for her role in the crime, and is serving time in prison. Suspicion continues to linger if the woman I interviewed is in fact the victim in the case, related to her sudden redirection in statements she made related to who actually shot her. Shannon has been locked up in the Franklin County jail now for nearly 15 months, and the state has removed his case file from the court system. There are no criminal proceedings currently within the state of North Carolina’s entire database which suggest that criminal charges against him are pending. The state’s request for a motion of “Exceptional” status raises suspicion from other legal professionals that TPC and other Advocacy organizations have brought to their attention regarding this case. If “The Women’s” belief that the state has very culpable, evidence sufficient to convict Shannon Nyamodi, why have they shelved this defendant’s case in their archives. That alone speaks volumes to just about every independent observer of this entire bizarre case.

It is the position of The People’s Champion Blog to convey information anyone offers to our advocacy process, and pertaining to every story with honesty, sincerity, as well as giving commenters a platform for which their voice may be heard. In this instance, even if I could establish with certainty that the woman who provided information in this article was in fact the actual victim, her story is extremely troubling related to this entire ordeal. We pray for both the victim, and the alleged perpetrator and their families that true justice is served. God speed.

To Be Continued ..

 

 

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams.

 

Nyamodi Youth Case May Be Greatest African American Human Rights Struggle Of Modern Time: Falsified Police Records, Corruption, And Ties To North Carolina Sheriff’s Office Spell Old Racist South Tactics To Keep Black Youth In Captivity

When we speak of human rights and captivity it sparks painful reminders of America’s Bull Conner days in racist Alabama during the heights of the Civil Rights Movement in this country. In 2013 the U.S. has a black man seated in the oval office, and the racist days of human subjugation, persecution, and the brutalization of colored people in America are supposed to only be a memory of America’s ugliest and darkest days of the past. Sadly, some southern states along with it’s police, town councils, and peculiar legislation continue to remind the American public that the plight of black people in this country isn’t such a distant memory after all. In North Carolina a serious human rights case cries out to the masses to free one our indigenous children from the shackles of racism and injustice of North Carolina’s criminal justice system.

Police say 18 year old Shannon Nyamodi was the trigger man who shot a Franklin township North Carolina woman in the face late August in 2012, but the victim swore to cops that the youth wasn’t her assailant. In what police have described as a murder for hire scheme in which the victim’s own 15 year old daughter allegedly paid the Nyamodi youth with pills, sex, and cash has turned into perhaps one of the greatest human rights struggles in modern time. Documents obtained from the investigation paint a troubling and disturbing culture of corruption within this small southern town’s sheriff department.

The Sheriff whose agency is conducting the investigation into this violent crime (Jerry W. Jones) is believed to be a relative of two individuals that several witnesses within the community have stated were the actual perpetrators of this horrible crime. The victim Rhonda Maclean, 43 told cops that night that Shannon Nyamodi wasn’t the person who shot her in the face. Reports from the Youngstown police department supports her claims, and convey that the shooter had already fled the scene, while the Nyamodi youth was still there after coming to the wounded woman’s aid when she fled her home with her assailant and her own daughter searching her bedroom to steal a bank bag containing $65,000.00 dollars.

Maclean was an employee of a local Franklin county Dentist office who transported cash on a regular basis for her employer, and cash she was known to have in her home is believed to be the motive for this crime. Despite Nyamodi coming to the injured woman’s aid, remaining at the scene of the crime, and giving the cops a statement that night, he was still some how implicated in the home invasion. The victim even told police that her daughter was involved in her shooting and robbery at the home. Nyamodi’s mother says her son bares a striking resemblance to her and as she walks throughout the community, a volume of citizens have approached her, while conveying “Your Shannon’s mom right? You know he didn’t do it right?”

In fact there are a volume of people, including witnesses from the scene that night who say that another man name Derrick was the actual shooter, and several people say he boastfully bragged about committing the crime hours after the shooting occurred. Additionally, the man along with his brother Steven who citizens in the surrounding community named as the perpetrators, posted images on social media with one of them posing with a volume of cash the very next day. The man was also wearing clothing identical to what witness say the perpetrator was wearing the night he was observed fleeing from the scene.

Considering the magnitude of these facts it’s troubling that a young black man remains behind bars in a North Carolina jail cell when compelling evidence exist which exonerate him from involvement in the crime. TPC’s investigation into this case reveals disturbing information related to not only the Franklin county Sheriff department, but the town council as well. Sheriff Jerry W. Jones has a storied past in which he was actually removed from office when he lost his bid for reelection of the county’s Sheriff post, but some how county officials were able to remove the elected sheriff, and reinstated Jones as the appointed Sheriff for the county. TPC is currently looking into what exactly happened in the incident.

However, Sheriff Jones bares a striking resemblance to Derrick and Steven who citizens have fingered for the crime. Rumors circulating throughout the community establishing that the pair are in fact relatives of the Sheriff only heightens suspicion that something is drastically amiss with the prosecution of young Shannon Nyamodi. The strange circumstance related to $61,000.00 dollars of the stolen money along with the alleged weapon used in the shooting, somehow, strangely, and mysteriously being obtained by the sheriff’s office a very short time after the crime, gives rumors of the sheriff’s possible involvement a tremendous amount of credibility. Shannon Nyamodi and the alleged 15 year old accomplice were both in custody at the time the evidence was discovered. Common sense makes it clear that at least one other person either had the items and prompted police regarding the items location, or the sheriff’s office had advance insight into who the perpetrators were beyond what they have disclosed publicly.

Shaky Case from The Start

While viewing documents in the case TPC discovered that Nyamodi’s arrest wasn’t simply a mere rush to judgement. Details within police reports demonstrate that the youth was targeted based on very weak, and unsubstantiated facts in the case. The duty report of Youngstown Lt. Little indicates that an alleged CI (Confidential Informant) told him that another man overheard a conversation between the victim’s daughter and Shannon Nyamodi planning to kill her mother weeks prior to the actual crime. The fact that those details suddenly were made known to cops after the incident, cast serious credibility of the CI’s motivation for telling police now, and arouses serious integrity issues which question why the information wasn’t provided sooner to preempt such a violent crime. The officer requested the man overhearing the allege conversation come into the office to give a statement. There are no records in the case file which suggest that cops ever met with the man, as witness statements of this nature are typically provided in writing at police request, which is a normal standard operation procedure.

In fact, these hearsay statements appear to be how cops made young Shannon a suspect in the case. The report also reveals statement’s from the victim who implicated her own daughter in the crime. Rhonda Maclean told cops that her daughter didn’t assist her after she became aware of her mother’s injuries. Maclean also said she overheard her daughter telling someone to come up here moments after being shot. Maclean’s insistence that Nyamodi wasn’t the person who shot her, highlights how the hearsay comments implicating Nyamodi is why the cops should have been more diligent in pursuing other leads in the case.

 

Elizabeth Crudup who is Shannon Nyamodi’s mother, says the story that police used to arrest her soon was just simply crazy and bizarre. The mom says her son was in a very committed relationship and it’s doubtful that he would have been having sex with the victim’s daughter. The cops also told news media outlets that Shannon was known to frequent the home of the teen girl and her mother, but Ms. Crudup says although her son and the teen girl attended the same school, her son didn’t know the girl. According to Lt. M. Little’s incident report, a grandmother from a neighboring home where the crime occurred (116 Shearin Court) told police that Shannon stays in the truck outside of their home sometimes. Her statements substantiate that Shannon was known to sleep in the truck at his friend’s house adjacent to the Maclean home, and supports Shannon’s statement that he was asleep in his truck when he was awakened by gunfire. The officer’s report also indicates that during his initial questioning of the victim, that she said she saw a man in her house and asked her daughter what was he doing here, before being struck with a pipe.

The victim actually saw the man who attacked her and subsequently shot her in the face. If that person was in fact Shannon Nyamodi she would have been able to tell police that he was her assailant. That’s not what happened, the woman told police the exact opposite, and it’s unclear why cops suddenly obtained an arrest warrant for Shannon Nyamodi the same day of the shooting during such early stages of their criminal investigation into the crime. The shooting occurred around 2:30 a.m. on the 16th of August 2012, and by 3:10 p.m. late that afternoon, according to his Arrest Warrant Notice of Service, cops apparently had obtained enough information to charge Shannon with attempted murder. It’s interesting to note that police believed they had sufficient probable cause in only a 12 hour time frame to charge Shannon Nyamodi with stealing the victim’s .22 caliber  rifle (suspected to have been used in the crime), and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill in the woman’s shooting.

A search warrant for 109 Shearin Court where the shooting occurred was obtained and executed on August 16, 2012 also. The warrant gave search and seizure authorization for a variety of potential forensic evidence which could identify possible suspects in the crime. Considering the turn around most DNA samples require for processing and authentication, it’s simply miraculous that the cops were able to name anyone as a possible suspect within 12 hours, when DNA samples hadn’t been obtained from the victim, nor the two alleged suspects in the case. Moreover, any finger prints obtained from the crime scene couldn’t have been linked to Shannon Nyamodi, because the youth didn’t have a criminal past, his latent prints wouldn’t have been in any local or national databases like the National Criminal Investigation Center (NCIC), and the youth had not been taken into custody, finger printed and booked on the charges yet.

Therefore, Shannon’s arrest is highly suspicious when we evaluate the time it takes most most police agencies investigating serious crimes of this nature to process forensic evidence.  It’s even more confusing that cops charged Shannon with larceny of the victim’s .22 caliber rifle, when the search warrant for the victim’s residence has her .22 caliber rifle listed within the inventory of items seized from her home when they searched the premises. View the search and seizure warrant from 109 Shearin Court below:

Following the logical process that police would take while establishing the perpetrators, motive, and culpable evidence to secure a conviction in this crime it’s understandable that warrants and other court ordered procedures should take place as part of the criminal justice process. So, it’s just bizarre that a search warrant was issued for Shannon Nyamodi’s residence but was never executed. It’s not quite clear how police planned to establish or prove as a matter of fact that Shannon had stolen the victim’s rifle. Keep in mind there couldn’t have been DNA evidence nor fingerprint trace evidence linking the youth to the crime at the time of his arrest (3:10 p.m. 8/16/2012), which heightens suspicion that the youth was locked up prematurely. Besides the sheriff’s was supposed to have obtained possession of the weapon a short time after the crime. See Shannon’s search and seizure, and arrest warrant below:

 

Furthermore, It’s troubling that Shannon Nyamodi was arrested in such short period of time, when according to Lt. M. Little’s report, he hadn’t obtained information from the CI (who says another man implicated Nyamodi) until 4:30 p.m. on August 17, 2012 which was the following day after the shoting. Police have conveyed to the media exactly what the unidentified witness told cops, establishing what appears to be their only probable cause for arresting the youth. Hearsay is typically never allowed to be entered into evidence in a court of law, especially statements of the he said, she said variety. The sheriff’s office were either psychic having knowledge that a witness would be coming forward with information to implicate Shannon, causing them to decide to arrest him before hand, or they arrested the youth and fabricated a story about his involvement. The evidence points to the later of these scenarios.

Human Rights Violation

It’s simply unconscionable that the 15 year daughter of the victim, whom her mother has implicated as being complicit in her shooting and robbery, had her case disposed of in the juvenile courts while young Shannon Nyamodi remains locked up in a North Carolina jail cell. The child who was already embroiled in the juvenile justice system and on probation, somehow was able to wiggle her way out of prosecution for the crime all together, and is walking free today. That extremely alarming fact pertaining to the case juxtapose to the victim having told cops that Shannon wasn’t her assailant, perhaps is the greatest crime surrounding the entire ordeal.

Elizabeth Crudup tells TPC that her family retained well known criminal defense attorney (a former North Carolina state prosecutor) Maitry “Mike” Klinkosum to represent her son. She believes that Klinkosum has been counter productive in assisting her son in gaining his freedom. Crudup says early on when it became clear that Klinkosum wasn’t acting in the best interest on her son’s behalf, he was instructed to stay away from Shannon. The family was in the process of retaining a $30,000.00 check Klinkosum received for Shannon’s defense when he went behind their backs, visited Shannon at the jail, and tricked the youth into signing documents which named him his legal counsel.

Crudup justifies the family’s earlier fears regarding Klinkosum’s representation of Shannon by pointing out that he continues to encourage the youth to “take a deal” with the state on his attempted murder charges. Ms. Crudup says that her son has been defiant at such request, because he knows that he is innocent and simply came to the victim’s aid in this case. Klinkosum manipulated the family and had himself established on record as Shannon’s legal counsel, and displayed his poor representation of the youth by agreeing to allow the state to shelf Shannon Nyamodi’s criminal case in the North Carolina court management docket system archives indefinitely. A move that has caused the youth to remain locked up for over a year with no indication by the state of their plans to resume prosecution of him.

Shannon Nyamodi is in fact being held in captivity by the State of North Carolina with no legal proceedings pending against him. No criminal case against Shannon can be found within the state’s entire criminal database. On what grounds are they holding him? His case is a direct human rights concern for all American citizens, as his constitutional right to a speedy trial, and civil rights have been violated in a case that State prosecutors have not shown any signs of addressing anytime soon. View the Judge’s order below, granting a motion by the state  to remove Shannon Nyamodi’s case from the court management docket system, until such time the state’s attorney puts it back on:

case removal

Corruption

None of the paperwork TPC has obtained in the Shannon Nyamodi case appear to be very compelling to establish the youth’s involvement in this crime, but only records from the Youngstown police department were made available. The sheriff’s office has denied access to any records pertaining to this case, despite the fact they are public record and in violation of North Carolina statue. A freedom of Information Act request will more than likely have to be made in order to obtain what information they have justifying Shannon’s charges, and subsequent cause for continued detention.

It doesn’t take rocket science to conclude that their case against Shannon is weak. Records indicate that a police official with access to the case file went so far as to falsify the Franklin County Sheriff’s Application for a Search Warrant submitted by Cpt. William J. Mitchell. The document was submitted on August 17, 2012 with seven probable causes for the warrant being granted. However, a hand written addendum as the eighth probable cause for the warrant was added on the document, and that item states that Shannon Nyamodi had confessed to the conspiracy to commit murder and did admit to the involvement of the 15 year old co defendant listed in the case. The hand written supplement to the document is suspect at the very least. Although the addendum has the author’s initials listed in the are where it was imputed, there clearly was no effort to type a supplement to the document, and signed by the author which is typically done with official records that are being presented to a judge or magistrate related to a felony crime.

It’s also highly doubtful that the composer of the application would forget to include such a valuable piece of information. Let’s be realistic, Shannon was suppose to have allegedly confessed to the crime, and the officer forgot to include that as part of his application is what the handwritten addendum on the application tells us. I’m not buying it, and it appears that some one simply went to the case file and wrote that information in to bolster probable cause to obtain a search warrant.  View the Application for a search warrant below:

When a suspect is questioned or interrogated for a crime, the interview is typically recorded in some fashion. If the suspect confesses to a crime, that’s usually recorded separately because it’s the most compelling evidence a prosecutor can present to a judge or jury during court proceedings, and also normally results in a plea of guilty or a plea deal. Often times police officials request that the suspect write his confession in his own words. No documentation or recordings exist that would suggest that Shannon had confessed to the crime. If the prosecutor has such compelling evidence against Shannon in this case, it should be a slam dunk, and know need for the state to hide the case within it’s docket archives. The youth’s mother told TPC that he has been consistent with his position that he isn’t guilty of any wrong doing in this crime. Many followers of this story believe that the state along with Shannon’s own defense counsel are attempting to wear him down in hopes that he will eventually plea guilty to at least some aspect of the charges against him. For all intent and purposes and from what his mother has indicated to TPC, that will never happen. Mean while a habeas corpus document, which would compel the court to immediately bring Shannon Nyamodi in to court to secure his release or present evidence for his lawful detention, has been submitted to the court, and to the warden of the correctional facility where Shannon is being detained.

On July 26, 2013 Judge Henry W. Hight Jr. issued an order in the case which was for the purpose of determining to release the $61,000.00 dollars that the sheriff’s office had obtained as evidence in the case, back to the victim. All parties to the proceedings, including the state’s attorney, counsel for the unnamed juvenile, and attorney Klinkosum representing Shannon Nyamodi, all had sufficient opportunity to do testing for trace evidence on the money. The juvenile’s counsel declined testing, and Klinkosum only took pictures while examining the money, and the state advised the court that it had no desire to test the money. Therefore, Judge Hight released the cash back to Ms. Maclean. This would establish that the state doesn’t even have forensic evidence linking Shannon to the money taken in the home invasion and shooting. The entire case against this young man stinks, but they have held him in captivity for over a year, while essentially hiding his court file within their archives indefinitely. We pray that he will make an appearance in court soon to establish what grounds he is currently being incarcerated. We pray that God moves on behalf of this youth and his mother. Please continue to follow this gripping human rights story. View Judge Hight’s order releasing the money back to the victim below:

The rumors circulating around in Franklin County, North Carolina indicating that the sheriff investigating this crime is in fact related to two other man that a volume of citizens have publicly named as the actual perpetrators in this crime sure bare a striking resemblance of the County’s sheriff  whose agency investigated this case. Take a look for yourself.

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To Be Continued ..

Sources:

Kulture Kritic

Free Shannon Nyamodi Homepage

 

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

North Carolina Unjustly Holds Black Man In Captivity: Habeas Corpus Filed To Free Shannon Nyamodi In Bizarre Murder For Hire Case

He had just left a gig with a local band that he performed with for venues in small Youngstown, N.C.. Young Shannon Nyamodi was a recent high school grad working as an electrician assistant who had plans of joining the military later on in the year of 2012, but Shannon’s dreams of serving his country in the armed forces were soon dashed when he became embroiled in a murder for hire case, that landed the 18 year old Carolina native in a state jail cell. On April 16, 2012 Shannon arrived at a friend’s home after performing with his band. Exhausted from the show, Shannon fell asleep in his truck outside of the house. He was shortly awakened by the sound of gunfire, and as he looked around he saw a white woman running from an adjacent home bleeding profusely about her head.

Shannon immediately exited his vehicle and ran to the woman’s aid. She told him that someone had shot her and that her daughter was involved. Shannon gazed up at the house where the woman had fled and observed a white male running away from the house. Shannon notified emergency response personnel to aid the woman, and remained at the scene comforting her until help arrived. When the cops arrived, the woman also told them that her daughter was involved in the shooting. She told police that a bank envelope containing $50,000.00 dollars was in her bedroom, and believed that’s what the shooter was after.

Rhonda Maclean, 43 told cops that she heard a noise at her home and subsequently discovered some one had gained entry to the house. A man shot her in the face and while she lay wounded on the floor, she overheard her 16 year old daughter say “she’s dead, the money is upstairs, come on hurry up.” Maclean then told police that two people stepped over her and proceeded to the upstairs of the home. She said that’s when she got up an ran to a neighboring home (where Shannon was outside asleep) for help. The women’s minor daughter claimed to have been downstairs in the home when the incident occurred, but the victim’s statements to police contradicts her claim. After being shot the woman says she overheard her daughter directing someone to “hurry up”.

This would mean the daughter at least had to have been somewhere in close proximity upon her mom getting shot. In the child’s statements to police she said she overheard her mother screaming followed by gun shots, and she went upstairs to investigate while observing a white male fleeing from the home. As a seasoned investigator that statement drew suspicion on my part, because it’s highly doubtful that an unarmed teen girl would immediately run directly into harms way after hearing such horrifying occurrences upstairs. Common sense would illicit most people to wait, listen, and get a better feel for what’s going on while calling for help prior to running into what could be a potentially life threatening situation.

Besides, the shooting victim had already implicated her own daughter in the shooting which left a whole in her cheek with the bullet passing through her head and exiting somewhere behind her ear. The dynamics of the victims statements should have been sufficient probable cause to take the teen girl into custody that night. The girl and Shannon Nyamodi where arrested in the late morning hours the following day on April 17, 2012. Shannon’s arrest came as a complete surprise to his family and friends. The victim herself had told cops that young Shannon wasn’t involved. She would have known this because she described the shooter and possibly her daughter stepping over her, and she encountered Shannon Nyamodi outside when she ran for help. Shannon, the victim’s daughter, and other witness all describe a white male wearing a white T-shirt, black pants, and a blue Carolina panthers baseball style cap fleeing the home immediately after the shooting.

Shannon never fled the scene and even gave police a statement that night. After all, the aspiring soldier was doing the right thing any normal citizen encountering a bleeding woman in distress. However, somewhere between 2:30 a.m. (time of the actual crime) and late morning the next day, police obtained enough evidence to charge Shannon along side the victim’s daughter for attempted murder. Media reports reveal that cops say they have Facebook post and text messages which reveal a planned murder for hire plot between the teen girl and Shannon, but none of the police reports or investigative documentation obtained in the case point to such a scenario. In fact Facebook images indicate perhaps the cops knowingly falsely arrested Shannon Nyamodi from the start.

Days after the shooting rumors began to circulate throughout the community that two young white males were in fact responsible for the shooting and robbery at the Maclean home. One of the youth even posted pictures of himself with a lot of cash  the very next day. His clothing in the picture is identical to what witnesses say the allege shooter was wearing the night he fled the scene.

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This is only circumstantial evidence related to the youth’s potential involvement, but rumors within the community naming him as the actual gunman are predicated primarily on witness statements provided to Shannon’s mother that he boastfully bragged about having committed the shooting and robbery hours after the crime had occurred. These details have always provided police agencies with enough suspicion to at least bring a potential suspect in for questioning, but it’s the identical match in clothing of this youth compared to statements witness told police at the scene that night, coupled with a volume of cash that creates serious suspicion why the cops never even pursued this possible lead in the case. The youth is described by citizens within the community as a troubled, unemployed youth, living at home in his parent’s trailor.

Perhaps other rumors that have surfaced regarding this particular youth having relatives working in the town’s sheriff department investigating the case may explain why he never became a person of interest. Ironically, the money along with the gun allegedly used in the crime, strangely and mysteriously found it’s way into the hands of the sheriff’s office, and all while Shannon Nyamodi and his alleged teenage accomplice had already been taken into custody and charge with the shooting. Clearly this indicates involvement of at least another individual, who at the very minimum conspired with the perpetrator(s) in this bizarre shooting and robbery scheme. Who had the money? Is it possible that the cops allowed someone to simply turn in tangible culpable evidence related to a serious violent crime? Even if they simply dropped it off while no one was looking, that individual should possibly have been identified via security surveillance at the sheriff’s office. If you think these facts are over the top, just hold on to your seat, because it’s even more bizarre.

The victim’s teenage daughter (a white girl) has already had her charges and criminal case subsequently disposed of in the juvenile courts. Shannon’s mother tells TPC that the family has since left the town, and simply moved on. Ms. Elizabeth Crudup says she has been fighting tooth and nail to have her soon cleared of these charges, but she discovered the the state attorney’s office has requested the case be temporarily removed from the court’s docket system, and a judge Henry W. Hignt Jr. granted the state’s motion on February 20, 2013.  Take a glimpse of the court order below.

case removal

 

Take note that the order classifying the case as Exceptional, according to Judge Hignt was a mutual request by the state’s attorney and the attorney for the defendant. It’s simply unheard of for any defense counsel to agree on such a motion, especially considering the state of North Carolina no longer has a speedy trial statue, and while condoning such a motion would leave a defense client in limbo within the North Carolina criminal justice system indefinitely. Agreeing on such a condition is highly ill advised for any defense counsel. If the state fails to present sufficient evidence for a trial against a client, or good cause for postponement, the defense lawyer should counter with a motion to have the case thrown out or Nule Processed.

Although North Carolina repealed it’s speedy trial statue in 1989 (which required a case began within 120 days) North Carolina defendants have constitutional speedy trial rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. But those rights generally don’t “kick in” until a year has passed, at which point, courts apply a four-factor test to determine whether a defendant’s constitutional speedy trial rights have been compromised. Additionally, considering that Shannon’s co defendant’s case, who was implicated by her own mother, has been disposed of, it’s clear that the state has resolved to hold Shannon Nyamodi completely responsible for the entire ordeal. Other factors in Shannon’s defense debacle highlights efforts by his own lawyer’s repeated encouragement that the youth “cop a deal” with the state. The counselors endorsement of “Exceptional” status of this case may in fact be direct retaliation for the youth’s refusal to plea guilty to a crime for which he did not commit.

Similar tactics have been meted out in cases related to criminal defendants of color throughout the U.S. Criminal Justice System, but in North Carolina, one of the most stringent penal systems in the country, it’s legislation is designed to warehouse defendants for as long as possible regardless of their innocence or guilt. Even if the paperwork smells bad, state prosecutors are traditionally unrelenting in ushering weak criminal cases through the court system when the defendants are of a colored ethnicity. For example in Shannon’s case, one of the charges indicated that he is believed to have stolen the victim’s .22 caliber rifle, and an actual search warrant was issued for Elizabeth Maclean’s home. A close look at the bottom of the first row in the warrant reveals that it was never executed. Does this mean that police no longer believed that Shannon had stolen the victim’s rifle? He couldn’t have stolen the weapon, because cops  say the gun along with the cash had been mysteriously returned to police.

Search Warrant

Moreover, upon the sheriff’s office obtaining the weapon and money, the items didn’t yield Shannon’s fingerprints nor DNA. In fact, no compelling culpable evidence exist that points to Shannon Nyamodi’s alleged involvement in the shooting, robbery, or even a conspiracy related to this crime. Youngstown police reports only indicate that a police officer obtained information from a man who says that he overheard the victim’s teen daughter discussing her and Shannon’s plans to kill her mother weeks prior to the shooting. He is only implicated through hearsay witness statements, evidence which would never be allowed in a criminal court of law in most states. That information could be utilized by the state to build a case against the teenage defendant, because the man says he overheard the conversation. Most judges would not allow such testimony regarding a defendant who was implicated based on a conversation that some one overheard an alleged accomplice implications of him in a crime. It’s all hearsay and appears to be the only thing connecting Shannon Nyamodi to alleged involvement in this crime.

Youngtowns Police Report

If North Carolina state officials prosecuting this case had sufficient evidence to go to trial they would have never motioned for “Exceptional” status for this case. It’s quite apparent that the state is well aware that it’s case against this youth is extremely weak, and the test or standard to this perception is more indicative by the disposition of Shannon’s alleged co defendant’s case. If the state had plans to seriously pursue this case, it would simply have motioned for a postponement to have sufficient time to build it’s case, but we see they have utilize a common strategy of incarcerating young black men, and it’s legislation provides the legal muscle to accomplish such a task. Meanwhile, the state has removed the case from it’s system altogether, when young Shannon Nyamodi is being held in captivity indefinitely with no indication as to when the state will resume prosecution of the charges filed against him.

Now after Shannon has been incarcerated for over a year, his constitutional rights will kick in, but it’s a process that could take 4 years to test whether his constitutional rights have been compromised. His mother has desperately attempted to speak with the judge hearing the case and other court officials unsuccessfully. Recently a criminal justice advocacy group has composed a Habeas Corpus on behalf of her son. The document was presented to the warden of the prison in which he is being housed. The Corrections official has promised to present the document to the courts as early as Monday morning. The Habeas should present a strong argument requesting that the court release Shannon Nyamodi or present a lawful reason as to why he is being held in custody. An “Exceptional” status for any criminal case doesn’t mean forever, and hopefully a judge will wise up and realize that you cannot hold a defendant in captivity in America without any pending charges.

If all else fails I plan to assist Ms. Crudup in taking her son’s case to the Department of Justice in order that a Civil Rights investigation be launched into this case. Please follow this disturbing story, as our black children are continuously being targeted by unjust criminal justice systems within the American South. God be with this family and all of our youth who could fall prey to such injustice in the 21st century.

To Be Continued ..

 

 

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

A Holiday Season’s Greatest Gift: TPC Asked To Solicit Aid For Poor Displaced Children

Their faces are filled with cheer, joy, excitement, and the spirit of happiness many children experience on Christmas morning can only be trumped by the sadness that poor and disenfranchised kids endure, when for reason they could never understand, the abundance of goodwill, giving, and the glaring bright lights of the most festive time of the Christian holidays seems to have skipped their doorsteps again this year. It’s almost unfair some say, for Christmas, though largely a children’s holiday is the most celebrated religous event around the world, and whether you celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ or not you must submit to the universal ideology of love, compassion, and the spirit of giving that the holiday promotes around the globe.

Yet, the annual celebration sparks emotional and other despondent behavior by many who are left out in the cold, and on the doorsteps of prosperity. Christmas time is also the greatest period within society where depression, crime, and sadness engulfs struggling families. The rate of suicidal deaths also increase around Christmas, as some face the reality of their inability to provide gifts and material benevolence to their poor struggling families. The difficulties of having to explain to young children the family’s sub-par economic status is perhaps one of the most disheartening task many families are gripped with, while children from other families enjoy a seemingly more prosperous holiday. To small children words like economics, poverty, and unemployment is simply incomprehensible.

Children who aren’t developed in cultures which practice other religous philosophies are cast into an emotional state which has the potential of impacting their development, and until these children are more conformed individuals the unfortunate circumstance of poverty and economic depravity will more than likely met out serious psychological and self esteem disparity within small kids. A child’s inability to analyze their family’s financial status should be of no consequence to how holidays such as Christmas can be detrimental to early childhood development.

Many root causes of poverty such as single family homes, lost of spouse or significant others due to incarceration, or crime can play a major role in a family’s inability to provide their children with the full experience of religous holidays. Whether it’s hard times, a parent having fallen victim to violent crime, or other factors which create poor financial support for struggling families, the children often catch the brunt end of a family’s lack of economic prosperity.

The People’s Champion Blog has never had a request of this nature presented to us. A request has been made to support and solicit aid for one struggling family with small children for the Christmas holiday, and though I personally am not Christian I understand how poverty impacts poor and needy families particularly during this time of year. I am requesting that those of you within my readership base assist TPC in keeping it’s promise to a struggling family which has reached out for help during their difficult time. If you have ever been impacted by the lost of a loved one due to violence, or have experienced a rough patch in life, then I am certain you could emphasize with families experiencing financial hardship.

With that being said TPC has donated to the Wells-Dubois Institute, and are soliciting donations to support one family during this holiday season. Donations can be made via PayPal at Wells-Dubois Institute, and I encourage those who care, to give this family at least something to assist them during their financial hardship. Your donations of minimal generosity such as $1, $5, and $10 dollars will go a long way in providing essentials such as clothing, food, and shelter for this family to help them toward a better start for the New Year. If you know me, and have followed my advocacy work here at The People’s Champion Blog, you know that my word is backed up by my life, and I intend to do what I can to help one family this year as I promised (even on such short notice). Can you and will you help them? May God Bless you all for your support in this endeavor. God speed!

 

 

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

 

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