Discovery in inmate's cell leads to police protection for city attorney, federal and local judges
Two judges and a city attorney in Charlotte, North Carolina, were placed under police protection last month after their photos were found in an inmate’s prison cell.
Chief U.S. District Judge Frank Whitney, recently retired Superior Court Judge Richard Boner and Charlotte City Attorney Bob Hagemann, the Charlotte Observer reports, all confirmed to the newspaper that they were placed under police protection.
The photos were found in the prison cell of Jamell Cureton, one of three persons charged in a May 2014 armed robbery of a mattress store. One of the store owners shot Cureton during the confrontation; he and his wife were killed five months later when they opened the door of their home. Information about the items found in Cureton’s jail cell is under seal, but sources told the Charlotte Observer about the photos.
Prosecutors allege the couple was killed to prevent testimony against Cureton and the two other alleged perpetrators, one of whom is alleged to be a high-ranking member of the United Blood Nation gang, also known as UBN. Two others have been charged with the murder of the mattress store owners.
Whitney originally was the presiding judge in the case involving the attempted robbery of the mattress store; the case has since been reassigned.
Boner has also presided over cases involving UBN gang members.
A UBN member was charged in the kidnapping of the father of a North Carolina prosecutor, who was held for five days before he was rescued. A gang expert told the Charlotte Observer than UBN and other gangs are increasingly making threats against judges, prosecutors, police and witnesses.
Updated at 10:55 a.m. to eliminate repeated word.
