How screwed up are our Mecklenburg County Courts?

Well, you be “da judge”

On January 12, 2021, CMPD Officers attempted a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Tyree Jamichael Knight. A pursuit followed, then an accident and the suspect Knight was taken into custody.

Knight was booked into the Mecklenburg County jail on January 13, 2021, on the charge of Felony Flee/Elude Arrest with a motor vehicle. 

He was released on zero bond after less than 24 hours in custody.

Then the wheels of justice began to turn:

On 01/13/2021 a Motion/Order to Continue was granted.

On 03/05/2021 a Motion/Order to Continue was granted.

On 06/24/2021 a Motion/Order to Continue was granted.

On 07/28/2021 a Motion/Order to Continue was granted.

On 09/01/2021 a Motion/Order to Continue was granted.

On 11/16/2021 a Motion/Order to Continue was granted.

On 02/15/2022 a Motion/Order to Continue was granted.

On 04/04/2022 a Motion/Order to Continue was granted.

On 07/11/2022 a Motion/Order to Continue was granted.

On 09/20/2022 a Motion/Order to Continue was granted.

On 01/23/2023 a Motion/Order to Continue was granted.

On 07/15/2024 the case was dismissed.

Never mind that during this time Knight was arrested nearly a dozen times by CMPD. 

The charges include, Larceny from a person, Weapon on Campus, Discharging a Weapon into Occupied Property, Discharging a Weapon into a Moving Vehicle, Possession, Carrying a Concealed Weapon, Resisting Arrest, and Conspiracy to Discharge a Firearm into an Occupied Dwelling.

Every one of these cases were dismissed.

Finally on July 24, 2024, Tyree Knight was convicted of Discharging a Firearm into Occupied Property and Larceny from a Person.

His sentence was just 36 months’ probation.

Then his luck turned. On August 1, 2024, just one week after being given the best break of his life, at around 2335, CMPD Officers responded in reference a shooting into occupied dwelling call for service.

Upon arrival in the area officers observed a Dodge Charger driving in the neighborhood without any lights on. Officers decided to maintain visual on the vehicle as it pulled into dead-end street and seemingly waited for Officers to leave area. 

Once the Officers were out of sight the vehicle drove away with Officers following at a distance while they maintained visual on the suspect vehicle until it entered a driveway a short distance away. The Dodge Charger was displaying a North Carolina tag, which came back registered to Tyree Knight.  While Officers were watching the vehicle, the suspect later determined to be Knight got out of the driver side and began walking towards the shooting scene. 

While the vehicle was unoccupied, Officers noticed a firearm in plain view underneath the passenger seat. The driver of the vehicle was determined to be a recently convicted felon on probation. 

Based on this probable cause Officers searched the vehicle which revealed that the firearm they saw under the seat was an Anderson Manufacturing AM15, serial #21039853. (AM-15 is an AR style rifle and is not cheap around $900.00 unmodified) There were no other occupants observed getting out of the vehicle once the defendant left the area.

Tyree Jamichael Knight is now charged with Felon in Possession of a Firearm, Shooting into an Occupied Building and violating the terms of his probation. He is currently being held on $250,000.00 secured bond. 

Cedar Update:

Mecklenburg DA Spencer Merriweather dropped the charges against Knight and Meck County Sheriff Garry McFadden released habitual felon Tyree Knight back onto Charlotte Streets at 11:44 PM Thursday August 22nd. 

 

Third Hispanic Male Charged In Shamrock Drive Murder

Yesterday Thursday, August 8, 2024 CMPD detectives arrested Jonathan Rivera, 20, for the attempted armed robbery and shooting of 3 people and the murder of Jose Octavio Cruz, age 57.

Rivera was transported to the Law Enforcement Center to speak to detectives. At the conclusion of the interview, Mr. Rivera was transferred into the custody of the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office.

Jonathan Rivera, 20

And as with the two other suspects Kevin Jeremy Zetino, 19, and Adilio Cesar Garcia Lemus, 24, Rivera was also out on an unsecured bond having been released by the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office on July 23rd.

Rivera had been previously arrested on February 7th on B&E charges and released on zero bail hours later. Then he was arrested on June 23rd. Despite these arrests Rivera was released on no bail even though he had been charged with 24 felonies and had other outstanding prior charges. 

Charlotte Mecklenburg Police had previously charged both Kevin Jeremy Zetino, 19, and Adilio Cesar Garcia Lemus, 24 with Murder, Attempted Murder, Armed Robbery, Conspiracy to Commit Armed Robbery, First Degree Burglary, and Assault with a Deadly Weapon Intent to Kill or Inflict Serious Injury.

Cedar's Take:

First MCSO is terrible at recording hispanic names and identifying arrestees. Those pesky combination of surnames. Someone please tell Garry that Pérez- Quiñones is the last name not just Quiñones. In this case Rivera-Santos is the perps last name.

As in so many cases much of the MCSO data is conflicting or error prone.

No one can yet confirm his immigration status or if there is an outstanding ICE Detainer in effect.

But understand this Josh Stein and Garry McFadden's sanctuary city effort not to cooperate with the minimal efforts of ICE to protect our borders does nothing to protect law abiding citizens.

The number of hispanic arrestee in Mecklenburg County has exploded. As recently as four years ago you would be surprised to find one or two listed on the daily arrest blotter  

Two Charged With Murder Both With Ice Detainers Both Released Days Prior

You could not make this up it you tried. Two hispanic illegals both with ICE detainers were arrested by CMPD in July for violent offenses and both had active ICE detainers and both were released back on to Charlotte City Streets just days before shooting 3 people and killing Jose Octavio Cruz, age 57.

Kevin Jeremy Zetino, 19

Adilio Cesar Garcia Lemus, 24

Charlotte Mecklenburg Police have charged both Kevin Jeremy Zetino, 19, and Adilio Cesar Garcia Lemus, 24 with Murder, Attempted Murder, Armed Robbery, Conspiracy to Commit Armed Robbery, First Degree Burglary, and Assault with a Deadly Weapon Intent to Kill or Inflict Serious Injury.

Zetino had been arrested by CMPD on on December 11, 2023 charged with Possession of a stolen firearm, fleeing to elude arrest, possession of a stolen motor vehicle and resisting arrest. On December 14th he was released on a promise to appear under the pretrial release program.

Zetion was arrested again on June 18th charged with auto theft and released on an unsecured bond the next day. Then he was arrested on July 7th with a stolen vehicle and was released on July 27th on an unsecured bond, Less than a week later he murdered Jose Octavio Cruz and seriously wounded 3 others.

Each time Mecklenburg County Sheriff ignored the ICE Detainer on file.

Garcia-Lemus was arrested on July 26th on drug charges including possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia and resisting arrest he was also released on July 27th on a low ($100) bail. He too had an active ICE Detainer according to sources.

Eleno Cervantes Illegal Immigrant Charged with Attempted Rape

An illegal immigrant has been charged after sexually assaulting a woman in a bathroom in southeast Charlotte, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

Around 3:30 p.m. on Monday, July 29, officers responded to Mr. Tire Auto Service Centers on Monroe Road for reports of a sexual assault.

A 32-year-old woman said she was inside the bathroom when a man sexually assaulted her. Detectives quickly identified the suspect as 31-year-old Eleno Cervantes.

Eleno Cervantes Photo MCSO

He’s currently being held on a $250,000 bond for the charges of:

2nd-degree attempted rape

Sexual battery

1st-degree kidnapping

Assault on a female

He also has an outstanding ICE Detainer which Mecklenburg County Sherriff Garry McFadden refused to enforce.

According to CMPD PIO "great investigative work by CMPD’s Sexual Assault Unit in quickly identifying and arresting a suspect wanted in an attempted sexual assault.  On Tuesday, July 29, 2024, Providence Division officers responded to a sexual assault call for service in the 3300 block of Monroe Road.  Upon arrival, a female victim reported to officers that an unknown male suspect entered the bathroom while she was inside and attempted to sexually assault her.  Sexual Assault detectives were immediately notified and began to investigate this incident.  Detectives quickly developed a lead and identified Mr. Eleno Cervantes, 30, as a suspect in this case.  Officers located and arrested Mr. Cervantes without incident."

Charlotte "Ace" reporter Joe Bruno chased down the facts: "ICE tells me the agency filed a detainer on Eleno Cervantes-Juarez, a 31-year-old citizen and national of Mexico. He is accused of attempting to sexually assault a woman in Mr Tire in southeast Charlotte. Cervantes-Juarez was encountered by U.S. Border Patrol on Aug, 17, 2022, near Nogales Arizona after he unlawfully entered the United States".

Estimates of illegals living in the Carolinas range from 750,000 to more than 1 million. Most are hard working skilled and unskilled laborers. However more than 20,000 have found themselves in trouble with Law Enforcement in the last three years. 

Common arrests include DWI, Stolen Vehicles, Assault Drugs and Weapons charges. More than 1,000 have been arrested on more violent crimes including rape and murder. 

Within the immigrant community many crimes are not reported for fear of deportation or retaliation. 

Raphael Omar Wright, Jr. Rapist and Killer Bond Revoked

Michelle Schechter, age 27, was murdered on June 16, 2024, on Glenwood Drive in Charlotte.

Days later Raphael Omar Wright, Jr. was determined based on facts and video evidence to be the perpetrator of the crime, located in Rock Hill South Carolina at 2311 Nuthatch Drive and arrested by York County, Rockhill and CMPD VCAT officers.

Transported to Mecklenburg County where liberal Mecklenburg County Judge Jennifer Fleet gave him a $50K secured bond. Wright posted bond the following day and was released.

His release quickly made local news and the outrage quickly swept across the southeast.

On July 12, 2024 after a "true bill of indictment" was returned Mecklenburg County Assistant DA Nikki Robinson petitioned the court to revoke Mr. Wright's bond.

On July 16th the motion was granted and Mr. Wright's bond was indeed revoked by Mecklenburg County Superior Court Judge Reggie McKnight.

Mr. Wright was returned to the custody of the Mecklenburg County Sheriff on the evening of July 16.

Mr. Wright remains behind bars under a $850,000 secured bond.

 

If Secret Service had shot first, Trump gunman would be another martyr for the right

Charlotte Observer's Editorial totally uncalled for.

Cedar's Take: Back in the day The Charlotte Observer Editorial page was always a source of insightful thought and cometary on local and sometimes national events. 

Letters to the editor were distilled down to concise opinions and sometimes local gripes. Charlotte area columnists like Tom Sorenson, John Kilgo and editors Rick Thames and Rolfe Neal often offered up thoughtful and sometime humorous insight.

Occasionally national columnists like Mike Royko, Paul Harvey, and Irv Kupcinet and even Andy Rooney would appear if the national nature of the news was worthy.

Clearly the assassination attempt on the life of former President Donald J. Trump is nationally news worthy, yet the Charlotte Observer had to go all the way to Wichita to find some left wing nutjob who thinks every attendee at a Trump rally is a Trumper as he makes his wild claim regarding conservative Americans.

When did crazy talk become opinion? No wonder the Observer print edition in now only 3 times a week. 

Opinion BY DION LEFLER JULY 28, 2024 7:07 AM 

Right-wing media considers Jan. 6 rioter Ashli Babbitt a hero. Why not Thomas Matthew Crooks? 

As we mull the shooting of Donald Trump and its aftermath, let’s consider, “What if?” What if the Secret Service had shot Thomas Matthew Crooks as he crawled across the roof, before he opened fire on the once and possibly future president? Crooks would have been a hero (and martyr) of the right wing. Headlines in right-leaning media would have screamed, “Young Trump Supporter Shot Dead by Feds Outside Rally.” 

It would have been the same play that the right ran after a woman named Ashli Babbitt was shot by a federal police officer as she and an outraged mob tried to force their way into a barricaded area during the Jan. 6, 2021, invasion of the Capitol. 

Trump called Babbitt “An innocent, wonderful, incredible woman, a military woman,” and called the officer who shot her “a disgrace.” Later, it was discovered Babbitt had a criminal record of violence for repeatedly ramming a car being driven by her rival in a love triangle. 

Crooks was about as politically ambiguous as a person could be. About all we know of his views at this point is that he donated $15 to a Democratic website 3 1/2 years ago when he was 17, and registered to vote Republican when he turned 18. 

Given Crooks’ threadbare political history, the entire world would have profiled him as a Trump supporter if he’d been shot by a counter-sniper before shooting at the former president. First off, he dressed like a Trumper. 

His choice of attire for his attack was a T-shirt repping Demolition Ranch, a YouTube channel dedicated to blasting stuff with exotic weapons and setting off explosions for entertainment. Let’s just say its target audience is not coastal liberal elites. 

Second, Crooks was armed. It’s been a thing for a while now to parade around with assault weapons at political protests and outside political rallies, and Trump has been one of the politicians encouraging that. 

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified to Congress that Trump wanted the Secret Service to shut off metal detectors and let armed people into his Jan. 6 rally because “they’re not here to hurt me.” 

With all the fringy flakes packing heat in public these days, it’s grown increasingly difficult, and in some cases impossible, for law enforcement to tell who’s a real threat and who’s just doing heavily armed performance art. It didn’t use to be this way. I got my first presidential press pass in 1984 and covered events by Ronald Reagan, Walter Mondale, Jesse Jackson and Gary Hart. In those days, possession of firearms anywhere near a campaign event was prima facie evidence you were up to no good, and you’d have spent the rest of your day, and maybe more, in the friendly confines of a local jail. 

The one thing I’m sure of with the Trump assassination attempt is that if the Secret Service had shot first, the same congress folk who ran agency Director Kimberly Cheatle out of Washington for failing to protect Trump would be trying to run her out for her “trigger happy” agents shooting Crooks. 

I can see that hearing now: 

Q: At the time your agents opened fire on this young man, he was outside your security perimeter, wasn’t he not? A: Yes, he was. 

Q: Is it your standard policy to shoot at people outside the designated perimeter? A: Not ordinarily, but he was spotted crawling across a roof to a position overlooking the venue with a rifle. 

Q: Isn’t it possible he was simply crawling across that roof to get a better view of President Trump’s speech? And so on, and so on. 

It’s worth noting here that while guns weren’t allowed inside the Republican National Convention the week after Trump was shot, they were allowed just outside the arena. If the members of Congress on the warpath against the Secret Service actually wanted to solve the problem, they’d pass a law saying that anyone bringing a gun within shooting distance of a political event can be disarmed and detained, at least for the duration of the event. But they don’t, so they won’t.

Opinion Editor Dion Lefler has been providing award-winning coverage of local government, politics and business as a reporter in Wichita for 25 years. Dion hails from Los Angeles, where he worked for the LA Daily News, the Pasadena Star-News and other papers. He’s a father of twins, director of lay servant ministries in the United Methodist Church and plays second base for the Old Cowtown vintage baseball team.

Charloot's Latest Homicide Victim

Charloot's latest homicide victim ID'd as Brian Johnson age 38. Mr. Johnson apparently has a long 20 year history of arrests most were dismissed over the last 10 years.

Bryan Xavier Johnson Photo MCSO

His first offense in 2002 was discharging a firearm into occupied property. The class "E" felony earned him a sentence of probation. The customary "second chance".

Then in April of 2009 he was arrested for robbery with a dangerous weapon. By December he was convicted of this charge and sentenced to a minimum of 5 years and 1 month and he ended up serving more than 6 years.

Note the time from arrest to conviction not 2-3 years as we currently see in Mecklenburg County today but rather just 8 months.

Released on parole in 2015. Mr. Johnson continued his life of crime in a new world. A Charlotte with liberal judges and liberal DAs. With arrests in 2016, 2017, 2020, 2023 all dismissed by the Mecklenburg District Attorney, Johnson learned that arrests were meaningless.

His most recent arrest on the charge of Possession of a Firearm by a Felon would have resulted in an active prison sentence he had been brought to trial and convicted in a federal court. Unfortunately in Mecklenburg County his case was given low priority and he was given a number of continuances and countless legal delays. The most recent in April of this year.

Sadly this lack of incarceration and Johnson's lifestyle apparently put his life as risk. Becoming Charlotte's 78th homicide victim.

Once again proving that incarceration saves lives.