Critics puzzle over grand jury process

Police organizations fully agree with the finding Wednesday of a New Hanover County grand jury not to indict Christopher Long on a voluntary manslaughter count in connection with the Dec. 1 shooting death of 18-year-old Peyton Strickland. But the grand jury process raises questions in the local legal community.

"I didn't think the first grand jury could be surpassed by strangeness, but it was," Wilmington lawyer Thom Goolsby said.

Judge Michael Beale said he allowed Long, 35, to offer evidence because of adverse media publicity the case received, the fact he was a law enforcement officer and a clerical mistake in the first grand jury in December that resulted in the mistaken belief that Long had been indicted for second-degree murder.

Don Strickland, Peyton's father and a Raleigh lawyer, also was allowed to address the grand jury.

N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper announced Wednesday that his office won't pursue further criminal charges.

"The whole thing was crazy. The smart choice would have been from the very beginning to seek involuntary manslaughter," Goolsby said. "They could have sold it much easier than voluntary manslaughter."

To obtain a voluntary manslaughter indictment, prosecutors would have to prove that Long acted with malicious intent. An involuntary manslaughter indictment would have required proof of negligent behavior.

Long was a corporal and leader of the sheriff's office Emergency Response Team, which was serving search and arrest warrants at the Wilmington rental home where Strickland lived. In a statement, Long said he mistook the crash of a battering ram manned by a fellow ERT member for a gunshot from inside the house, and he fired through the front door. Strickland, a Cape Fear Community College student, was hit twice and suffered a fatal head wound.

The warrants were issued in connection with the Nov. 17 robbery of University of North Carolina Wilmington student Justin Raines on the college campus. Raines was beaten with a blunt object and robbed of two Sony PlayStation 3 game consoles. ERT members were assisting UNCW police with the investigation when the shooting occurred.

District Attorney Ben David oversaw the case until February, when it was turned over to the N.C. Attorney General's Office.

"I am comfortable by and large with our grand jury system, and I think it would be more appropriate in more cases if defendants were allowed to present evidence," local lawyer Griff Anderson said. "It seems to me it was a good thing to allow as much evidence as possible in front of a grand jury."

Beale is from Richmond County. Anderson said he hopes the Long case will persuade more judges to allow defendants to testify. Typically, the prosecution will have a police officer or two offer evidence, and the grand jury decides probable cause from there.

"There are just a lot of questions in North Carolina how the grand jury system works," Goolsby said. "Nothing at all is on the record, and there is very little control of the grand jury itself."

Long was dismissed in December by Sheriff Sid Causey. Causey said Wednesday he hadn't considered rehiring the former deputy.

"It's a tragedy and continues to be," Causey said. "My prayers are still with Chris Long, his family and certainly the Strickland family and the loss of their son."

Other statements were released by the N.C. Fraternal Order of Police and the N.C. Police Benevolent Association.

"The Fraternal Order of Police is very pleased that the second grand jury reached the same correct result that the first grand jury reached," part of the statement says.

NCPBA Executive Director John Midgette said in a prepared statement that Long had already been cleared by the first grand jury, which was "disrespected" by the decision of the state attorney general's office to present evidence to a second one.

"All North Carolina officers must continue to work in fear of these multiple legal attacks on officers and their profession," Midgette said. "Respect for law enforcement continues to erode."

Lt. Travis Robinson is a state FOP trustee and a member of its board of directors. He's also a New Hanover County Sheriff's Office deputy.

"It basically shows that the system works," Robinson said. "The grand jury listened patiently and discussed and deliberated the information before them and made a decision based on the standards of law we appreciate here in the U.S. There's a sense of relief from all sides in the law enforcement community and elsewhere."

Staff writer Brittany Butcher contributed to this report.

Ken Little: 343-2389

ken.little@starnewsonline.com