Current:Home > MarketsEx-North Carolina sheriff’s convictions over falsifying training records overturned -TradeCircle
Ex-North Carolina sheriff’s convictions over falsifying training records overturned
View
Date:2025-04-18 10:00:37
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina appeals court on Tuesday overturned a former county sheriff’s fraud and obstruction convictions, declaring allegations related to falsifying his firearms training requirements didn’t meet the necessary elements for those crimes.
A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals vacated the convictions against Brindell Wilkins on six counts of obstruction of justice and also reversed a trial judge’s decision refusing to dismiss six counts of obtaining property by false pretenses, for which a jury also found him guilty in December 2022. The ruling comes seven months after a subordinate to Wilkins had his obstruction convictions related to the training overturned.
Wilkins, the Granville County sheriff for 10 years until 2019, was sentenced from six to 17 months behind bars. Last year, Wilkins pleaded guilty to other charges unrelated to the allegations and received another prison sentence. State correction records show Wilkins was projected to be released from a state prison on Dec. 23.
The 2022 convictions stemmed from accusations that Wilkins falsified records to make it appear he completed the annual in-service firearm training required of most certified law enforcement officers and met qualifications to carry a firearm. A sheriff isn’t required to maintain certification or complete the training requirements, Tuesday’s opinion said.
Still, over several years in the 2010s, Wilkins reported to the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Education and Training Standards Division that he had completed the training and classes when he hadn’t done so. A 2019 investigation of the Granville sheriff department found that Wilkins’ signatures on class rosters had been falsified.
Chad Coffey, a former Granville deputy on trial on similar obstruction counts, was the course instructor. Coffey doctored records and fabricated firearms scores for Wilkins and the sheriff’s chief deputy at their urging, according to evidence at his early 2022 trial.
At his own trial, Wilkins acknowledged he had not completed the training or requalification since becoming sheriff, and testified he submitted the false records for “a personal reason” and that he “wanted to get credit for it,” Tuesday’s opinion said.
Court of Appeals Judge Toby Hampson, writing the unanimous opinion, agreed with Wilkins that prosecutors had failed to prove that fraud was committed.
The count of obtaining property by false pretenses requires a false representation occurred that deceives so that “one person obtains or attempts to obtain value from another.” But Hampson wrote nothing was obtained because the sheriff already had received certification to become a law enforcement officer when he was previously a sheriff’s deputy.
“We conclude that renewing a previously acquired law enforcement certification does not constitute obtaining property,” Hampson said.
As for the felony obstruction of justice charges, Hampson relied heavily on the February opinion he also wrote that overturned Coffey’s convictions.
At that time, Hampson wrote obstruction of justice requires intent for “the purpose of hindering or impeding a judicial or official proceeding or investigation or potential investigation, which might lead to a judicial or official proceeding.”
He said there were no facts asserted in Coffey’s indictment to support the charge that his actions were designed to subvert a future investigation or proceeding. The same held true with Wilkins’ “nearly identical indictment,” Hampson wrote on Tuesday.
Court of Appeals Judges Hunter Murphy and April Wood joined in Hampson’s opinion. The state Supreme Court could agreed to hear Tuesday’s decision on appeal. But the justices earlier this year already declined to take on Coffey’s case, even though both attorneys for the state and Coffey asked them to do so.
In October 2023, Wilkins pleaded guilty to several other counts related in part to allegations of improper evidence practices and that he urged someone to kill another former deputy.
veryGood! (744)
Related
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- Want to get better at being thankful? Here are some tips
- To fight 'period shame,' women in China demand that trains sell tampons
- Beyoncé's Renaissance Tour Style Deserves 10s, 10s, 10s Across the Board
- California DMV apologizes for license plate that some say mocks Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- Beijing and other cities in China end required COVID-19 tests for public transit
- Houston is under a boil water notice after the power went out at a purification plant
- Can the Environmental Movement Rally Around Hillary Clinton?
- Travis Hunter, the 2
- He woke up from eye surgery with a gash on his forehead. What happened?
Ranking
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- Today’s Climate: August 18, 2010
- Obama Broadens Use of ‘Climate Tests’ in Federal Project Reviews
- EPA’s Fracking Finding Misled on Threat to Drinking Water, Scientists Conclude
- In ‘Nickel Boys,’ striving for a new way to see
- Selling Sunset's Maya Vander Welcomes Baby Following Miscarriage and Stillbirth
- Today’s Climate: August 18, 2010
- ‘Threat Map’ Aims to Highlight the Worst of Oil and Gas Air Pollution
Recommendation
Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
Today’s Climate: September 1, 2010
Today’s Climate: August 26, 2010
Today’s Climate: August 27, 2010
Juan Soto praise of Mets' future a tough sight for Yankees, but World Series goal remains
Diamond diggers in South Africa's deserted mines break the law — and risk their lives
Children's Author Kouri Richins Accused of Murdering Husband After Writing Book on Grief
Dear Life Kit: How do I get out of my pandemic rut? Michelle Obama weighs in