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Thread: Jamell Cureton and Malcolm Hartley Sentenced to LWOP for 2014 SC Murder of Doug and Debbie London

  1. #31
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Death penalty remains in play in Charlotte-area gang murder case

    By Michael Gordon
    The Charlotte Observer

    Federal prosecutors in the gangland murders of Doug and Debbie London appear to have homed in on three main targets: those suspected of planning the killings and the man accused of carrying them out.

    Twelve accused Charlotte-area members of United Blood Nation are charged in connection with the October 2014 shootings in York County, S.C.

    Seven have signed plea agreements. Prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office in Charlotte announced this month that they will not seek the death penalty against two other gang members.

    That leaves three of the original defendants for whom prosecutors have not revealed their plans. They are:

    ▪ Jamell “Murda Mell” Cureton, described in court documents as ordering the hit on the Londons from the Mecklenburg County jail and then planning the killings through phone calls and letters.

    ▪ Randall Avery “Foe” Hankins, who prosecutors say ironed out key details during phone calls with Cureton.

    ▪ Malcolm “Bloody Silent” Hartley, who is accused of shooting Debbie London in the head when she answered the front door at her Lake Wylie home. He also wounded Doug London when he came to his wife’s defense, then went back to finish him off as he wept over his wife’s body, documents say.

    Citing the ongoing nature of the case, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment Wednesday when asked if prosecutors had recommended death penalties for the three.

    But in a motion filed this week, Hartley’s defense attorney, Rob Heroy of Charlotte, asked a federal judge to release more evidence involving his client so Heroy can prepare for an appearance before a Justice Department committee on Feb. 29 in Washington, D.C.

    Under federal procedures in potential capital cases, both the prosecutors and defense appear before so-called “death penalty” committees. Members, in turn, recommend whether the death penalty should be sought. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch will make the final decision.

    Attorneys familiar with the process say a defense attorney’s appearance before the Justice Department committee is a clear indication that a local prosecutor, in this case U.S. Attorney Jill Rose or her staff, is seeking the death penalty.

    U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn will hear Heroy’s arguments Monday. The attorney said Wednesday that he filed the motion “so that we will know everything there is to know, one, to go to trial and, two, to deal with the possible capital case.”

    As part of his motion, Heroy seeks 12 categories of evidence, including “information ... regarding whether the victims of the murder were engaged in criminal activity at or near the time” of their deaths. Asked if he had any knowledge that the Londons were breaking the law in some way, Heroy declined to comment.

    He also declined to say whether attorneys for other defendants in the case will appear before the Justice Department committee.

    Neither Rick Winiker, Cureton’s attorney in Charlotte, nor Jim Weidner, the Charlotte member of Hankins’ defense team, responded to requests for interviews on Wednesday.

    The Londons were gunned down in their lakeside home to keep Doug London from testifying against Cureton and two other gang members who tried to rob the couple’s Pineville mattress store in May 2014, documents say.

    Prosecutors charged six of the original defendants with crimes that carried a death sentence. Three – David “Flames” Fudge, Rahkeem “Big Keem” McDonald and Briana “Breezy B” Johnson, who drove Hartley to the Londons’ home, pleaded guilty last year and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

    This month, prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty against Ahkeem “Little Keem” McDonald, the gang’s original choice to carry out the killings. McDonald and Cureton are accused of the 2013 execution-style slaying of Kwamne Clyburn, a homeless teenager found in Pressley Road Park off South Tryon Street.

    The five defendants whose cases are still pending – Cureton, Hartley, Hankins, McDonald and Nana Adoma – are scheduled to appear before Cogburn on March 21.

    http://www.charlotteobserver.com/new...e60935417.html


    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #32
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Defense lawyers in Lake Wylie murder case ask for key evidence

    By Pamela Escobar
    WBTV News

    CHARLOTTE, NC - The death penalty is still a possibility for some of the men accused of killing Lake Wylie couple Doug and Debbie London. Prosecutors say Jamell Cureton ordered the killings from jail, and that Malcolm Hartley pulled the trigger.

    There was a federal hearing in the case on Monday. The two defendants' lawyers argued for key evidence to be released before an important hearing next week when prosecutors have to present their case to the Department of Justice in DC.

    Unlike a state case, prosecutors can't decide if the defendants will face the death penalty. The attorney general makes that decision. The February 29 hearing in DC is a not a trial, but defense lawyers want to be as prepared as possible for it.

    Doug and Debbie London were killed in their Lake Wylie home in October 2014 after an armed robbery at their mattress store in May 2014. Prosecutors said in federal documents that Cureton ordered the gang hit from jail and Hartley was promoted in the gang after the killings.

    Defense lawyers Frederick Winiker and Rob Heroy say they have received thousands of pages of evidence, but hundreds of those pages are blacked out. They asked Federal District Judge Max Cogburn to order prosecutors to release any evidence that is being withheld that could show their clients are innocent.

    Prosecutors explained they have released the majority of evidence in the case, including all the FBI summaries for each witness or co-defendant, except for one. The judge said he will review that evidence and make a ruling prior to the February 29 hearing in DC where both sides will argue why Hartley and Cureton should or shouldn't be facing the death penalty.

    Prosecutors listed the evidence that has been handed over to the defense - all of it under seal. During the hearing, prosecutors did speak with the judge away from the defendants. Cogburn said upon his return it appears prosecutors have handed over most of the evidence.

    For the first time, we learned Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department files for an uncharged murder and an uncharged shooting were included because they could affect sentencing.

    No trial date has been set.

    http://www.wbtv.com/story/31284378/d...r-key-evidence
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #33
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    First American ISIS convert in custody, Justin Sullivan, to face the death penalty

    Death penalty in play for two of Charlotte area’s most notorious killings

    By Michael Gordon
    The Charlotte Observer

    Before his 20th birthday, authorities say, Justin Sullivan fatally shot an elderly neighbor, solicited a murder contract on his parents, and dreamed of killing up to 1,000 people.

    This week he added another distinction: The 19-year-old from Morganton is now the first American ISIS convert in custody to face the death penalty.

    District Attorney David Learner announced Monday that he will try Sullivan’s alleged murder of 74-year-old John Bailey Clark as a capital case. The FBI says Sullivan shot Clark in 2014 to get money for an assault rifle to use in a mass killing.

    Sullivan was arrested last June and charged with federal terrorism-related crimes. A Burke County grand jury indicted him in Clark’s murder in February. His attorney Victoria Jayne of Hickory, did not return a phone call this week seeking comment.

    Seventy-one U.S. supporters of ISIS have been arrested since 2014. Up to now, only Sullivan has been charged with a capital offense, says Seamus Hughes, a George Washington University professor and co-author of “Isis in America,” which details domestic ties to the Islamic State.

    Learner’s office declined to discuss the case Thursday. So did the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte. While federal documents first linked Sullivan to Clark’s death, federal prosecutors left it to Learner to file the murder charge and seek the death penalty.

    Why? Capital cases have a far easier path in the state courts. Learner must only decide if a case warrants the maximum punishment. Now, he must persuade a jury of Sullivan’s guilt and, secondly, that he deserves to die.

    Federal prosecutors don’t have that leeway. They first must meet with a Justice Department death-penalty committee in Washington, D.C., which makes a recommendation on whether capital punishment is appropriate for the particular case. The final decision is left to the attorney general.

    Two Charlotte-based prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Beth Greene and Don Gast, went through the process in late February. They’re believed to be seeking the death penalty against suspected Charlotte gang members Jamell Cureton and Malcolm Hartley who are accused in the murders of Doug and Debbie London. The FBI says Cureton ordered the hit on the couple to keep Doug London from testifying against him in a robbery case. Hartley, court documents say, gunned down the Londons at their Lake Wylie home in October 2014.

    The attorneys for the two defendants also were on hand in Washington last month. Charlotte lawyer Rob Heroy, who represents Hartley, says he met with up to 10 government lawyers for an hour to argue against the death penalty. He doesn’t know what the government will decide. “There is some peace in the fact that we gave it everything we had,” he said.

    One sobering note for Hartley: Prosecutors in Charlotte have successfully navigated the death penalty in a gang-related case before.

    In 2010, Jill Rose, now U.S. Attorney, put the first member of MS-13 on death row for opening fire in a Greensboro restaurant in 2007, killing two.

    In the Londons’ case, Greene and Gast may have the added advantage of arguing that the gang members murdered to subvert justice.

    Sullivan? A North Carolina jury hasn’t sent a murder defendant to death row for two years. The state hasn’t executed anyone for a decade.

    But the teenager’s case may challenge both streaks. John Bailey Clark’s killing may not have gang ties. But Learner will argue to jurors that it has something even more disturbing.

    It has ISIS.

    http://www.charlotteobserver.com/new...e66952427.html


    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #34
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    New indictment adds murder, other charges against alleged Charlotte gang

    BY MICHAEL GORDON
    The Charlotte Observer

    The alleged Charlotte gang members tied to the murders of Doug and Debbie London have now been linked to other acts of violence, from murder and robbery to retaliatory shootings of rivals.

    A new federal indictment released this week alludes to a UBN meeting within weeks of the couple’s killings when the gang allegedly debated the assassination of one of its own members who was believed to be cooperating with police in the London investigation.

    The Lake Wylie, S.C., couple was gunned down at their home on Oct. 23, 2014. Authorities say the pair was killed to keep Doug London from testifying at the trial of three gang members who had attempted to rob the Londons’ mattress store three months before.

    Twelve alleged gang members were indicted last year for planning or carrying out the killings. Seven have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with prosecutors. The remaining five will be arraigned next Friday on the additional charges included in the new indictment.

    Two of the defendants – Jamell “Murda Mel” Cureton, who court documents say took part in the mattress store robbery and ordered the Londons’ deaths, and Malcolm “Bloody Silent” Hartley, the accused triggerman – await word on whether the U.S. Department of Justice will seek the death penalty in their cases. It’s unclear what role, if any, the new allegations could play in that decision.

    Rob Heroy, Hartley’s attorney, said Friday that his client will plead not guilty to all charges next week. He said he had not heard from federal prosecutors whether Hartley will face the death penalty.

    Prosecutors say they have linked the gang to at least two other killings: the unsolved 2102 shooting death of Ronald Martin; and the 2013 execution-style slaying of Kwamne Clyburn, a homeless teenager, in a southwest Charlotte park.

    The new allegations include:

    ▪ A third UBN member, Nana Adoma, has been charged in connection with Clyburn’s death. The 18-year-old Winston-Salem youth was bound and shot seven times for “false claiming,” or identifying himself as a gang member when he was not.

    Cureton and Ahkeem “Lil Keem” McDonald have already been charged with the killing. Adoma, Cureton’s brother, served as the lookout during the mattress store robbery. His attorney, Andy Culler, did not respond to an email seeking comment Friday morning.

    ▪ UBN members discussed killing one of their own, David “Flames” Fudge, out of fear that he was cooperating with police following the Londons’ deaths. Fudge was the driver in the mattress store robbery and was indicted for murder in connection with the killings. He has since pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors.

    ▪ On Oct. 1, 2014, Hartley and his girlfriend, Briana “Breezy B” Johnson, drove to the Londons’ store in Pineville to “intimidate or kill them” to prevent the couple from testifying or appearing a preliminary hearings in Cureton’s and Adoma’s robbery cases.

    Three weeks later, Johnson, the daughter of a Concord police officer, drove her boyfriend Hartley to the London’s home where the FBI says he shot Debbie London when she answered her doorbell and killed Doug as he came to her rescue.

    ▪ About two months after the killings, the gang discovered at least two other witnesses to the mattress-store robbery and may have informally discussed having a least one of them killed, the indictment says. In December 2015, Fudge sent a Facebook message inquiring about the identities of the witnesses, the indictment says.

    “Boy, funny, yo people a dub, silent, deadly, I’m out,” he wrote.

    “Dub” is UBN slang for something that has not been authorized by the gang, the indictment says.

    “Silent, deadly” means gang leaders have authorized a hit.

    http://www.charlotteobserver.com/new...#storylink=cpy

  5. #35
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    4 plead not guilty in couple's shooting death at Lake Wylie

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Four of the men charged in the 2014 shooting deaths of a couple at their South Carolina home are requesting a jury trial.

    The Charlotte Observer reports (http://bit.ly/29DAyf0) the four pleaded not guilty Friday.

    Prosecutors say Doug and Debbie London were killed in their Lake Wylie home in October 2014 to prevent their testimony against three United Blood Nation members who attempted to rob their mattress store in Pineville.

    Twelve people were indicted in their deaths. Prosecutors say all are gang members.

    The four in court Friday were Nana Adoma, Randall Hankins, Malcom Hartley and Jamell Cureton.

    Cureton is accused of participating in the robbery and ordering the Londons killed. Hartley is accused of firing the gun. The U.S. Department of Justice hasn't decided whether to seek the death penalty in their cases.

    http://www.heraldcourier.com/news/pl...5a5a61ddc.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  6. #36
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Mastermind, gunman plead guilty in murders of Lake Wylie couple

    By Michael Gordon and Teddy Kulmala
    The Charlotte Observer

    CHARLOTTE: The mastermind and gunman of the gangland murders of Doug and Debbie London each pleaded guilty Wednesday in connection with the 2014 killings, avoiding a possible death sentence.

    Jamell “Assassin” Cureton entered pleas for 10 federal charges, including three counts of murder, assault with a deadly weapon, firearm charges and conspiracy to commit racketeering.

    He has been jailed since his arrest after authorities say he and two other members of a Charlotte cell of United Blood Nation attempted to rob the Londons’ mattress store in Pineville in May 2014. While jailed, Cureton plotted to have the couple killed to keep Doug London from testifying against him in the robbery trial, prosecutors and the FBI say.

    The Londons were gunned down at their Lake Wylie home two years ago next month. Twelve alleged UBN members were indicted in connection with the deaths. Seven have signed plea deals and agreed to cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

    Cureton, along with accused hitman Malcolm “Blood Silent” Hartley, have been key government targets from the start. U.S. Attorney Jill Rose and her prosecutors reportedly had sought the go-ahead from Attorney General Lorretta Lynch to seek the death penalty; however, as part of the plea agreement, the government agreed not to seek the death penalty against Cureton or Hartley. Both men also waived their rights to withdraw the pleas or appeal their convictions.

    Hartley on Wednesday pleaded guilty to five federal charges in connection with the London killings, including two counts of murder, firearm charges and conspiracy to commit racketeering.

    Cureton and Hartley will be sentenced at a later date, after a pre-sentence report has been completed for each defendant. Neither defendant made comment or statement in court Wednesday.

    Prosecutors charged six of the original defendants with crimes that carried a death sentence. Three – David “Flames” Fudge, Rahkeem “Big Keem” McDonald and Briana “Breezy B” Johnson, who drove Hartley to the Londons’ home, pleaded guilty last year and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

    Earlier this year, prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty against Ahkeem “Little Keem” McDonald, the gang’s original choice to carry out the killings. McDonald and Cureton are accused of the 2013 execution-style slaying of 18-year-old Kwamne Clyburn, to which Cureton also pleaded guilty Wednesday.

    Clyburn, a homeless teenager from Winston-Salem, was found dead in Pressley Road Park in Charlotte in August 2013. Court documents say he was shot multiple times because he falsely claimed to be a member of the gang.

    A new indictment released in June ties the gang members linked to the Londons’ killings with other acts of violence, from murder and robbery to retaliatory shootings of rivals.

    The indictment alludes to a UBN meeting within weeks of the Londons’ killings when the gang allegedly debated the assassination of one its own members who was believed to be cooperating with police.

    http://www.heraldonline.com/news/loc...103330837.html
    Last edited by Helen; 09-22-2016 at 06:39 AM. Reason: added journalists names & media source

  7. #37
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    November 15, 2016

    Gang member found with shank in jail: Prosecutor

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Prosecutors are asking for an expedited sentencing for a self-professed gang member who pleaded guilty to ordering the death of two witnesses from behind bars.

    Jamell Cureton, pleaded guilty for the double murder of Douglas and Deborah London inside their lake Wylie home in 2014.

    The Londons were preparing to testify in a case against three other suspected gang members who are accused of robbing the couple's mattress store when the couple was murdered.

    Cureton, prosecutors say, is a member of the Bloods gang and ordered a hit on the Londons from behind bars.

    This week, a motion was filed to expedite Cureton's sentencing hearing after a "shank" was found inside Cureton's cell at the Mecklenburg County Jail.

    Prosecutors contend that because Cureton is on what's called "special administrative measures", or "SAM", that his current placement at the Mecklenburg County Jail is burdensome on the Jail, the Marshal's Service and the FBI, who each have a role in implementing SAM for an inmate, and that the Bureau of Prisons is better equipped to handle an inmate on SAM restrictions.

    http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/gang-...utor/352485541
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  8. #38
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Their crime made Charlotte feel less safe; now Doug and Debbie London’s killers face a reckoning

    By Michael Gordon
    The Charlotte Observer

    A former government prosecutor says the gang murders of Doug and Debbie London showed an unprecedented level of “contempt” in Charlotte for the rule of law.

    This week, the law strikes back.

    On Tuesday, the two Charlotte gang members who planned and carried out the Oct. 23, 2014 killings will be sentenced to life in federal prison without parole. The punishments for Jamell “Murda Mel” Cureton and Malcolm “Bloody Silent” Hartley were preordained in September when the pair pleaded guilty in the case to avoid a death-penalty trial.

    But the crime – the Londons were killed to stop Doug London from testifying against the United Blood Nation members who tried to rob him – shattered the notion that gang violence in Charlotte was confined to urban neighborhoods. To many, the city and its bedroom communities suddenly felt a lot less safe.

    “I can’t remember another example of that level of contempt for the law,” says Anne Tompkins, who was U.S. Attorney when the Londons were gunned down in their Lake Wylie, S.C., home. “It took violence to a level I had not seen before, and it was startling. ... It made me very frightened for a lot of people.”

    Cureton and Hartley pleaded guilty to a total of 15 federal charges, from murder and racketeering to firearms violations and assault. In all, a dozen member of Charlotte’s chapter of the “Valentine Bloods” face charges for their roles in the killings. Most already have pleaded guilty.

    United Blood Nation is the East Coast offshoot of the better-known Bloods. The gang spread south out of the New York prisons and now boasts hundreds of members in separate cells across North Carolina, including Charlotte.

    The criminal conspiracy to silence the Londons, which was directed by Cureton from his Mecklenburg jail cell, is spelled out in harrowing detail through hundreds of pages of FBI and other court filings. Those documents reveal gang members, most of them in their teens or early 20s, willing to use violence to protect themselves and their operations, and to respond to any real or imagined sign of disrespect.

    That response included threats toward legal officials and the media, documents show. In 2015, armed guards were assigned to two judges and the Charlotte city attorney after their names were found on a list of possible targets in Cureton’s cell.

    The London investigation also helped the FBI solve the 2013 execution-style slaying of Kwamne Clyburn, a homeless teenager whose bullet-ridden body was found in Pressley Road Park. His crime: “false claiming” to be a UBN member. Cureton has pleaded guilty to Clyburn’s murder. Two others are charged.

    “For the average citizen, the most frightening aspect of an organized gang like the UBN is that no one is safe, no matter where you live,” says current U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose, who announced the 2015 indictments against the gang following months of investigation by the FBI, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police and other law enforcement groups.

    “The Londons were murdered in their home, a place they felt safe. Why? Because the UBN wanted a critical witness against one of their gang leaders eliminated.”

    This new chapter in the city’s criminal history opened in May 2014 when Cureton and two other UBN members tried to rob the Londons’ Mattress Warehouse store in Pineville. Doug London shot Cureton. All three gang members were arrested. According to

    Daniel London, his parents made a point of attending all the gang members’ preliminary court hearings out of a sense of civic duty and a fear that the charges would be dropped or pleaded down.

    Their presence did not go unnoticed by the gang. Meanwhile, the Londons’ concerns for their safety grew, particularly after a confrontation with a Cureton relative at the courthouse.

    According to Charlotte gun shop owner Larry Hyatt, Doug London bought additional weapons for himself and his home, and talked about how he and Debbie were being watched and followed during their trips to court.

    Court documents described the growing anger by Cureton and other gang members at the Londons’ appearances, and how the gang believed the robbery charges would disappear if there were no witnesses to testify.

    “I need you guys to g-- d--- carry that s---, bro,” Cureton told Hartley during a phone call, some two weeks before the murders, according to court records. “I didn’t want it to come to that, but that s--- done got out of hand.”

    Hartley, who was carrying a jailhouse letter from Cureton with the Londons’ address at the time, rang the couple’s doorbell on the night of Oct. 23, 2015. Debbie London was shot and killed as she opened the door.

    Doug London fired off one shot before his gun jammed. Hartley shot him, then fled to a waiting car. He stopped when he heard Doug London sobbing. Prosecutors say Hartley returned to the home, saw London crying over his wife’s body and shot him again. Court documents say the gang celebrated the killings that night.

    Daniel London, who was living with his parents at the time, says his father was still alive when he got to his side.

    “The last breaths he took, he was lying next to (my mother), with his arm around her, mourning her loss,” London told the Observer, in one of his first public comments since his parents’ death. “I don’t want to be too graphic. But seeing my parents in that condition ... well, it’s probably the hardest image to get out of your mind.”

    On Tuesday, Hartley’s mother is expected to speak at the sentencing and tell U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn that the killings were out of character for her son.

    Daniel London will not be there to hear the mother’s words. He says being in the courtroom with the killers “would cause me more anger than healing.”

    A spokesman for Kwamne Clyburn’s family said the family is aware of Tuesday’s sentencing but will not be attending. “Kwamne was a very smart young man,” said the spokesman, who did not wish to be named out of safety concerns. “He had many goals he wanted in life. He did not deserve to die the way he did at a very young age.”

    The families of all three victims appear to support the decision to give Cureton and Hartley life sentences, largely because a death penalty would bring years of appeals, Daniel London says.

    “I just want some closure for my family and myself,” he said. “There’s a part of me that wants to harbor hate, but justice is being served. They’re going to have a long time to think about what they’ve done.

    “Honestly, I hope they change. I hope they realize the truth about some of the stuff they’ve done in their lives. I hope they turn into different people. But if they don’t, then that’s their decision.”

    Daniel London declined to be photographed for this story, and he has asked that his location remain unpublished. He says he still doesn’t feel completely safe.

    http://www.charlotteobserver.com/new...146335124.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  9. #39
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    Evidence revealed in shocking 2014 slaying of Lake Wylie couple at gang trial

    BY MICHAEL GORDON
    The Charlotte Observer

    In court time Friday, the last five months of Doug London’s life were boiled down to less than an hour.

    The Charlotte businessman first appeared to the jury in the trial of three men tied to his killing during a police video from May 25, 2014.

    In it, he explains to two Charlotte-Mecklenburg detectives how he had thwarted a robbery of his South Boulevard mattress store only hours before by grabbing a handgun from the top drawer of his desk. He opened fire on the intruder who stood a few feet away, a man who had “stuck a gun in my face before I could blink,” London said.

    One witness and a few minutes of testimony later on Friday, London reappeared in the courtroom – this time in a series of disturbing photographs taken Oct. 23, 2014, the night London died.

    In them, he is shown lying face down just inside the front door of his Lake Wylie, S.C., home. His right arm is draped around the waist of his dead wife Debbie. Both appear to have been shot at close range. A stream of blood pools nearby. A small handgun gleams on the floor a few feet away.

    The footage and photographs were made public for the first time Friday, three years removed from the Londons’ deaths, and their premiere dominated the government’s mounting case against three alleged Charlotte gang members accused of plotting the Londons’ deaths.

    In all, 12 alleged members of the Charlotte cell of United Blood Nation were indicted in connection with the killings, which prosecutors say was ordered and carried out to keep Doug London from testifying against the three Bloods who tried to rob the Londons’ store. Nine have pleaded guilty.

    Randall Hankins, Nana Adoma and Ahkeem McDonald are the first to go to trial for a crime that sent tremors through the greater Charlotte community.

    “I can’t remember another example of that level of contempt for the law,” says Anne Tompkins, who was U.S. Attorney at the time of the Londons’ deaths. “It took violence to a level I had not seen before, and it was startling. ... It made me very frightened for a lot of people.”

    Hankins and McDonald are charged with racketeering murder in connection to the killings, along with multiple conspiracy and firearms violations. McDonald and Adoma also are on trial for the murder of Kwamne Clyburn, a homeless teenager who was executed in a southwest Charlotte park in 2013. Adoma was also one of the three gang members who attempted to rob the Londons’ store, prosecutors say.

    Two of the main conspirators in the case have already been sentenced to life without parole: Jamell Cureton, Adoma’s brother, who was shot by Doug London during the robbery attempt and later gave the order for the couple’s killing from his Mecklenburg jail cell; and Malcolm Hartley, the confessed triggerman who was better known inside the gang as “Bloody Silent.”

    http://www.charlotteobserver.com/new...#storylink=cpy

  10. #40
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    3 N Carolina gang members guilty in S Carolina deaths

    By Associated Press

    Three gang members from North Carolina have been found guilty for their roles in killing a couple in retaliation in their South Carolina home

    Federal prosecutors said a jury returned guilty verdicts for racketeering Friday against Randall Hankins, Nana Adoma and Ahkeem McDonald.

    Authorities say the three were in a gang that ordered the killing of Doug and Debbie London at their home near Lake Wylie, South Carolina, in October 2014.

    Doug London had shot gang member Jamell Cureton as he tried to rob his Charlotte mattress store at gunpoint five months before the killings.

    Authorities say the wounded robber was a gang member who ordered the couple killed. Cureton pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty.

    All three defendants could face life in prison when they are sentenced later.

    http://www.latimes.com/sns-bc-nc--ga...013-story.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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