As a writer it’s imperative that any readership finds articles, blog post, or other print media they consume to be absolutely credible from those media organizations that society relies on for hard news, while this established trust helps sustain it’s following. Some reporters along with their editors and publishing executives believe that simply echoing a few quotes from interviewees is actually sound journalism, but the responsibility doesn’t just rest there. Those within our society who are charged with the task of churning out newsworthy content to the masses, have been bestowed with a sacred trust, as gatekeepers of society in the ever evolving age of information and technology. Since most media agencies are in the industry for profit, a balance between factual news reporting and sensational journalism must be sustained. Often times the priority of the business aspect of media spills over into news content requiring intensive fact finding, and some information becomes sensationalized to the extent that reporter’s communication through mass media results in misleading news stories. In the real world of news reporting, information will become distorted, misinterpreted, and frequently void of accuracy. Like any other profession, things just happen.

This perspective is entirely necessary for grasping the premise for this article’s discussion on journalistic practices, when hard news becomes a focal interest of readers seeking media content surrounding human interest stories, and other news information that directly impacts public safety of readership within the immediate culture from which such news content derives. Failure to adhere to certain journalistic standards is a direct violation of the public’s trust who absorb information from media as consumers. I can best describe the argument of breaking the public’s trust through the example of the O.J. Simpson trial, when Detective Mark Furman perjured himself on the witness stand, by lying to the court regarding his usage of the “N-word.” The scene of the tape being played in open court was a defining moment in American culture, that put the integrity of brave men and women working as police officers everywhere, on trial. Prior to Furman’s implosion, white Americans had rarely witnessed the manner in which police tell lies to obtain a conviction of criminal defendants, but the black community had no shock effect at all because that community had long endured such misconduct as an established cultural practice by the police.

With that being said, it brings me to the heart of my discussion for this article. On yesterday I read a news article that was published in The Franklin Times in North Carolina, written by staff writer Carry Johnson. In the article Johnson depicts culminating moments in the Shannon Nyamodi criminal case where the youth pled guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in a plea arrangement. Johnson describes disturbing statements from the Nyamodi youth’s aunt Brenda Nyamodi, who alleged that Shannon was brought up in a turbulent household of abuse, and was subjected to maltreatment. “He had a difficult home life and there was neglect,” Johnson quotes the aunt. It’s a quote from a relative of the defendant, and I can understand Johnson’s desire to report her comments, but somewhere journalistic instinct should have arrived, initiating a desire to get confirmation of the aunt’s statements. The article didn’t contain a rebuttal comment from Shannon’s parents or any documents within public records to support that he or his siblings fr that matter, had been abused. If the allegations are true, an attempt should have been pursued to qualify the comments. I spoke with Elizabeth Crudup (Shannon’s mother) at length regarding her sister’s statements in court, and she categorically denied the allegations. The statements were sensational and the writer ran with it to print without even investigating Brenda Nyamodi’s claims. Had he done so, he would have discovered a strained relationship between the siblings that dates back to their early years of development.

Johnson goes on in the article to perpetuate untruths related to the case that his print media organization has continually published since the news story first broke. He writes a number of quotes attributed to defense attorney Maitri Klinkosum that are dispelled within the prosecutor’s own record on file in the case. The most significant quote from Klinkosum is, “The reason that we’re not going to trial,” Klinkosum said, “is that some of the texts are pretty damning.” The prosecution has always alleged that Shannon and the victim’s daughter had conspired to kill the teen girl’s mother and rob her. Assistant District Attorney Kristin Peebles said investigators were able to get their hands on text messages between the two which were pretty telling. However, when I spoke to Mr. Johnson personally over the phone regarding his article, he seemed to believe that prosecutors had text message exchanges between the two from cell phones. Base on his understanding of the evidence alleged against Shannon Nyamodi and the teen girl, I knew that Johnson had never viewed the search warrant affidavit in the case file. I asked Johnson had he ever seen these text messages, and he replied “no.” The writer’s lack of knowledge regarding these crucial facts in this horrible crime spoke volumes of his lack of journalistic prowess related to basic corroboration of  pertinent facts for his article.

In the weeks and days following this crime, Carry Johnson wrote a series of articles in The Franklin times related to this case and spewed the very same untruthfulness about Shannon Nyamodi having conspired with Rhonda Maclean’s 15-year-old daughter. He conducted no research into police allegations that they received from sources who implicated Shannon. Johnson’s article read, “According to investigators, the incident was set in motion weeks before as they allege the girl and Nyamodi exchanged text messages, setting up the hit.” He admittedly stated that he has never seen these alleged text messages, and I doubt very seriously if Johnson ever asked to see them. If the authorities would have denied him access to them, he could have obtained a freedom of information request to obtain them. I mean, if the text were “very damning” as Klinkosum alleges, any intelligent person would think that police and prosecutors would have wanted the entire world to see them, while confirming that Shannon Nyamodi was in fact guilty. These text have never been made public, and as a journalist Johnson should have been proactive in determining why. The below images should resolve why these alleged text messages have never been made public:

State Bureau of Investigations Search Warrant affidavit obtained for the Facebook accounts of both Shannon Nyamodi and the victim’s daughter. The investigator’s findings are very damning, not for Shannon Nyamodi, but rather the prosecutor’s entire case against this young defendant. Without the link between them which sources allege was a conspiracy, there is no motive, nor probable cause to even arrest shannon.

The Search Warrant affidavit clearly reveals that in fact, no Facebook text exchanges ever transpired between Shannon and the teen girl. Additionally, the investigator didn’t even turn his findings in until nearly 3 months after August 27, 2012 which was the date he made the discovery that no text were exchange between the pair.

Yet, Mr. Johnson is completely comfortable with writing quotes in his articles for The Franklin Times, from lawyers who are in fact lying to him. This document is the entire case against Shannon Nyamodi in a nut shell, and Johnson failed to follow very rudimentary journalistic fact finding that could have spared this youth from such a horrendous ordeal. How is it even possible for consumers who patronize The Franklin Times to even trust this writer’s credibility? Read the entire Facebook Search Warrant affidavit below:

Johnson’s article goes on to explain that Shannon Nyamodi had shot the victim with her own .22 caliber rifle.“They planned to use a .22 and they were going to use bug spray if shooting didn’t do the job,” Peebles said. Johnson goes on writing, Investigators recovered the gun underneath the truck that Nyamodi slept in, which was parked on the road in front of Maclean’s home. It’s just insane that such basic facts were missed by this writer. See below:

This is the truck Shannon Nyamodi was known to sleep in when he frequented his friends home, but the only problem is that Johnson didn’t get this right either and it’s always parked in front of the Young’s family house at 116 Shearin Court where Rhonda Maclean ran for help after being shot, and not several homes away at 109 Shearin Court where the crime occurred.

The inventory of seized property log indicates that the victim’s .22 caliber rifle was found inside the home where the shooting occurred at 109 Shearin Court, and not under the truck as Johnson;s article alleges.

Then there is the matter of the DNA that Johnson’s article alleges, “Investigators recovered the bank bag that was covered in Nyamodi’s DNA, forensics scientists concluded. Where is this report which is also public record. I wonder if Mr. Johnson has ever seen a copy of that report as well. Sources who spoke to TPC on conditions on anonymity, reveal that testing on the bag had such a small portion of Shannon’s DNA on it, that it more than like came from a police officer who had handled the Nyamodi youth during his arrest and inadvertently touch the bag, while transferring his DNA. Why has this crucial DNA report from scientist never been made public? The other disturbing element of the case related to this crime is that investigators sought to test the bag and not the money. During a court proceeding in which Rhonda Maclean petitioned the court to retrieve the money stolen from her the night she got shot, both the prosecutor, and the defense counsel declined to test it and the court turned it back over to Maclean. When allegations are made that DNA exist in any criminal case, it’s never been made public, Johnson never corroborates the existence of such scientific test results, makes that portion of his article as well as the prosecutor’s assertion not credible.

The very existence of DNA is perhaps the most culpable and compelling source of evidence a prosecutor could obtain. Coupled with the victim’s daughter allegedly accepting a plea deal in exchange for testifying against Shannon Nyamodi, presents an extremely strong case, but these facts only heighten suspicion as to why prosecutors willingly and readily prepared to offer this defendant a plea deal. The entire song and dance that the courts were lenient on Shannon because of his purported difficult upbringing is just not convincing at all. The very presence of Shannon’s aunt Brenda Nyamodi in the courtroom for these secretive proceedings (if she was in fact there at all) is suspect at best. Brenda Nyamodi was one of the very people who telephone Shannon’s mother the night before, tipping her off that Shannon would be accepting a plea deal in court the following day. The nasty message she left on Elizabeth crudup’s phone sounded vindictive, full of spite, and malice as if her intentions were to torture her sister, according to the mother.

Johnson’s article quotes Klinkosum’snegative comments to the court related to Shannon’s mother and me (David Adams, the article reads) as the Administrator of The People’s Champion Blog. Johnson wrote:

“The case included some hurdles, Klinkosum admitted. Nyamodi’s mother, Elizabeth Crudup, and others began a social media campaign earlier this year, accusing officials of delaying Nyamodi’s day in court and his exoneration. In a Youtube video and in accompanying blogs by David Adams, who refers to himself as The People’s Champion, Nyamodi’s mother made a range of accusations, from the court system dragging its feet, to a good-old-boy network that is denying Nyamodi justice. In the video, Crudup, urges people for help with Nyamodi’s bond, plus a “really good, pro bono lawyer.”

Klinkosum’s comments aren’t surprising when considering the harsh manner that Elizabeth Crudup says that he has treated her. An attorney interviewed for this article told TPC, that if the mother is correct regarding her treatment by her son’s attorney, his actions are extremely unprofessional at best. He also states, that most law firms try to create an inclusionary environment with their clients family members, providing documentation upon request, answering questions, and giving regular updates pertaining to their loved ones case. Regardless who has paid the retainer for representation in a criminal case, rarely is the mother of a defendant outcast from involvement in the client’s case. Crudup says that Klinkosum has had her thrown out of his law office on multiple occasions without cause. Crudup told TPC that Klinkosum has been spreading innuendo and rumors about her mental health, and according to Johnson’s article he stated on record, “he believes Nyamodi’s mother suffers from mental illness that made his upbringing difficult.” Instead of Klinkosum mounting a fight for Shannon Nyamodi’s defense in what appeared to be a an extremely weak case against him, he insults his client’s mother by implying that she is mentally ill, according to Johnson’s article.

On what basis does Klinkosum make such slanderous statements about Shannon’s mother , and how does writer Carry Johnson even qualify his comments without substantiating facts to support any mental health issues of the mother whatsoever? A compelling argument could be made that Johnson’s article was more about Shannon’s mother, and that she was responsible for her son’s plight. the article appears to be a witch hunt designed to smear Shannon’s mother name, while pleading to the court that he was some poor helpless kid that made a bad mistake, and now has so much empathy for the victim and his violent actions. This is very far removed from the young defendant who spent nearly a year and a half in isolation at the hands of his torturous jailers at the Franklin County Detention Center. All of this drama, and results in the prosecution escaping having to present culpable evidence against Shannon Nyamodi. It’s apparent that these kinds of articles printed by Mr. Johnson are from a perspective with close ties to both Klinkosum and the prosecutor. No research of pertinent facts were ever done by this writer. What professional journalist does that? Carry Johnson should be ashamed of what i believe to be nothing short of poor journalism, and his efforts has completely misled the public within the surrounding communities who patronize The Franklin Times.

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

When I interviewed Rhonda Maclean several months ago she emphatically told me that Shannon Nyamodi was in fact the assailant who shot her in the face at point blank range in Youngsville, North Carolina back in 2012. She went on to convey that Nyamodi, a recent high school grad, was an heir to a royal family in Kenya Africa, the family was paying his legal expenses to avoid having the family name publicly tarnished, and that she had obtained this information from Assistant District Attorney Annette Sellers who was prosecuting the Nyamodi criminal case. I dispelled her claims and found her not credible because the accounts she described to me on the night she was shot was one of three conflicting versions she had given related to the case. According to police reports submitted by police officials who were primary to the scene that night and who had obtained statements from her, they all indicate that MacClean didn’t even know that she had been shot, and nonetheless she never fingered Shannon Nyamodi as the perpetrator.

The victim’s comments to TPC raised suspicion as to why she never told police that Shannon was the person who  shot her on the night of the actually crime, but was now so certain that the youth was the person responsible. MacClean’s story didn’t make sense and official records in the case file point to the youth having been falsely charged of this heinous crime. Forensic evidence, supporting investigative documents, and all of the elements typically associated with prosecuting a serious crime of this nature are all non existent. In fact, no document in the file establishes that Rhonda MacClean ever told cops that Shannon Nyamodi was her assailant. If such investigative findings do exist, they have never been made public to this day. The other interesting point of note was her apparent interest in Shannon’s alleged “royal ties.” Kenya doesn’t have a ruling monarch government and if it did, how would AD Sellers know about it.

The Nyamodi youth certainly isn’t a prince or an heir to royal blood in Africa, but information obtained by TPC has discovered that Shannon Nyamodi is a relative of prominent Kenyan citizens who have extremely close ties to the most powerful people in that nation. Perhaps this is what MacClean eluded to in her comments during the interview I conducted with her. None of this matters of course when considering the criminal charges that the youth face. All that matters is the facts in the case related to whether or not the youth committed this brutal crime. It seems that AD Sellers at least, has interest in making Nyamodi’s ties to powerful people in Africa a point of interest. If this isn’t true, then it’s unclear why the prosecutor ever even disclosed these details to the victim in the first place.

More troubling though, is how was the AD made aware of Shannon’s family standing in Africa? Some suspect that the youth’s aunt may have been the source who disseminated this information to prosecutors or the attorney representing Shannon. The aunt went behind the family’s back and hired  Maitry “Mike” Klinkosum to represent young Shannon, a move that the youth’s family says has been a complete nightmare. Shannon’s mother Elizabeth Crudup says that Klinkosum has done nothing for her son but allowed him to rot in jail. Crudup says that Klinkosum, along with her sister’s help, has threatened Shannon and her family to make certain that he remains Shannon’s attorney of record. The manner in which Klinkosum became Shannon’s attorney has been very fishy from the start. The aunt sneakily hired him against the family’s wishes, Klinkosum showed up at the jail and tricked the youth into signing documents naming him as his attorney, and Crudup says he took the money and ran, leaving her son in jail for nearly two years. Just recently, the youth filed an affidavit with the courts firing Klinkosum on May 21, 2014 as his legal counsel, but by May 29th Klinkosum had arranged a secret hearing with judge Ridgeway in Franklin County that resulted in the youth agreeing to a plea deal that would send him to prison for nearly 10 years.

Whether it was Shannon’s aunt or not, who ever disclosed the family’s social and political standing in their native country of Kenya committed a horrible blunder. The acquisition opened the door for career building hungry prosecutors to prey on the youth, and while no evidence exist of his absolute guilt, it seems that attempts have been made to manufacture a criminal case against him. For example, Crudup told TPC that when she initially spoke to DA Sam Curran, she was told by Curran that he knows her son is innocent, and “it’s the mother (Rhonda MacClean), she should be arrested.” Crudup says that Curran even told her that her son would be home by Thanksgiving of 2012. However, when AD Sellers became the active prosecutor, that all changed. Sellers told Crudup that Shannon wasn’t going anywhere, and would be prosecuted.

Why the prosecution took such a drastic course from believing in his innocence to wanting to prosecute him is unclear. What is very clear however, is that the prosecution’s case is decimated by it’s own record. Here are some of the disturbing facts in the Shannon Nyamodi case:

1. The victim Rhonda MacClean never told police that Shannon was the person who shot her. If she did, the cops failed to disclose this crucial information in any of their reports. (Fact)

2. Shannon was not only charged with first degree attempted murder, but he was also charged with larceny of the victim’s .22 caliber rifle. The rifle was seized from the home where the crime occurred while Shannon was already in custody. (Fact)

3. Police had no probable cause to arrest Shannon Nyamodi from the very start. The information utilized to justify charges and an arrest of the youth were obtained through hearsay statements over twenty four hours after he had already been taken into custody. (Fact)

4. Eyewitnesses at the scene on the night of the crime told police that a white male was seen fleeing from 109 Shearing Court where the crime took place moments after the shooting. Witness accounts are supported by police reports and other official documents which reveal that primary officers on the scene established that the suspected shooter was no longer at the scene upon police arrival. Shannon Nyamodi never left the scene and had aided the victim until EMS and police arrived. (Fact)

5. Police allege that Shannon Nyamodi conspired with the victim’s 15-year-old daughter to kill and rob her. This information was obtained through hearsay from a witness who said that Shannon and the teen girl had exchanged text on Facebook, while plotting to commit the crime. ( Fact)

6. Witness statements implicating Shannon in the crime were used to justify a search warrant for the Facebook accounts of Shannon Nyamodi and the victim’s teen daughter. The findings of the search warrant reveal that no text exchange between Shannon and the girl ever occurred. (Fact)

7. No forensic evidence such as blood, DNA, or fingerprints linking Shannon Nyamodi to the crime has never been made public. (Fact)

8. The nearly $65,000.00 dollars that was stolen from the victim in this case was strangely obtained by police, who have never disclosed where it was found or what tip led them to the money, and all while Shannon Nyamodi had already been in custody. (Fact)

Additionally, other peculiar elements related to Shannon’s case have transpired without clear justification. These other facts demonstrate that prosecutors don’t have a case against Shannon Nyamodi, and the blatant manner in which these events have occurred clearly establish that the authorities more than likely knew Shannon was innocent very early on in this case, and have used harsh tactics to force a plea deal from this young defendant:

1. Shannon Nyamodi was indicted a week after state investigators learned that a witness had lied about Shannon’s involvement in the crime. The affidavit detailing this discovery was reported to the courts nearly 90 days after the discovery was made. (Fact)

2. Shannon’s criminal case was taken off the court’s docket on February 20, 2013 and the prosecutor was given wide discretion in determining when the case would continue. Shannon has remained locked up behind bars ever since with no pending court date in the system. (Fact)

3. Shannon was repeatedly held in segregation (solitary confinement) for over a year while detained at the Franklin County Detention Center, not allowed to call his family, and not allowed any visits or contact from the outside world. (Fact)

4. Shannon has repeatedly been pressured by prosecutors and his own attorney to accept a plea agreement for the criminal charges that he faces. (Fact)

5. A “Writ of Habeas Corpus” (challenging the lawfulness of his detention) has been filed on behalf of Shannon Nyamodi and was rejected in both District and the State Courts of Appeals. His detention is in direct violation of the 6th and 14th amendments of the U.S. Constitution. (Fact)

Given these very disturbing facts related to the Shannon Nyamodi criminal case, it’s confusing even more as to why the prosecution would attempt to pursue these charges against this youth when their case is so weak (none existent actually), and Shannon’s sudden strange shift of advocating his innocence to accepting a plea deal, when he knew very well that the case against him was extremely questionable. The prosecutor was fully aware of the particulars in the case and knows exactly what culpable evidence (if any) exist against young Shannon. While  a plethora of unanswered lingering questions exist leading up to this youth’s eventual conviction that scrutinizes the authorities handling of this case, the full burden of what happened to young Shannon Nyamodi  isn’t entirely nesting on the doorsteps of prosecutors and judges involved in this criminal case.

When the “royal family” ties to Shannon Nyamodi initially surfaced, TPC confronted his mother pertaining to these allegations. Since that time I have been personally privileged with extremely personal details related to the Nyamodi family of Africa, but didn’t have authorization to disclose them until now. The Nyamodi’s were one of the most prominent families in Kenya after the country had obtained it’s independence from British rule. Shannon Nyamodi’s maternal grandmother was a very wealthy and powerful attorney in Kenya, a rare instance in a male dominated culture. His mother (Elixabeth Crudup), his aunt (Brenda Nyamodi, and uncle (Paul Nyamodi) were all educated at Oxford University in Europe. Brenda Nyamodi is a Grant Policy Manager for the federal government in Wake County North Carolina, while Paul Nyamodi (an attorney himself) is the Public Safety Secretary in Kenya, where he also serves as an adviser to Kenya’s President Huru Kenyatta.

According to Elizabeth, a strained relationship formulated among her siblings. Partly because she had escaped clitoridoctomy (a tribal practice of female genitalia mutilation) by moving to America in her youth. In that country such practice is revered as a right of passage for girls to adulthood. To compound matters for Elizabeth, Shannon Nyamodi was born out of wedlock, and garnered her harsh criticism from her tribal community in her homeland. Kenya’s societal and cultural standard dictated that young Shannon should be shunned, but his grandmother embraced her first grandchild, and took the young American born male child with her everywhere she went.  Upon her passing in 2000, the grandmother is suspected of having left an incredibly large inheritance for Shannon. Resources which the youth should have obtained shortly after his 18th birthday.

However, Elizabeth agrees that the alleged $50,000.00 dollars that her sister and brother secretly paid attorney Klinkosum, may have been in fact, a bounty to insure that young Shannon went to prison. In line with Kenyan tradition the oldest male child (Paul Nyamodi) was named as his mother’s estate executor, and one of the more pressing concerns has always been why Shannon’s relatives appeared to be working against his plight related to his legal representation. Sources close to TPC have disclosed that Klinkosum has allegedly been spreading negativity and other innuendo about Elizabeth, and questioning her mental health status. This is believed to have been a product of her siblings solicitation to Klinkosum in wake of what ever agreement was made when he was retained by them to represent young Shannon. Elizabeth says that Klinkosum has always conducted himself in a hostile fashion toward her, and has had her thrown out of his law office on multiple occasions when she showed up to inquire about her son’s case.

Despite what has been said about Elizabeth, her account related to this sidebar of the Shannon Nyamodi story has tremendous credibility. Her strongest defense related to her belief that her siblings were complicit in Shannon’s demise is contained in the record of the criminal case against her son. It’s quite apparent that her siblings never bothered to read the case file at all, because had they done so, it would have been completely clear to them that their nephew was deserving of better representation than what Klinkosum afforded Shannon. Elizabeth says that she now knows why her brother flew from Kenya on two separate occasions. His interest was only to make certain that young Shannon was out of the way to enable his ability to seize a large inheritance that his nephew was heir to. Elizabeth’s perspective is further supported by the fact that Shannon’s wealthy relatives never secured his bail. Shannon’s bond was $500,000.00 dollars and the allege $50,000.00 dollar retainer that was paid to Klinkosum could have posted his bond.

Also, fifty grand is a pricey fee for an attempted murder case, and coupled with the reality that Klinkosum allowed Shannon’s case to be taken off of the docket indefinitely while he languished in prison, presents a very compelling argument that Klinkosum was motivated to keep young Shannon locked up, and had it bank rolled by Shannon’s own relatives. When an attorney receives this amount of money to represent a defendant in any criminal case, there is an expectation that a fight would ensue on the clients behalf even if the defendant was guilty as sin. Elizabeth says that from the very start Klinkosum repeatedly pressured Shannon to take a plea deal. Considering the very disturbing facts previously outlined in this article, red flags go up all over the place when realizing the deplorable legal representation Shannon received. To add insult to injury, the prosecutor dropped most of the felony charges against Shannon to broker a deal in a case that never existed from the start.

In many respects, Shannon’s relatives are largely responsible for his unsuccessful fight to regain his freedom. Young Shannon Nyamodi is simply a pawn in a very high stakes political nightmare that has changed his life and that of his family forever. His horrible tragic story can best be characterized in a quote from his mom. “Truth is like a lion. There is no need to defend it.”

Thee People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

The prosecutor handling the criminal case of Shannon Nyamodi and the defendant’s own legal counsel weren’t concerned about the case, while the youth languished in a county jail for nearly 21 months without an actual court date within the docket system. Then suddenly his mother received phone calls on May 28, 2014 from various people stating that Shannon would make a plea at the Franklin County Courthouse on the 29th. His mother was very skeptical about those claims because her son had consistently professed his innocence, and repeatedly conveyed his refusal to plea guilty for a crime in which he hadn’t committed. Shannon even withstood harsh treatment while in custody at the Franklin County Jail, where he was constantly placed in isolation, not allowed to have visits, with no phone calls, and no contact with the outside world. During the entire time that he endured such rigorous confinement, the youth never wavered and maintained his innocence.

So, when word came from the courtroom that Shannon Nyamodi had been transported to Franklin County where he made a guilty plea in exchange for a 136-180 month prison term, speculation immediately emerged questioning why the young defendant had changed the course of his plea to the court for serious felony charges. It was an unforeseen culmination of a nearly two year ordeal that had garnered national attention for the once aspiring U.S. Marine’s plight. Just eight days prior, Shannon had in fact submitted an affidavit to the Franklin County Clerk of Courts office firing his attorney of record (Maitri “Mike” Klinkosum). It’s unclear how or why the court allowed Klinkosum to act in a legal capacity for young Shannon during the hearing which brokered the plea deal.  See below Affidavit:

Affidavit with Clerk of Courts timestamp validating the court’s receipt of notification that Shannon Nyamodi had fired his attorney Maitri “Mike” Klinkosum on May 21, 2014.

In addition to the filed affidavit, on the morning of May 29, 2014 Shannon’s mother was informed that her son was in fact scheduled to make a court appearance, and that Klinkosum was representing her son. She was experiencing car problems that day and had become fearful that she wouldn’t make it to court on time for the hearing. She typed a letter for the judge explaining that Klinkosum had been terminated from representing Shannon, and advised the judge that she had the original affidavit. The mother faxed the letter to the Clerk’s office, and the court official allegedly walked the letter to judge Ridgeway’s chambers. The court never held a show cause hearing challenging Klinkosum’s legal right to represent Shannon, and strangely the proceeding took place anyway with Klinkosum as Shannon’s attorney.

One of the most consistent arguments that has been repeatedly offered in the case of Shannon Nyamodi, has been his right to due process that he is afforded under the law. Klinkosum never attempted to bring the young defendant’s case to trial in nearly two years, and upon him having been fired from legally representing Shannon, strangely, some secretive hearing was suddenly created where Shannon ultimately agreed to a plea deal.  Moreover, the details contained in the plea arrangement are even more shocking. The prosecution had always alleged that it was Shannon Nyamodi who shot Rhonda Maclean in the face at point blank range, while conspiring with her 15-year-old daughter to kill and rob her of nearly $65,000.00 dollars, but those charges, along with others were dropped, and the youth ultimately was only convicted of conspiracy to commit murder.

The prosecution’s willingness to drop nearly all of the serious felony crimes against young Shannon speaks volumes about the strength of their case against him, and offers a very compelling argument that Shannon may have agreed to the plea deal under duress. See the plea deal below:

Previous articles on TPC have detailed the very troubling case that the prosecutor’s office had against this defendant from the very start, and when judge Height authorized the case to be taken off of the docket indefinitely back in February of 2013, the court gave wide discretion to the prosecutor’s office for it’s continuance, and afforded prosecutors an unfair tactical advantage in the case while young Shannon Nyamodi languished in prison for nearly two years. Those who are sympathetic to North Carolina’s courts rationalize that the extended period of time Shannon Nyamodi spent in detention without an actual court date is the norm, and the grueling slow process is attributed to a docket backlog. Despite this perspective from pundits with an allegiance to the state’s judicial system, official documents made public in the case file demonstrates that the prosecutor’s own record has more exculpatory findings for young Shannon than those which point to his guilt. Therefore, it’s troubling to comprehend why the youth would agree to a plea deal in a case that even the most inexperienced attorney could have successfully won.

The unexplained premise for Shannon’s abrupt shift in his plea for these felony charges brings tremendous scrutiny upon the actually record of the plea arrangement itself, and immediately elements of the documents depict glaring details which are very problematic. Chiefly, Shannon’s signature or endorsement under Acknowledgement By The Defendant, raises suspicion as to how the writing was obtained. While some characters in the endorsement appear to resemble the defendants writing, his writing style format appears to be quite different from his writing on record. His last name is even spelled incorrectly, and clearly some dynamic appears to have transpired that caused him to write his name in a fashion which is barely legible with all of the letters running together. You could even make the argument that his hand may even have been guided forcefully while the endorsement was being constructed. Either way, Shannon’s endorsement appears to have been composed irregularly for some reason, or under duress. Take a look at Shannon’s endorsement on another document below (take note of numbers 2,4 & 5, and the letter I):

A letter from Shannon Nyamodi to attorney Klinkosum requesting his speedy trial rights. His endorsement is very legible with proper spacing.

Shannon Nyamodi’s alleged voluntary endorsement accepting a plea agreement, which is nearly illegible, last name misspelled, and a complete contrast to his writing style and format compared to his endorsement on record.

The endorsements of this young defendant are comparatively contrasting as depicted above, and the manner in which certain numbers within the date, and the letter I, clearly illustrates that a change occurred in his writing style when endorsing the plea agreement. Since an individual’s signature or endorsement are writings that develop with practice over a period of time, this form of writing typically forms a pattern, and seldom do such drastic change in a person’s signature or endorsement style occur in such a contrasting fashion. it’s also clear that the date above Shannon’s endorsement wasn’t composed by him either. The numbers 2,4, & 5 are composed differently on the plea agreement verses his previously recorded endorsement in his speedy trial request letter. To be specific, it appears that his endorsement on the plea agreement appears to have been constructed under duress or at the very least, severe stress. Rarely does a person’s signature or endorsement change so drastically. Something appears fishy.

Additionally, there is more “funny business” apparently going on with the plea agreement document as well. In most court cases where a plea agreement has been established, certain procedures typically follow once the agreement has been accepted by the court. The document usually requires a witness (a commissioned court clerk) who verifies that the agreement was sworn, affirmed, and endorsed before them at a given date and time making the agreement binding. Although court official Barbara L. Dickerson indicates on the agreement document that the aforementioned had in fact transpired before her on May 29, 2014, to the contrary, both Shannon and his attorney’s endorsements appear to have occurred approximately 3 weeks prior to these proceedings. Take a look at a snapshot of endorsements on the plea agreement below:

Endorsements on the Shannon Nyamodi plea agreement indicate that the court official Barbara L. Dickerson and Assistant Prosecutor Annette Sellers both endorsed and dated the document on the actual day of the proceedings. However, Shannon and his attorney appear to have dated and endorsed it 3 weeks prior to the date of the plea agreement.

Are the date discrepancies an oversight? It’s highly doubtful, and a very compelling argument could be made that the dates were purposefully back dated by attorney Klinkosum or Assistant Prosecutor Annette Sellers, designed to give the appearance that Shannon Nyamodi had agreed to the plea deal before May 21, 2014, the day Shannon’s affidavit was filed with the Clerk’s office firing Klinkosum. Everyone who was a party to the plea agreement (the Clerk, Prosecutor, Defendant, and his Attorney) should have all endorsed the agreement before the court’s commissioned official on the exact date of the proceedings, as the document indicates that it had. More importantly, Shannon’s endorsement indicating that it was signed on May 8, 2014 means that he never subscribed to the agreement before the court, and if he never voluntarily and verbally agreed in open court to the agreement, it’s not legal.

It’s extremely hard to imagine that this defendant withstood over a year in isolation professing his innocence to suddenly decide to admit that he actually committed this crime. If Shannon endorsed the agreement on May 8 as the plea agreement document alleges, then it’s simply not convincing that the youth never indicated this to his parents whom both had visited him multiple times in jail after the day he allegedly signed the agreement. I am convinced that most who have been following this young man’s story don’t believe for one minute that Shannon endorsed the agreement on the date depicted on the document. His stressful looking endorsement was more than likely composed on the day of the proceedings (May 29) while under duress in Franklin County. Someone other than Shannon Nyamodi imputed the date of May 8, 2014 after he was forced to endorse it. The date isn’t reflective of his writing style and doesn’t have the dark, harsh, and smudging composition as seen in his alleged voluntary endorsement.

Even if Shannon had actually signed the plea agreement on May 8, 2014 as the document indicates, the court’s official who the document was allegedly sworn, affirmed, and subscribed before, should have caught the discrepancy. Now it appears that some kind of conspiracy transpired to obtain a conviction of Shannon Nyamodi despite attorney Klinkosum having been fired by him weeks prior to these proceedings that resulted in this plea deal. A criminal defendant’s right to fire his legal counsel is absolute, and could be done so without cause. The court’s failure to acknowledge Shannon’s fundamental constitutional right to competent legal representation of his personal choice, is indicative of continued mounting violations of this young defendant’s civil and constitutional rights. Attorney Klinkosum should never have been permitted to represent Shannon Nyamodi in any capacity before the courts. The tactics which appear to have been used in this case are so egregious that a Department of Justice Civil Rights Violation inquiry into Shannon Nyamodi’s case is warranted.

This young man’s fight is far from over and the officials who are responsible for this miscarriage of justice should be sent to prison themselves.

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

When my home phone rang late afternoon yesterday I looked at the Caller I.D. and noticed that the number was from Ms. Elizabeth Crudup, the mother of Shannon Nyamodi. I had spoken to her earlier in the day regarding her son’s case, and had made phone calls to local media in North Carolina on his behalf. Before I could greet the mother, her voice loudly barked “can you hear me?” She appeared extremely excited and began to introduce me to her son who was also on the line for the call. It was a defining moment culminating this mother’s fears, concerns, and all of the anxiety the Nyamodi family has endured for nearly two years. The youth was a recent high school grad preparing to enter the U.S. Armed Forces, whose life took a spiraling downward turn in August 2012 when he was arrested and subsequently charged with several felonies accusing him of shooting a woman in the face at point blank range. Nyamodi had been at the Franklin County Detention Center awaiting trial for those charges for over a year, when he says that corrections officials at that facility began to treat him harshly, and repeatedly placed him in isolation (segregation).

The timing of his harassment also coincided with a volume of publicity which started to draw national attention to his case. In December of 2013 his mother began to notice that when she went to visit her son at the Franklin County jail, she was often told that she couldn’t see her son, although she had arrived at the facility on his normal visiting days. When Elizabeth Crudup was allowed to see Shannon, he was always accompanied by the warden and one of the sergeants at the jail. The peculiar manner in which the jail conducted his visits caused the mother to speak to him in her native tongue of Swahili. Ms. Crudup says she believed that something was going on but couldn’t quite put her finger on exactly what it was. As time went on her being denied access to her son escalated into being prohibited to see him at all. Shannon stopped calling his family, and he was repeatedly being placed in isolation. In January 2014 Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood drove the mother to the jail and refused to leave until she was allowed to see her son. On that visit the judge had requested to speak with Franklin County Sheriff Jerry Jones, but Jones refused to see him.

Hobgood had met with Elizabeth Crudup in his chambers at the Franklin County courthouse regarding a Writ of Habeas Corpus just hours before he escorted her to the jail. Although Hobgood had denied the habeas, he was concerned about other aspects of her son’s case. The judge had wrongfully ruled that the mother had no legal standing in her son’s criminal case, and couldn’t file legal documents on his behalf because she wasn’t an attorney. TPC has disclosed NCGS 17-5 which details how anyone can present a habeas before the court to challenge the lawful detention of a detainee. Hobgood’s purpose for making certain the mother saw her son was so she could obtain a written request from him expressing his desire for a “speedy trial.” Nyamodi’s case had been ordered taken off of the management docket system by judge Height on February 20, 2013, while allowing the prosecutor’s office wide discretion in determining when the case would move forward, and Hobgood’s gesture was meant to compel Shannon’s attorney to act on his behalf in the case. The only other occasion that Crudup was permitted to visit her son occurred when someone put in a call to sheriff Jerry Jones expressing concern for Shannon’s mental health due to his isolation for such an extended period of time. That was the last time Crudup physically saw her son. She had no contact with him for months, an effort she believes was being conducted to solicit a plea deal from him under duress for the charges. Suddenly she was surprised with a phone call in the wee hours of the morning just a few weeks ago, when some compassionate jail official snuck the youth out of his jail cell and allowed him to call his mom.

Crudup writes her son daily because it’s the only manner in which she could communicate with him to offer support and hope that he would eventually prevail from the charges he face. During her last call she had with him, she discovered that Franklin County jail officials had not been giving him his mail. Those communications she had been sending him contained vital information to aid in his defense, and to inform him of legal proceedings she was conducting on his behalf. Crudup had consistently attempted to ascertain why Shannon was being denied visits, only to be told when she inquired that Shannon wasn’t allowed to see anyone. Shannon Nyamodi doesn’t have a pending court date in the management docket system at all, with no final disposition of his case, and is essentially serving a sentence of infinity without a conviction. His case has raised serious concern for his constitutional rights in what many followers of his case see as severe human rights violations. His plight has garnered national attention from various spectrums of the legal community such as Harvard Law, and other local Law Schools. The Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network Charlotte office has been actively working to free Nyamodi. A volume of advocates, bloggers, and concerned citizens from around the country, and Canada have continuously made calls and wrote letters to local, state, and federal agencies in North Carolina to bring attention to his story. It’s widely believed that Shannon Nyamodi’s treatment while being detained at the Franklin County Detention Center is a direct result of pressure from the public around the country. Additionally, the Federal Bureau of Investigations reportedly has an open case file on Shannon Nyamodi’s case which originated from a criminal complaint surrounding his potential unlawful detention.

The U.S. Constitution affords all citizens a right to a speedy trial and due process under the law. The 6th and 14th amendments were designed to insure that states pay respect to a defendant’s right to speedy prosecution and a fair public trial, and to prevent a citizen from languishing in prison for infinity. Shannon’s case at least, establishes that the criminal justice process is working in glaring contrast, while he sits in a North Carolina jail cell with no indication as to when he’ll have his day in court. While Shannon’s case appears to stand out as a poster child for complete injustice by the North Carolina courts, public outcry has continuously called for state politicians at the very apex of North Carolina’s leadership to act on his behalf, which includes Attorney General Roy Coopers’s office, and the Governor. Some cynics have declared that the prosecutors must have evidence against Shannon Nyamodi for them to continuously hold him, but if such evidence exist, it has never been made public. The official record file at the County Clerk’s office is extremely problematic for state prosecutors and the police who brought charges against this young defendant. Legal professionals from around the country who have seen some of the critical documents in the case file, believe that no probable cause ever existed to justify an arrest warrant for Shannon Nyamodi from the very start.

However, through all of the advocacy that has developed for Shannon’s plight outside of the state of North Carolina, some dynamic appears to be working behind the scenes. During the early afternoon on yesterday an order was executed, moving Shannon Nyamodi from the custody of the Franklin County Sheriff Department, and transferring him to a facility in Nash County North Carolina. The move came as such a surprise that the warden of the Franklin County Detention Center wasn’t even aware of the ordered transfer until deputies from Nash County arrived at the facility with body attachment documents (a writ) giving Nash County officials authority over Shannon Nyamodi’s physical custody. According to Shannon, who told TPC that the order was issued by the North Carolina State Bureau of Prisons, also advised that he had been writing a volume of people, including the BOP requesting a transfer from Franklin County because of the harsh treatment that he was enduring while in their custody. Supporters who just became aware of the move are skeptical and believe that Shannon’s sudden transfer may be a tactic being utilized by politicians bidding for post in this upcoming elections in May. The state Attorney General, District Attorneys, and the Franklin County Sheriff who have been contacted directly regarding Shannon’s case, are all up for reelection and one of those entities may be responsible for Shannon’s transfer in an effort to bolster their campaign bid.

At any rate, Shannon was freed from the harsh isolation conditions that he was reportedly subjected to for over a year. While on the phone with Shannon and his mom, I could sense the sheer joy that the family had overcome a very horrific ordeal. Elizabeth Crudup continuously blew kisses at her son, telling him that she loved him, and that she would continue to fight for him to regain his freedom. Her son’s voice was firm, articulate, and he spoke with humility describing how despite all that corrections officials had done to him, he never lashed out, never used profanity or became disrespectful. Shannon said he just continued to write hoping that the good people in the justice system would eventually hear his plea for help. Shannon appeared to be pleased with his current detention facility and was excited that he would have the freedom to have movement around his housing area. He said that he was being placed in a housing pod (a dorm), which mean that he would now be afforded normal privileges like using the phone, and having visits from his family which is something he was prohibited from having in Franklin County. His lines of communication with his greatest supporters have now been reestablished and he is prepared to finally prove his innocence, he said.

Shannon went on to briefly described for TPC the events of the night which led up to his arrest. He stated that after the shooting victim had been transported, he was sitting in the Young family’s yard (where the victim ran for help) when a black police sedan pulled up, and a police officer approached him stating, “you might as well confess and tell us the truth about what happened.” Shannon said that he told the officer who had a jewish name (Heinrich), that “I already told you guys what happened. Mind you, I am the one who called the police and escorted them to where she was.” He said he was told to come with the police for questioning and “the next thing I know, I am being processed for the shooting,” Shannon said. TPC has already reported in a previous article that Detective Heinrich of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations is the police official who executed a search warrant on the Facebook accounts of Shannon Nyamodi and his co-defendant in this case, after a police informant implicated Shannon, by stating that he and the victim’s daughter conspired to kill and rob her mother while communicating via Facebook text. Detective Heinrich’s official sworn document which he executed on August 27, 2012, reveals that no records were seized as a result of the search warrant. Since police have always alleged that a conspiracy had transpired between Shannon and the girl, Heinrich’s discovery is extremely exculpatory for Shannon Nyamodi, but the detective didn’t submit his findings to the courts until nearly ninety days after he learned that the police informant’s information was false. Heinrich knew that Shannon hadn’t communicated in a conspiracy on Facebook a full week prior to Shannon’s indictment on October 4, 2012. The cops knew this kid was innocent, did nothing about it, and allowed the prosecutor’s office to charge him for this horrible crime anyway. For now he has been removed from torturous conditions at the Franklin County Detention Center, but Shannon Nyamodi still has a tremendous upheaval on the road to regain his freedom. May God be with him and his family.

To Be Continued ..

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

It’s a gritty blue collar town with a reputation of violent crimes that dates back to the early 20th century. A violent era in American history where gangsters like Al Capone and “Bugs” Moran were the leading figures in Chicago’s organized crime order. The struggle for power once spilled over into the streets when seven men were lined up against a whitewashed wall and pumped with 90 bullets from submachine guns, shotguns and a revolver in an epic crime scene, later dubbed as the famed St Valentine’s Day Massacre. It was the most infamous of all gangland slayings in America, and it savagely achieved its purpose (the elimination of the last challenge to Al Capone for the mantle of crime boss in Chicago). Over three quarters of a century later, the brutal imagery of gun violence still remains a calling card for the way violent criminals conduct business on the streets of Chi Town. The only difference today is the mafia is now defunct, and the heirs to violent gang culture has been inherited by gun toting kids, who operate from a new standard of rules.

No one is immune from gun violence as babies, females, elderly people, and not even mourners attending funerals can escape a seemingly violent epidemic of biblical proportions as the body count continues to rise on a daily basis. In the past few weeks the weekends were filled with shootings totalling 38, 35, and 43 citizens hit by gunfire respectively. The numbers shadow past figures where at least 52 people have been shot in a twenty four hour time period, and a total of fifty or more people have been shot in Chicago in a single day, twice in as many years. While the cops blame the rise in violence on gang activity, politicians contemplate what actions should be taken to stop the violence and bring order to a city in desperate need of a complete public safety overhaul. Chicago’s mayor Rahm Emanuel has been dancing around the idea of establishing Martial Law, and allowing the streets to be policed by National Guards. The call for the government to stop the killing has been advocated by community leaders, louder than ever before.

The debate has formulated two sides of the war on violence in Chicago, and the urgency for government intervention depends on which side of the table you’re seated. For instance, communities in close proximity of the University of Chicago are among some of the most violent in the city, and some of the safest at the same time. Past violence on and near the institution’s campus sprung it’s administration into action decades ago, and many of the installations near the campus are now being patrolled by private police. Other communities in close proximity are also benefiting from such strategic community safety efforts. Crime and violence is in fact within the highest in Chicago for neighborhoods just blocks away. The alarming disparity of crime and violence becomes a simple matter of where you live. While neighborhoods populated by African Americans and other minorities are among those desperately seeking government assistance to police violence, some white communities in close proximity are numb to the need for intervention.

Community leaders say that such a perspective sends a false sense of security to the overall need for policing of troubled communities plagued with violence. The current status of public safety policy demonstrates that resources are only being afforded to communities which cater to one ethnic group, and primarily those entities associated with the University of Chicago and other prominent institutions. However, research shows that minority and low income communities produce 90 percent of the cities violent crime victims and perpetrators, a staggering statistic that some observers believe is primarily a problem solely indigenous to those communities. Poverty, poor education, and gang activity remain the normal rationalization for the onset of such a violent epidemic, but black leaders are concerned that the readily availability of guns on the streets of Chicago is the root of the city’s violence problem.

For more than a year now, the Chicago Police department has been on a triumphant run. Murders fell almost 20 percent citywide last year, according to department data, and the first quarter of 2014 saw the fewest murders in any first quarter since 1958. But then the mercury started to rise. Over the last two weekend (the first warm ones in the city this year) shootings spiked. More than 70 people were wounded by gunfire. More than 10 others were killed. Authorities say that violence in the city is a classic tale of two Chicagos, one of them safe and prosperous, the other one dangerous and poor—and both of them growing more so. NBC News confirmed the idea of two Chicagos in an analysis last year. Between 2007 and 2012 the murder rate in the most dangerous of Chicago’s official community areas was as much as 80 times higher than the rate in the tonier, quieter area’s like Chicago’s north side. As jobs leave and communities break down, gangs seem to move in and violence follows.

The disturbing factors related to Chicago’s violence is the casual approach some say city leaders are displaying related to stopping the killings. The basic consensus is that although research and statistical data explain some of the root causes of violent crime, drastic measures must now be implemented to quell violence in the city where citizens are being fired upon indiscriminately by fearless criminals who act with impunity. The cops continue to tout the fall of violent crimes over the course of the past few years, but as the climate changes in 2014 the body count, and the volume of shootings so far this year in Chicago demonstrates that a spike in shootings have come back with a vengeance. The city’s leaders along with community advocates are playing a dangerous game of “russian roulette” with the public safety viability of one of the nation’s largest cities, while violence in Chicago reigns as the order of the day. A drastic measure must be swiftly enacted to stop the killing. Mayor Rahm Emanuel must act now and establish Martial Law. His failure to implement unprecedented public policy related to Chicago’s violent epidemic will result in the blood of countless citizens falling upon his hands on his watch.

The reality of the extent of violence in Chicago reveals that since 2010 over 1500 school kids have been shot in the city, with over 350 of them being killed. These disturbing stats have gone unnoticed by national media, while the NRA and conservatives groups lobby for gun rights in”stand your ground” states, no one seems to be concerned with how to disrupt black youth and minorities access to guns, or where the weapons are coming from on the streets of Chicago. It seems as though no one cares about gun violence on the streets as long as the bodies falling are young black youth. A child’s safety on the streets of his own community shouldn’t be predicated on his economic status, and children shouldn’t have to be afraid because they’re not affiliated with a street gang. When a city’s government fails to protect our kids and the violence appears to be like a runaway train, Martial Law must be instituted to protect the public from violent criminals who destroy our communities. Do it now before more innocent lives are lost at the hands of cowardice gun toting thugs. Save your people Mr. Mayor and do the right thing! Now!

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

It’s a microcosmic view inside the depth of frustration that has long been simmering for quite sometime within the african american community, developing from an epidemic of violence, governments failure to assist poor families, and the growing trend of missing black kids. A dark place, seemingly banned to the obscure annals of America’s most indigenous and poverty stricken communities, the plight of poor black babies along with the growing destruction of black youth, in Washington D.C. at least, has spurned a grass roots movement advocating change to protect black children. The disappearance of a beautiful 8-year-old little girl name Relisha Rudd was the catalyst for change that got Keith Warren motivated to launch an all out assault on those responsible for the little girls’ disappearance. Warren’s efforts are deeply rooted with emphatic practicality of having to assist locating the disappearance of a child relative back in 2010.

In the small space he shares with a roommate at an assisted living center in Washington, Warren has rallied thousands of concerned citizens to aide in the fight to bring young Relisha Rudd home safely. Every night for the past few weeks, he has broadcast the “Finding Relisha Radio Show,” from an internet platform on Blogtalk. Hundreds of listeners tune in to add comment, share their thoughts, along with frightening theories that they believe may have happened in the child’s disappearance case. That effort has mushroomed into a task force of people who actively participate in searches, passing out flyers, and talking to people within the surrounding communities to get the word out about young Relisha Rudd’s story. The group’s members has ballooned into nearly a thousand people who are all actively communicating in the efforts to find the missing little girl.

“It’s a long overdue process that should occur every time a black child goes missing,” said Hakeem Abdul, a Baltimore based child advocate who echoes the thoughts of many who have been following Keith Warren, and the Finding Relisha Rudd movement. The show has highlighted interviews with members of the little girl’s family, who have appeared on air and engaged in arguing, fighting, and other deplorable behavior that really tarnish the efforts to find Relisha. At times listeners who call into the show questioning the family, have attacked family members with insults and brash condemnation of the child’s mother, grandmother, and aunts for what the public largely sees as their irresponsibility and failure of Relisha while not appearing to be doing enough to help bring the child home. Warren who is a U.S. Veteran and a bounty hunter, at times has struggled to keep the show’s decorum in tact, while an outpouring of emotion and outrage often prevails during the open discussion about the case. He has no formal training as a broadcast journalist, dropped out of school in the ninth grade, but his efforts are being applauded by a volume of people who say they will not let the little girl’s tragic case go quietly into the dark of the night.

Warren’s efforts have not gone without scrutiny, while some question “what makes this little girl different” from all of the other missing kids. Such a descent from an unprecedented community involved collaboration to find a missing D.C. kid, is quickly dispelled by followers who refuse to give up hope, and believe Relisha is still alive. Other factors which appear to make wide public advocacy to find the child unique, stem from the volume of women who have taken the case personal. Some of the details centered around Relisha’s disappearance are simply unconscionable, and have made parents with children around Relisha’s age livid, regarding the lack of awareness the child’s family had pertaining to her whereabouts for such an extended period of time. Mothers reject the notion that the nineteen days Shameeka Young allowed to go by without physically seeing her daughter, as an acceptable form of child rearing, and many have made it crystal clear that they want the mother to be arrested for her negligence.

Keith Warren’s broadcast has ushered in statements from other family members the public never heard from in mainstream media. Like Daniel Roberts (Relisha’s uncle) who told KWDC Radio that he witnessed Shameeka Young give her daughter to Kalil Tatum at a D.C. bus stop on March 7, 2014. His comment was a shocking revelation which discounts the mother’s earlier account which she claims to have last seen Relisha on March 1, 2014, and perpetuates growing suspicion that Shameeka Young is not being truthful about Relisha’s disappearance. Warren’s show also may have unveiled another possible missing child case. When Shameeka Young came under fire regarding her account that she left Relisha with her sister Ashley, she went of the offensive and disclosed that Ashley also has a daughter who is possibly missing. The dialogue caught listeners by surprise, and some have recounted that tensed moment of the show, contemplating whether missing children are a culture among Relisha’s family members.

The onset of Keith Warren’s personal mission to bring the community together to find such a beautiful child has brought a long decried quest of advocacy for missing children of color, to the very apex of Washington’s social consciousness. His show’s platform of an open mic dialogue has brought so many inconsistencies related to the case to the forefront, and many of the comments made by family members of Relisha Rudd are now a matter of record, which may be utilized by authorities to get to the bottom of what happened to this innocent and precious child. If you have some time, tune in to his show at 7:00 p.m. every night. I’m sure he’ll be there with an army of concerned parents who care about missing children in the “Chocolate City.” Where are you Relisha?

To Be Continued ..

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

Her story is the biggest news headline in Washington D.C., but even with extensive local media coverage the disappearance of young 8-year-old Relisha Rudd has failed to garner the kind of national attention that a high profiled child abduction story should receive. It was a case that almost never made it to press because the child’s disappearance seemingly wasn’t even under her family’s radar. If not of the concern for the little girl’s well being having been investigated by a school official, no one would have known that she was missing at all. The strange circumstance of a man name Kalil Tatum listed on school records as her doctor brought suspicion from a keen school counselor, who notified authorities during a home visit after discovering that he had the child in his care, and was only a janitor working at the shelter where Relisha lived with her family. Once the alarm of an Amber Alert was sounded, the search for Tatum commenced. The story became even more Bizarre when Tatum’s wife was found dead at a hotel in Oxen Hills Maryland. That mysterious discovery was only trumped by Tatum’s body being found also, a short time later from what police describe as an apparent suicide.

Media coverage of the case unveiled security surveillance footage from a hotel on February 26, 2014, that depicted Tatum escorting young Relisha to a room. It was a gripping image that sent shock waves of fear through most following the story, as the video seemed to illustrate a haunting portrayal of a 51-yer-old pedophile luring the child into an isolated place to met out sexual perversions upon her. That video surveillance has led the public to believe that Tatum was the last person to have Relisha under their care, but the conflicting stories of her family members cast doubt that her disappearance actually occurred in the manner they have told the authorities. Kalil Tatum’s unfortunate death by suicide has created a tremendous burden on finding young Relisha, and to obtain knowledge related to exactly what kind of relation he had with the child, or arrangements that her family made with him regarding his supervision of her.

The complexity of this child disappearance case is exacerbated by conflicting stories from her mother, aunt, maternal grandmother, and who all collectively can’t determine as a matter of fact the last time either of them had the child under their care. More importantly, Shameeka Young (Relisha’s mother) has admitted that nineteen days had gone by without her having any physical contact with her daughter. Her claims that she left Relisha in the care of her sister has been disputed by the child’s aunt, who states that she gave Relisha to Tatum at her direction. With Tatum out of the picture, her family has turned this tragic case into a saga of finger pointing, name calling, and bashing each other with threats of violence. Most followers of this child’s story would agree that the public has shown more genuine concern for locating young Relisha, while her family seems focused on deflecting blame of her disappearance on each other.

TPC’s close observation of the Relisha Rudd disappearance case offers a volume of unanswered questions. If Kalil Tatum is in fact responsible for the child’s disappearance, why would he suddenly take her from her family now, when he had a pattern of supervising her and bringing her back safely? What prompted him to murder his wife (if you believe he is responsible)? Why was Tatum and another man (Stokes) known to rent hotel rooms when they both had residences of their own? Why did Tatum take Relisha to a hotel and not his home if she was suppose to be interacting with his daughter/granddaughter? Why did Kalil Tatum purchase garbage bags, lime, and a shovel? Was those items for the purpose of disposing a body, and if so, was that person Relisha or his wife? Media reports that establish three people being at a hotel with Tatum, when one person returns the following morning, and recalls observing Tatum’s wife spread out across the bed while Tatum denied him access to the room, creating suspicion as to why all of these adults may have been in a hotel room with an 8-year-old girl. A theory detailing what ever was going on in that hotel room almost certainly may have led to the demise of Tatum’s wife whether he was responsible for her murder of someone else, becomes a very compelling scenario.

However, if we follow the storyline with the belief that Tatum is responsible for whatever happened to Relisha, we have to contemplate why the child’s family members are telling some many lies regarding what happened. If Tatum is responsible, just tell the cops what you know so they can establish what happened to her. The vicious attacks against each other, coupled with their lack of authentic concern for finding Relisha points to complicity of what happened to her by her own family. Why was Shameeka Young so complacent pertaining to Relisha’s interaction with this man, who purchased expensive gifts for her without drawing her suspicion? Did she know what Tatum was doing with her precious child? When the cops became involved in the case, she appears to have given statements that have come back to haunt her.

Shameeka Young says that she last saw Relisha on March 1, 2014 when she dropped her off at her sister’s home. A witness has come forward and dispelled her claim after revealing that he saw Shameeka give her daughter to Tatum at a D.C. bus stop on March 7, 2014. Her sister Ashley says she gave Relisha to Tatum on March 2, 2014 at Shameeka’s request. Relisha’ stepfather says they last saw Relisha on March 8, at his son’s birthday party which was held at Asheley’s home. Sadly, none of the little girl’s closest family had a handle on her whereabouts or didn’t seem to care who had her. The gravity of the family’s inability to get the story straight leaves the door wide open for speculation that at least one of the family members, if not all of them, knows exactly what happened to young Relisha. The murder of Tatum’s wife and his subsequent death by suicide are disturbing and alarming aspects of the case, but eyewitness statements and accounts by the little girl’s own family establish that Shameeka Young had contact with her daughter at least a week after the time frame she has given to the authorities.

It seems that the more Shameeka Young talks about her daughter’s disappearance, the more contradictory her version of what happen appears. Why has her story consistently changed? Some attribute her inability to get the dates correct, to suspected narcotics use. However, if we offer the benefit of the doubt pertaining to her allege poor memory, I’m sure most would agree that at the very minimum, there is an expectation that Shameeka should have the ability to recall the actual event of when she last saw Relisha. If she can’t recall the date when she last saw her daughter, it’s simply unbelievable that she is confused as to who she last gave the child to. The failure on her part to recall the date she last saw Relisha appears to be a smoke screen. She has consistently given March 1, 2014 as the date she last saw the child, but it’s a date that seems purposefully chosen for some undisclosed reason. Ashley (Relisha’s aunt), Daniel Roberts, and Antonio (Relisha’s stepfather) all gave statements revealing that Shameeka Young had her daughter beyond March 1.

Even more suspicion is centered around Shameeka’s date memory fiasco when other statements she has made regarding the case are considered. Shameeka Young told KWDC Radio on Blogtalk that she never gave her daughter to Tatum or never allowed her to go anywhere with him. Her statements stand in strong contrast to comments she made on live television, when she told a reporter from NBC Washington Channel 4 “I thought he was a nice person, and thought I could trust him,” and indicating that she had in fact given her consent for Tatum to care for her daughter. See the interview below:

In the same interview Shameeka Young initially told the reporter that she wasn’t under the impression that Relisha was missing, but when the question was rephrased, she admitted not calling the cops surrounding Relisha’s disappearance out of fear that she could lose her other three children. Her conflicting statements only serves to construct a spinning web of untruthfulness that may land her in the hot seat facing criminal charges related to the disappearance of her daughter. Others believe that Shameeka has been coached on most of her statements surrounding the case, and because her comments aren’t her authentic thoughts, she has struggled to recall what she was told to say. Even during her interview on KWDC Radio, listeners could hear people in the background telling Shameeka what to say. One caller who posed questions to her, even called her on it and asked if others were telling her what to say. Shameeka denied that assertion, but clearly she was being given comments to say by others with her the night she spoke on the air.

So, the facts in this missing child case remain very cloudy and unfortunately, the little girl’s own family appear to be the greatest hinderance in the case, prohibiting authorities from determining what happened to this beautiful little girl. We can no longer look at the surveillance video from the hotel depicting Tatum escorting Relisha to a room as the smoking gun evidence establishing that he was solely responsible for her disappearance. When others place the child with the mother well after that video, it raises a mountain of suspicion whether the child’s family were in fact responsible for her disappearance themselves, and may simply be attempting to cover their tracks with a volume of deception. D.C. child protective services has several case files related to allege physical abuse of Shameeka Young’s children in the past, and it’s quite possible that the little girl suffered some traumatic incident at the hands of her family. There are so many unanswered questions surrounding this tragic story, and the cops should start at the very doorstep of the child’s parents. Where are you Relisha?

To Be Continued ..

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

The sudden disappearance of young 8-year-old Relisha Rudd from a Washington D.C. homeless shelter is simply a heartbreaking story. The adorable little girl was reportedly last seen with Kalil Tatum who was a janitor working at the old D.C. General Hospital shelter where the child lived with her family. Since the story first broke I have held serious reservations regarding the account of the child’s family members, that Tatum took the child and just vanished. Although news media has published a February 26, 2014 surveillance video from a Maryland hotel which established Tatum at some point having Relisha in his care, but statements by witnesses and family members clarify that Relisha was in the custody of her family in early March of 2014. It’s been disputed exactly which day she was last seen by the family, as March 1,2,7, and 8th are all dates which were given describing the last time she was seen alive.

The lack of clarity from those closest to this child highlights the irresponsibility of young Relisha’s caregivers failure to properly supervisor and protect her. Relisha’s family have now digressed into a finger pointing, diatribe of vicious rhetoric, with insults, threats of violence, and a complete profane dialogue towards each other that questions the believability of any of them at all. I listened to a rebroadcast of the little girl’s story, “The Finding Relisha Rudd Radio Show” on KWDC Radio, which is a D.C. based Blogtalk broadcast. The shows aired April 16 & 17, 2014 with Relisha’s mother on the 16th, again on the 17th with Relisha’s stepfather, Aunt’s, and step grandmother   as special guest. The show was suppose to give the little girl’s family an opportunity to have their side of the story heard, while dismissing media reports that they say were inaccurate. That may have been the intent of the show’s producer and host, but what actually happened was an implosion of the family’s dysfunction, and establishing why such a tragic ordeal could have happened to a young child like Relisha.

What started out as a question and answer forum where a volume of people within the public posed tough questions to Shameeka Young pertaining to her account that she has given regarding the disappearance of her daughter, soon escalated into a free for all debacle. Many listeners called into the show and spewed insults and other innuendo toward Shameeka. The host never policed the discussion which only made matters worst. The callers were relentlessly brutal as many made it clear that Shameeka wasn’t being honest about what happened to young Relisha. Despite the onslaught of abusive callers, Shameeka Young maintained her stoic posture, seeming unphased by the rhetorical abuse. One caller posed questions to Shameeka regarding her demeanor and wanted to know how she could participate in such a discussion on a radio show and not show emotions. “Why aren’t you screaming at the top of your lungs begging God to help you find your only daughter,” the caller said. For the first time publicly Shameeka Young appeared to be moved and fired back, “You don’t know what I go throw. You don’t know about all the dreams I have where I see my daughter reaching for me and I can’t get her.”

It was an emotional laced broadcast that shed some clarity on the overall picture that police authorities are now faced with unraveling. The investigation should now be centered around to versions of the little girl’s family members account that led up to the child’s disappearance. Shameeka says that her sister Ashley Young was the last person who had Relisha in her care. She gives the date of March 1, 2014 as the last day she actually saw Relisha when she dropped her off at Ashley’s house. However, Shameeka’s version is contradicted by statements from a man (I believe is related to Relisha) name Daniel Roberts, who stated during the broadcast that he actually saw Shameeka give Relisha to Kalil Tatum at a bus stop on March 7, 2014. He said that he doesn’t know why Shameeka is lying about the last time she saw her daughter, because she knows that she was the last person to have Relisha. Also, Antonio who is Relisha’s stepfather revealed during the broadcast that Ashley was the last person who had Relisha because Relisha was at his son’s birthday party held at Ashley’s apartment on March 8th. Even Antonio’s statement contradicts his wife’s own account as to when she last saw Relisha. During the show Antonio’s mother could be heard stating, “I keep telling antonio to stop saying when Relisha was last seen because that’s only what Shameeka said.”

The child’s step grandmother actually revealed a very telling moment in the case, that establishes that others close to Shameeka Young apparently have difficulty with her version of what happened when Relisha went missing. Shameeka also told KWDC Radio that she has never allowed Tatum to take Relisha anywhere, and contradicting other media reports where she had previously stated on television that she allowed Relisha to go with Tatum because “he seemed like a nice person.” When all hell broke loose on the show with the family members arguing, the step grandmother also revealed that she had question whether Tatum was young Relisha’s father. That argument sparked when Ashley gave her version, describing how Shameeka had called her to ask if she (Shameeka) could give Tatum her phone number because he was on his way to pick her up. Ashley says that the last time she saw Relisha was on March 2, 2014 when tatum arrived at her home to pick the child up. “As the Aunt, the only thing I can do is give the child to who ever the mother tells me.” is what Ashley Young told listeners of the show.

That is the meat of the entire case. Who had Relisha last and what date was it. We may never know the facts simply because all of the family members who cared for the child have given conflicting statements, and seemingly about the most minute details surrounding the case. The other disturbing aspect of the case that derived from the conversation, calls into question how exactly did Tatum and Relisha’s maternal grandmother develop such a close relationship with Kalil Tatum. Ashley Young told KWDC Radio that Shameeka first met Tatum back in 2007 (conflicting earlier reports of 2005), but indicated that her mother didn’t know Tatum. The step grandmother however, revealed that Ashley Young indicated to her that her mother worked with Tatum for years, and that claim perpetuated the argument further while Ashley Young denied those allegations. It was a very plausible question, because if Melissa (Relisha’s maternal grandmother) had no relationship with Tatum as Ashley claimed, why on earth would she have admitted to talking to Tatum over the phone regarding a trip to Atlanta, and telling Tatum to bring Relisha back by a certain time?

You must hear the broadcast for yourselves to even began to make sense of any of the nuisances of this case. One glaring fact in this case continues to bother most following this story. How is it possible for any mother to allow her daughter to be out of her presence for nineteens days without calling her or visiting her to check on her well being? If the little girl’s stepfather is correct and Shameeka last saw Relisha on March 8, 2014, it becomes very problematic, and creates suspicion as to why she has misled the authorities and the public regarding these facts. Given these disturbing facts, it’s hard to focus on Tatum as the person solely responsible for the child’s disappearance. The lies that are being told is mounting a volume of suspicion that Shameeka Young herself maybe responsible for her daughter’s disappearance, and not Kalil Tatum. Listen to the disturbing radio broadcast below. Where are you Relisha?

To Be Continued ..

When heinous violent crimes are committed against the law abiding citizens within any jurisdiction in America there is an expectation from the public that those empowered to protect the people will act swiftly to bring criminals to justice in the name of public safety. There is even a greater presumption that those who have been charged with crimes will be afforded all of the liberties granted by law, such has a right to a fair, public, and speedy trial with competent legal representation. We believe that these elements of our justice system, though often flawed, is in fact the greatest criminal system of justice in the world. It’s a principle for which many souls have perished while defended democracy fighting in foreign wars. There has never been a more symbolic act of patriotism to protect the idealism of liberty, justice, and the pursuit of happiness for which all Americans are to fall heir.

Despite the tremendous decree detailed in the U.S. Constitution by the forefathers of this nation and other historical congressional legislation such as the Bill of Rights, and the Emancipation Proclamation designed to insure all Americans obtain equality, there are still states within our union who perpetuate division, racism, and injustice. The case of young Shannon Nyamodi is perhaps a human rights story that propels our society back to an era in America which predates slavery. Young Shannon was also an American citizen with aspirations of becoming a patriot defending our nation in the armed forces. Those dreams were soon dashed when he displayed an act of bravery by coming to a woman’s aid after she had been shot in the face at point blank range, only to become accused of actually having committed the crime. Now nearly two years later, he remains in a isolated jail cell in Franklin County North Carolina with no pending court date.

The case file is disturbing because evidence pointing to his guilt is completely non existent, and official documents are compelling to establish that prosecutors and law enforcement officials knew before his actual indictment that he was in fact innocent. To compound matters even more in this case, the youth is being held in isolation confinement, denied access to any visitors, not allowed to make phone calls, and hasn’t been given any written communication from anyone from the outside world whatsoever. In short, Shannon Nyamodi is being held hostage by rogue, racist, and criminal public officials who have trampled just about every right he is guaranteed under Constitutional law. The youth’s criminal case was taken off the court’s management system docket back in February of 2012. Shannon hasn’t been brought to trial within a year, which triggers the presumption that his 6th amendment rights have been violated. Essentially, this young man has been hidden within the North Carolina criminal justice system.

We must now ponder a series of questions pertaining to why the great American justice system has failed this youth. If the authorities have culpable evidence proving that Shannon Nyamodi is guilty of this crime, then why hasn’t prosecutors brought his case to trial? Why delay justice for such a violent crime? Why has the court afforded prosecutors such discretion in delaying trial proceedings while the DA also gains a tactical advantage? Why is this youth being housed in confinement? Why can’t his mother nor anyone from the public visit him? Why no phone calls? Why no written communication hasn’t been given to him? Why has Shannon Nyamodi been kept in stringent security conditions while in custody that are similar to terrorist who are being detained at Guantanamo Bay Cuba? We may speculate forever the premise for many of the questions posed, but one fact pertaining to the case of Shannon Nyamodi remains crystal clear. The authorities don’t have a solid case against him. because if they did he would have been prosecuted with a resolved disposition.

It’s frightening to even imagine that an American citizen could be charged with a crime, locked up in a jail cell with no trial date in sight, and while prosecutors along with law enforcement officials having previously obtained exculpatory evidence completely exonerating the accused. The 6th and 14th amendments were designed to insure that states pay respect to a citizen’s right to a speedy, public and fair trial while avoiding the accused from languishing in jail for infinity. To the contrary, this unfortunately is exactly what is happening to young Shannon Nyamodi and possibly many others faced with criminal charges within the North Carolina criminal justice system. How is it even possible that such blatant and heinous acts of injustice could occur during the 21th century in America? There has been crimes more heinous committed against Shannon Nyamodi than the criminal charges he face. A close look at official documents in Shannon’s case reveals complete incompetence by judicial officials or deliberate disregard for the law by the state’s courts.

Without a pending court date in the court’s system docket for Shannon Nyamodi, a habeas corpus becomes the strongest legal measure to challenge his lawful detention. Unfortunately, research of case law regarding a “writ of habeas corpus” establishes that Franklin County North Carolina has historically ignored it’s own general statues pertaining to a defendants right to challenge the lawfulness of their detention. The court’s disrespect of this vital piece of legislation coupled with no speedy trial statue in North Carolina, paves the way for criminal defendants to be literally warehoused in jails indefinitely, while eroding their constitutional rights along the way. This culture of locking citizens up for extended periods of time with no timetable in the court’s system establishing when cases will come to trial must be brought to bare on a national stage. The general consensus is that defendants detained for crimes may in fact be innocent, and their detention for such a long time is seemingly unjust, if not criminal. This argument is especially true when we consider that prosecutors and law enforcement officials may have known all along that a defendant is in fact innocent of the crimes for which they have been charged.

In Shannon Nyamodi’s case the arrest warrant should never even have been issued. He was already in custody when an allege confidential informant (CI) gave cops hearsay statements implicating him in the crime. Other eyewitnesses who place an unknown white male at the scene of the crime moments after the shooting, gave statements which were omitted from official police reports. The victim herself told police officials from at least two separate police agencies that “someone” (meaning she didn’t know who) had struck her with a pole. In fact, if cops have culpable evidence proving that Shannon Nyamodi committed this crime, it has never been made public. Additionally, the entire theory that shannon conspired with the victim’s daughter in “a murder for hire plot” has always been the authorities official story for what happened the night of the crime, but state law enforcement officials conducting the investigation discovered that the allege CI statement implicating Shannon Nyamodi was in fact false, and suppressed discovery of these facts by filing their findings with the court over ninety days after learning the CI had lied to police.

The case file against Shannon Nyamodi is a complete joke, and those responsible for creating this horrible injustice are nothing short of characters from a mayberry style sheriff department or a keystone cop comedy. More importantly, the prosecuting officials are just as responsible for not throwing the entire case out when they more then likely knew that the case against this defendant was weak from the very start. Instead of doing their jobs by meting out real justice and setting the Nyamodi youth free, they have perpetuated a lie conspiring to convict an innocent man, while the real perpetrator of this violent crime remains free. If Shannon Nyamodi is guilty then prove it by taking the case to trial. No one is fooled by the antics of the prosecutor or judges in this case. You don’t have a case against this youth, and you have resorted to attempting to torture him while in custody, hoping and praying that he breaks, and agrees to a plea deal for the crime. Thank God that Shannon Nyamodi is more resilient than the likes of any of the racist cowards who are responsible for his current plight.

The bottom line is that in North Carolina a culture of injustice and racism exist solely because backwoods rednecks think they are above the law. Their unlawful criminal behavior must be exposed, and those officials responsible for this kind of foolishness must be brought to justice. It is personally my greatest hope that the prosecutor, judges, and law enforcement officials responsible for the wrongful persecution of Shannon Nyamodi will in turn spend an equal amount of time in an isolated jail cell for the exact number of days that he has been forced to endure. Please write the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, or have your U.S. Congressman and U.S. Senator write a letter to the DOJ Civil Rights Division on Shannon Nyamodi’s behalf, and request that a Civil Rights investigation be conducted into his case in Franklin County North Carolina. This youth needs our help, and the North Carolina racist criminal justice system must be exposed. May God continue to be with this young man and his family.

U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Division
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20530-0001

To Be Continued ..

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams

He is a young man with no prior brushes with the law of any kind, but sadly a horrific ordeal landed him in a Franklin County jail cell nearly two years ago. Quite frankly, it’s rather bizarre how cops came to the conclusion that he conspired with Rhonda Maclean’s daughter, to kill her and rob her of nearly $65,000.00 dollars one autumn night back in 2012. Many of the official documents have already been made public while pointing to Shannon Nyamodi’s innocence of having been involved in this horrible crime. In fact Shannon should never have even been charged with shooting Maclean in the face at point blank range. There was sufficient evidence very early on in the investigation that even the most inexperienced lawyer could have successfully argued for the charges to be dropped. Instead, an incompetent lawyer has failed to properly represent the youth’ efforts of regaining his freedom.

Elizabeth Crudup (Shannon’s mother) said she got bad vibes from attorney Maitry “Mike” Klinkosum from the very start. The mother said that he appeared to be more interested in collecting money from other clients unrelated to her son’s case, and declined to hear details regarding Shannon’s case when her family met with him to possibly obtain his services. Displeased with Klinkosum’s apparent apathy pertaining to shannon’s case, Crudup says that she decline to acquire him for her son’s legal representation for criminal charges he faced. Crudup also said that it was very clear to Klinkosum, her brother, sister, and her sister’s husband that she didn’t have confidence in Klinkosum to be the right attorney for the job. The family began to filter out of the law firm’s office and she explains that the elevator was very small, so she and her brother went down first, but her sister and her husband were delayed for an extended period of time before coming down.

Crudup said that she learned days later that Klinkosum had became her son’s attorney against her wishes. According to Crudup, Shannon telephoned her from the Franklin county jail with excitement, and told her that Klinkosum had come to the detention center to get him to sign legal documents authorizing him to represent him. Crudup says she was in disbelief and stated to her son “no shannon you didn’t do that?” Shannon told his mother that the attorney had promised him that if he signed the documents for him to represent him, that he would have him out of jail by noon Monday the next day. She also discovered that her sister had given Klinkosum a $30,000.00 dollar check for Shannon’s legal expenses. knowing that the family made it perfectly clear that they weren’t comfortable with Klinkosum, Crudup says that her sister’s actions were nothing short of complete betrayal. She has repeatedly requested that Klinkosum be terminated because the manner in which he went to the jail and deceptively had Shannon sign documents naming him as the attorney of record in the case, confirmed for Crudup that he couldn’t be trusted.

At one point when the family challenged Klinkosum regarding the tactics her used to obtain representation of Shannon, Klinkosum called the sister and agreed to return the check. On the day he was suppose to reimburse the family Klinkosum went to the jail and threatened Shannon. Shannon telephoned his mother later on that day and expressed to her that he could no longer speak to her. When she inquired as to why he made such a statement, Shannon advised his mother that attorney Klinkosum told him that “if you speak to anyone else or your mother regarding this case, and I get fired, I will help the prosecution convict you and make sure you get a thirty year sentence.” Crudup says that her sister also called her daughter and made similar threats. Crudup said that her sister stated “Shannon is going to get thirty years if your mother doesn’t back off.” The sister’s actions appear to be counterproductive to assisting Shannon in regaining his freedom, and seemed confusing at first.

However, Crudup explained that her sister was dealing with post pardon depression and that she is known to display rather peculiar behavior. She also revealed that there is an apparent spat among her siblings related to her sister. Crudup said that the sister is very self centered and becomes agitated when she isn’t at the center of attention. She also believes that her sister may have deliberately went behind the family’s back to hire Klinkosum in an effort to bring shame and humiliation upon her and Shannon. She says that the fact her brother flew from Africa to support her son may also have been a determining factor for her sister to display such viciousness against her child. Crudup expressed that she believes that her sister wants Shannon to be locked up for as long as possible, despite whether he is guilty or innocent. To support Crudup’s belief that her sister has acted viciously to hurt Shannon during such a difficult time for the youth, she says that the family had agreed to work together to assist Shannon with the criminal charges that he faces. Crudup said that her sister was sitting in the room when Klinkosum was told that they declined to retain him, and the fact that she sneakily hired him any way speaks volumes regarding her intentions to negatively impact her son’s legal troubles.

Crudup also points out that the arrest warrant for Shannon should never have been issued. The story that cops were given to implicate Shannon in the crime and forensic evidence (if any) linking him to the crime were all obtained by police after the youth had already been in custody. Additionally, as it stands right now, the only thing that connects Shannon to the crime are hearsay statements from a confidential informant, which state investigative reports prove that the witness had in fact lied to police. If there is any hard evidence like traceable forensics linking Shannon to this crime, they have never been made public. Most of these facts have already been publish through various blog articles. Klinkosum hasn’t even made any discovery that he has obtained from the prosecutor public either. Other disturbing elements of the case against Shannon Nyamodi highlights Klinkosum’s poor representation of this client as well.

Shannon was also charged with larceny of a firearm (the victim’s .22 caliber rifle), but a police seizure log from the residence where the crime occurred reveals that the weapon was actually confiscated by police on the day of the shooting. Klinkosum never motioned to the court to have that charge thrown out. There are so many rudimentary actions that should have been accomplished as early as the pretrial phase of this case that Klinkosum failed to do. Crudup says that Klinkosum has also refused to speak with her regarding Shannon’s case. She said that he has been telling judges to ignore her when she files legal documents on Shannon’s behave. Perhaps the most damaging inaction that Klinkosum has done, is to have allowed Shannon’s case to be taken off of the docket indefinitely with no sign of a court date, according to Crudup. Crudup says that her son’s case continues to be postponed while Klinkosum is involved with a high profile criminal case unrelated to Shannon.

The court has allowed the case to be continued without any record establishing justification for such extended delay, nor any timetable placed on the record for the trial to continue. The case was taken off of the docket February 20, 2013 and the only continuance in the case file was entered on February 14, 2014 after issues pertaining to Shannon’s constitutional right to a speedy trial were made public, and there is no order indicating if the judge in the case had in fact granted the motion for continuance. All of these irregular procedural aspects of the case are disturbing, but the most compelling element which may point to malicious prosecution of Shannon Nyamodi, is the manner in which he is being housed at the Franklin County detention Center. Shannon has been placed on segregation (solitary) and has been in such tight housing condition for over a year. Jail officials won’t even allow his mother to visit him. Crudup was told that she wasn’t going to be permitted to see her son so she might as well stop coming to the jail. In recent attempts to visit Shannon on his regular visiting days, she was told by a jail official that Shannon wasn’t allowed to have any visits whatsoever.

Despite these unlawful actions, Klinkosum has done nothing to assist Shannon related to these issues. Shannon Nyamodi isn’t on death row and nor has he been convicted of the charges against him. Jail officials have not shown good cause to keep him locked up in his cell for 23 hours a day. Many from the public following this case believe that Shannon is being treated in this fashion to solicit a plea agreement from him for crimes he didn’t commit. Even Klinkosum seems to think that Shannon will eventually break and plea to a lesser charge. In the motion for continuance request that Klinkosum submitted to the court February 14, he writes that he is confident that the case will have a non trial resolution. It’s puzzling that Klinkosum could make such an assertion considering that Shannon has never confessed to these crimes, and has been adamant about not accepting responsibility for something he didn’t do. Sources on the ground in Louisburg, North Carolina tells TPC that Shannon is being beaten down by jail officials, and may explain why no one is being allowed to visit him.

More disturbingly though, is the fact that Shannon hasn’t written or called his mother, his father, and not even his sister whom he is extremely close with. This reality is frightening and has caused National Action Network officials, journalist, and others advocating Shannon’s plight to question whether he is even still alive. Elizabeth Crudup refuses to even entertain such a mindset, and reiterates how fearful she is regarding her son’s safety while in custody. The mother expresses how vicious the actions of her sister are, and makes it known that Shannon is being persecuted solely because of her sister’s refusal to fire Klinkosum as Shannon’s attorney of record. Crudup says that Klinkosum has been pressuring Shannon to take a plea deal from the onset of this entire ordeal. The very inference or suggestion of plea bargaining in Shannon’s case from Klinkosum who was allegedly paid $50,000.00 dollars to represent him when considering the case file is simply preposterous.

That’s of course if you believe that Klinkosum actually received all of the money. The sister’s  alleged act of betrayal toward her siblings and Shannon by sneakily hiring Klinkosum against the family’s desire, coupled with her assisting Klinkosum by soliciting a threat of a thirty year sentence for Shannon against her own family, may point to some other adverse dynamic associate with her intentions, and clearly bolsters Ms. Crudup’s claim that her own sister is working along with the prosecutor and attorney Klinkosum to negatively impact the criminal case against her nephew. If it’s all true as it has been described to TPC related to Shannon’s aunt hindering him from obtaining the best legal representation possible, the actions of his aunt are not only vicious, but also a disturbing dilemma which has caused her siblings child great emotional, psychological, and perhaps physical torture when he is clearly innocent. It’s disturbing that other family members, chiefly the men, haven’t become more involved to correct the sister’s egregious actions that appear to have been meted out to hurt Shannon. Klinkosum should have been fired a long time ago, especially after he threatened the family, and the fact that the sister who hired him refuses to do so, is an evil and vile act which may permanently divide a family predicated solely on individual selfishness. She isn’t Shannon’s mother, and the funds she used to pay Klinkosum wasn’t hers alone. What a selfish witch!

To Be Continued ..

The People’s Champion

I’m David Adams