North Carolina: 2 men convicted in the death of NBA star Chris Paul’s grandfather back in court 20 years later
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WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (WXII) — There were some tense moments in the courthouse. Day 1 of a hearing to overturn the convictions in the murder of NBA star Chris Paul’s grandfather just wrapped up. There was a lot of back and forth between the defense, the state, the witnesses and the judge mediating. Most of the time Monday was spent revisiting the earlier trials.
Nathaniel Cauthen and Rayshawn Banner, as well as Jermal Tolliver, Chris Bryant and Dorrell Brayboy, were sentenced in the 2002 death of Paul’s grandfather, Nathaniel Jones.
They were all teenagers at the time of Jones’ murder.
Banner and Cauthen remain behind bars. This hearing is focused on if their convictions could be overturned.
The defense Monday stated witnesses did not place the five men convicted in the original case at the scene, alluding to coerced testimonies from the defendants and a key witness.
The state reminded the court that this is not a retrial and said the original trials were proper and should be upheld.
Two witnesses were called to the stand and questioned. Both of them were attorneys who represented one of the five original defendants in this case at some point in time. A lot of emphasis was placed by the defense on the defendants’ mental state and circumstances at the time of the killing, which could have led up to the murder.
The defense also dug deep into one attorney’s trial strategy at the time when he represented Bryant, including an attempt to suppress a confession.
One of the biggest challenges Monday was that the witnesses couldn’t completely recall some of this information due to how long it’s been since the trials. The hearing is set to start again Tuesday morning. We are also waiting to hear if Banner and Cauthen will be called to the stand to testify.
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