At the urging of a DA who often wore a noose-shaped lapel pin, an all-white jury sentenced Jonathan Hoffman to death.
In 1995, Danny Cook was found shot to death in his Union County jewelry store. Police had no leads until months later, when an anonymous tip led them to Jonathan. There was no physical evidence linking Jonathan to the murder, and when the case went to trial in 1996, the only evidence came from witnesses who said Jonathan confessed the crime to them.
One witness was a folk healer who claimed to have sold Jonathan a special root that would protect him from arrest. The star witness, however, was Jonathan’s cousin, Johnell Porter, who received thousands of dollars, immunity for crimes he admitted on the witness stand, and a reduced sentence for a bank robbery he committed. Prosecutors made the deal in secret, hiding it from both the jury and the judge.
Prosecutors Ken Honeycutt and Scott Brewer were later criminally and civilly investigated for not revealing the deals promised to the witness — and for removing a reference to the deal from the case notes they handed over to the judge. After the secret deal was exposed, a judge granted Jonathan a new trial in 2004. In 2006, Johnell told the Charlotte Observer that he lied at Jonathan’s trial to get revenge on his cousin, because he believed Jonathan had stolen money from him and gotten him in trouble with the police.
Prosecutors finally agreed to drop all charges against Jonathan in 2007.
