Lawyers for a Southern pastor who filed a federal lawsuit against his North Carolina hometown say officials are retaliating against him because of the claim.
The town does not deny stopping certain tributes to the preacher but claims it’s just procedure and not out of spite.
The minister is suing the city after it shared that two officers on its force withheld evidence that could have spared him from spending eight years behind bars for a crime they knew he did not commit.
Before Pastor Darron Carmon, the spiritual leader and founder of Rebuild Christian Center Church, sued the town of Winterville, he had been heralded as a “hero of the year.” He had this distinction two years prior and was promised it for 2023. Unexpectedly, he was deselected, the News Observer reported.
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The revocation of the honor was not because he no longer served the community with excellence, did charitable and philanthropic works, and dedicated much of his life to serving others. It follows his filing of a claim that seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages based on the irreparable harm Officers Donnie Greene and Emmanuel Armaos caused to his life.
In 1993, Carmon, a 19-year-old preacher’s kid, was framed for a grocery store robbery.
Cashier Robert Thompson, then-45, called 911 around 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 29, 1993. He said the person who robbed the Fresh Way store where he worked for $282 was between 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 8 inches tall and Black.
Thompson was brought in by the police and identified Carmon from a collection of mugshots. His picture was included because he had been arrested once for a nonviolent offense for which was not convicted, the National Registry of Exonerations reports.
The two officers also took finger and palm prints, but none…
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