Judge to review evidence seized from accused gang member's jail cell

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By Mark Becker

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A federal judge said he will review evidence FBI agents seized from an alleged gang member's jail cell before deciding if he should dismiss the charges he's facing including murder.

Jamell Cureton was back in federal court Wednesday to argue that when agents searched his jail cell back in January, they seized documents including a sealed letter to his attorney that he says prosecutors used to build the indictment. In the indictment, Cureton was charged, along with five other alleged members of the United Blood Nation, with the murders of Doug and Debbie London at their home on Lake Wylie in October.

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Prosecutors said Cureton orchestrated the murders from his jail cell to keep London from testifying against him about a robbery at the Londons' mattress store in south Charlotte where Cureton and two others were charged.

In a hearing on Wednesday, Cureton's attorney told the judge that FBI agents seized Cureton's belongings, but never gave him a list of what they had taken, making the search illegal. 

Chiege Okwara said she has never seen the letter that agents took that may have contained confidential information.

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“He says he wrote a letter, the government says he didn't.  As I said before I saw the envelope,” Okwara said.

Prosecutor Don Gast told the judge, "not only is that not true, it's ludicrous."

Gast called two witnesses -- an FBI agent involved in the search, and the prosecutor not involved in the case, who reviewed the documents and  both said they did not see any such letter.

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At one point Cureton himself was on the stand ready to testify, but the judge asked to speak with attorneys, and after a short conference outside the courtroom, Okwara decided not to let him testify.

The judge did tell Cureton that because it is a capital case he will appoint a second attorney to work on his defense, and that he will not schedule any more hearings before that attorney is on board.

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