Last week, The Assembly joined a lawsuit filed against the Raleigh Police Department seeking body-camera footage from a botched 2021 raid on the home of Amir and Mirian Ibrahim Abboud.
According to a complaint filed on December 7 in Wake County, Raleigh police officers “wrongfully executed a ‘Quick Knock’ warrant on the Abbouds’ home”—meaning the cops knocked and kicked in the door before the Abbouds had time to answer—though they weren’t suspected of criminal activity. The police “invaded the privacy of their house with long guns drawn, terrorizing them and their child,” the complaint alleges.
The warrant resulted from “mistaken identity, mixing up one person of Arab descent with another who bears him little resemblance,” according to the complaint. After handcuffing Abboud in front of his child and pregnant wife and taking him outside for questioning, a State Bureau of Investigation agent asked about a neighbor named Abdullah, whom the SBI agent said had been “seen coming in and out of the Abbouds’ residence on multiple occasions.”
But Abboud said he barely knew his neighbor and could prove Abdullah never entered his house: Cameras on his property would have shown it.
The police released Abboud and left, but they “refused to pay for the damage done to the Abbouds’ door and door frame,” the complaint says.
Abboud is currently suing the SBI, and his attorney in that lawsuit has released the Abbouds’ home security footage of the raid. The complaint, which the UNC Civil Legal Assistance Clinic filed on behalf of the Abbouds, The Assembly, and INDY Week, argues that releasing body-cam footage from the raid is in the public interest because the RPD’s use of quick-knock warrants “creates a perilous and volatile situation, endangering residents who are caught by surprise,” and potentially violates the Fourth Amendment.
Elizabeth Simpson, an adjunct professor who heads the UNC clinic, said a hearing isn’t expected until January at the earliest.
Correction: Abboud’s first lawsuit is against the SBI, not the city of Raleigh.
Presumption of Guilt
Garnell Hill left North Carolina in 2014, after his pregnant girlfriend told him the baby wasn’t his. It wasn’t until six years later that he found out the child was — and that his son, Christopher, had been put in foster care.
Hill quickly returned to the state, took a paternity test, and started trying to get custody of the boy. The Durham Department of Social Services has alternately supported and opposed Hill’s bid. Earlier this year, DSS recommended putting Christopher up for adoption–even though his biological father had passed a background check and has never been accused of abuse or neglect.
A judge will decide this week what happens next. At that point, Christopher will have been in state custody for 1,978 days—and for more than half of that time, his father has been trying to take him home.
The third and final installment of our investigative series with WBTV looks at a father’s quest to get his son out of the system and the seemingly endless obstacles put in his path. North Carolina reunifies only 30 percent of children in foster care with their parents, well below the national average—and Durham County’s reunification rate, 22 percent, is among the lowest in the state.
Garnell Hill has never been accused of abuse or neglect. But Durham County has kept his son in foster care for more than five years—and now wants to put him up for adoption.
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On Our Radar
>>Anita Earls v. N.C. Judicial Standards Commission
N.C. Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls lost her bid to stop a Judicial Standards Commission investigation again, this time in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Republican majority of a three-judge panel rejected her request for a preliminary injunction against an ethics inquiry into comments she made to a legal publication over the summer, which she had sought while she appeals the lower court’s denial.
Judges Paul Niemeyer and Allison Rushing, both Republican appointees, issued an order Friday denying Earls’ request. Judge Robert King, an appointee of Democratic President Bill Clinton, dissented.
Press Millen, Earls’ attorney, said the justice will still fight to have her First Amendment rights recognized: “She will continue to see this case through until this constitutional right is affirmed in federal court, even if it means ultimately seeking to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is that important.”
In August, Earls, one of two Democrats on the state Supreme Court and the only Black woman, filed a federal lawsuit against the commission, alleging that its investigation violated her free speech rights. The commission had launched an inquiry into comments she made to Law360 castigating her Republican colleagues over racial diversity and for putting ideology over the law. The lawsuit was yet another salvo in the ever-brewing debate over political polarization of the state Supreme Court, which holds a 5-2 Republican majority.
The commission was scheduled to meet Friday to discuss the allegations against Earls. It’s not clear what the commission did (the agency’s investigations are confidential), but it could move several ways—to dismiss the complaint, issue a warning, or recommend discipline, which could range from a reprimand all the way to removal from the bench. The state Supreme Court would make the final decision.
But Earls is not the only justice under scrutiny. The Center for Public Integrity and USA Today co-published an investigation into Chief Justice Paul Newby last week that revealed that Newby had ruled favorably for Duke Energy or its subsidiaries in six cases. At the same time, he or his wife owned at least $20,000 in Duke stock, according to a 2023 disclosure statement. Legal ethics experts said Newby had a clear conflict of interest and should have recused himself. But in North Carolina, that is not an automatic violation of judicial ethics; Newby gets to decide whether or not he should recuse himself.
>>Legacy Spencer v. Edward Glaser III, et.al
A federal lawsuit filed Friday asks a simple question—how did a 44-year-old man suffering from a stab wound to the chest get shot to death by a sheriff’s deputy?
Legacy Spencer filed the lawsuit against Dare County Sheriff’s Deputy Edward Glaser III and Sheriff Doug Doughtie on behalf of her father, Sylvester Demetrius Selby. Spencer is seeking $4 million in compensatory damages and at least $1 million in punitive damages. Glaser fatally shot Selby. The lawsuit alleges that as sheriff, Doughtie is liable for the actions of his employees.
According to the lawsuit, a friend who was with Selby called 911 at 11:30 p.m. October 2 and told the dispatcher that Selby had been stabbed in the chest. The lawsuit doesn’t say how Selby got the injury, but the family has said in media reports that Selby had been dealing with mental health issues after the loss of several family members.
Glaser and another deputy, DuWayne Gibbs, responded. The lawsuit said they told Selby to come out of the house. Selby had an apple in one hand and a knife in the other; he had both of his hands up and was not threatening anyone, according to the lawsuit.
Glaser was 25 feet away. Gibbs was only 15 feet away, but never took his gun out. Gibbs told Selby to put the knife down, to which Selby responded, “OK,” the lawsuit said. As he came down the steps, he stumbled and tripped over a bicycle. Glaser fired once as Selby was falling.
Selby collapsed on the ground but tried to get up. Glaser yelled at him to stay down and fired twice more. Selby died at the scene.
The State Bureau of Investigation is currently investigating the shooting, and according to media reports, Glaser is on administrative leave. Anjanette Grube, a SBI spokeswoman, said the agency is in the process of sending its final report to District Attorney Jeff Cruden.
The Dare County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Have any suggestions for improving this newsletter or stories we should look into? Email us at courts@theassemblync.com.
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