BREAKING NEWS
All charges have been dropped against Jonathan Hoffman, who was sentenced to die in 1996 for the murder of a jewelry store owner in Union County. Read the press release here. No physical evidence linked Hoffman to the crime. Prosecutors sent him to death row by deceiving the judge, the jury, and the defense about the true motives of the witnesses against Hoffman.
The decision came a week after a judge ruled that testimony given at Hoffman’s first trial by a witness who has since died could not be used against Hoffman at his retrial. The prosecution hid evidence that the witness, the only person linking Hoffman to the murder weapon, was seeking reward money in exchange for his testimony. Hoffman was granted a new trial in 2004 because prosecutors failed to reveal that another witness had been rewarded for his testimony with immunity from state and federal prosecution, thousands of dollars, and a reduction in his federal prison sentence.
Kenneth Honeycutt and Scott Brewer were the original prosecutors in the case. Attorneys Joseph Cheshire and David Rudolph, now representing Mr. Hoffman, credit current district attorney John Snyder for having the courage to do the right thing.
You can read prior reporting about the Hoffman case here and here. More detail on the case is available in this 2003 article on prosecutorial misconduct from Joseph Neff at the News & Observer.
This is a total farce. This man walked into Danny Cook’s Jewelery Store and shot him dead while he tried to protect his customers and his store that he worked so hard to achieve. This man should pay for his sins. Eye for an Eye….Death to him that caused Death!!!
William H. Carver