Local Charlotte Legal Leaders Counter Cooper's Lies on State Crime Lab | Eastern NC Now

Press Release:

    CHARLOTTE, NC     Standing in front of the Mecklenburg County Courthouse, Rep. Jason Saine, Mecklenburg County Commissioner Matthew Ridenhour, Attorney Jeremy Stephenson, NCGOP Spokeswoman Kami Mueller, and a group of local attorneys shed light on Roy Cooper's failure to fix the problems with the State Crime Lab.

    "We were forced to act," stated Rep. Saine. "For far too long, the backlog of evidence in the crime lab under Cooper's control was putting the public in jeopardy, created chaos, and allowed mistrust to creep into our criminal justice system. Our constituents demanded that we act. That's why you see the endorsements in this race. Law enforcement recognizes that Governor McCrory took action."

    All three major law enforcement associations in North Carolina - the Police Benevolent Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, and the N.C. Troopers Association - have endorsed Governor McCrory over the state's chief law enforcement officer Roy Cooper.

    "Law and order is the foundation of a free society, and the faith in the criminal justice system is what provides the bedrock of freedom," said County Commissioner Ridenhour. "People have been calling for criminal justice reform from locale to locale, from protest to protest. How can we have criminal justice reform when the state's top law enforcement officer is derelict in his duty? Those thousands of untested rape kits have names: wife, mother, daughter, friend. Victims are calling out for justice, and justice they are not finding. This is a direct reflection on the leadership of Roy Cooper and his resume does not warrant a promotion."

    Cooper has falsely claimed that he has cleared the backlog with the State Crime Lab. The average wait time can still be measured in years rather than months, and recently report stated a UNC student's rape kit had gone untouched for almost seven months.

    "Cooper was in charge of the State Crime Lab for the last 15 years, and he knew this was the most mission critical issue," stated attorney Jeremy Stephenson of McNair Attorneys in Charlotte. "Not only was it a complete failure, leaving justice on the table, but Cooper appointed his chief lobbyist to run the SBI. If the Department of Justice had instead been a corporation, their stock would go to the floor. There would be what we call 'shareholder derivative lawsuits' and that CEO would be out on the street."

    "As you can see, the evidence speaks for itself," concluded Mueller, spokeswoman of the NCGOP. "Roy Cooper hasn't shown up for work for the last 16 years - when the people of North Carolina needed him the most. He failed, is continuing to fail, and he is blatantly telling falsehoods to the people of North Carolina. And because he's failed, there are victims of rape still awaiting closure and families of slain still awaiting justice."

• Contact: Emily Weeks
•     emily.weeks@ncgop.org