8A
STRICTLY BUSINESS/The Charlotte Post
January 11, 1996
New shopping center opens
Continued frompage 6A
ties. “I hope it makes it wake
up,” he said.
And, the N.C. Mutual Life
Insurance Co. leases part of a
5,000 square feet outbuilding.
Other businesses expected to
open soon are a Fashion View
clothing store, Latifa’s
Fashions women clothing
store, Iman Beauty Supply,
LaPorsha’s Hair Studio and a
Shazada Music outlet.
The future of the Shazada
outlet is clouded by the
seizure of Shazada stores by
federal marshals in the wake
of owner Jack Campus
Gordon’s guilty plea to money
laundering charges.
'The new center replaces one
that had been at the intersec
tion for nearly 30 years. It
was developed by attorneys
Dale Fussell and Rodney
Purser.
NationsBank and Wachovia
Bank provided financing.
The center provides services
and jobs for the area.
“I helped build this build
ing,” said Leslie Wilson, who
lives on Cummings Ave. “Now
I work at the store. It is very
convenient. A lot of employees
live in this area.”
James Jordan died quickly, examiner says
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LUMBERTON - Confusion
over two mislabeled bullets
interrupted the trial Monday
of the man accused of killing
basketball star Michael
Jordan’s father.
The snEifu was discovered as
District Attorney Johnson
Britt was questioning the
pathologist who performed an
autopsy on the body of James
R. Jordan.
Britt showed Dr. Joel Sexton
a small plastic bag containing
a bullet and asked him if he
could identify it.
"No, I can’t,” the witness
responded. Sexton said the
bullet he took from Jordan’s
body was a .38 caliber and the
bullet Britt showed him was a
.32-caliber.
Britt immediately requested
a 15-minute recess, which
Judge Gregory Weeks grant
ed. Out of the jury’s hearing,
court officials determined the
.32-caliber and the .38-caliber
bullets had been placed in the
wrrong envelopes before being
returned by a defense ballis
tics expert.
Weeks said Britt can explain
the bullet mix-up to jurors but
will have to do so by calling
witnesses who can testify
about what happened.
The mix-up came to light on
day four of testimony in the
trial of Daniel Andre Green,
who is charged with murder,
armed robbery and conspiracy
to commit armed robbery.
Green has changed his name
to Lord D.A.A.S. U’allah since
his arrest but is still called
Green in court.
The body of James Jordan,
57, was found in a South
Carolina swamp Aug. 3, 1993.
Prosecutors believe he was
shot July 23 in Robeson
County.
Later in the day, the trial
recessed early because Britt
did not have the proper wit
nesses in order as he tried to
show the teeth in the body
matched the elder Jordan’s.
Weeks said Britt had to call
Lawrence Seitlin - Jordan’s
dentist to the stand first to
establish dental X-rays were
Jordan’s. Seitlin was sched
uled to testify Tuesday.
"This is a critical area in the
case, we have to go by the
book,” Weeks said.
Britt said a forensic dentist
from Chapel Hill also was
scheduled to testify.
Earlier Monday, Sexton tes
tified that Jordan had been
dead at least one week and
possibly as much as five
weeks before his body was
found.
The .32-caliber bullet is yet
to be entered as evidence in
Green’s trial. It was taken
from the body of Clewis
Demory, a convenience store
clerk who Green and Larry
Martin Demery are accused of
robbing shortly before the
Jordan murder.
Larry Demery pleaded guilty
to murder, robbery and con
spiracy charges last April in
the Jordan case, and agreed to
testify against Green, his
longtime friend.
Sexton testified that it took
no more than two minutes for
Jordan'to die after he was
shot while napping in his car
along a Robeson County road.
Death could have come in
less than one minute after the
bullet pierced Jordan’s aorta,
the main blood vessel in the
chest, according to Sexton,
who is from Newberry, S.C.
Sexton also showed jurors
four photographs of James
Jordan’s body before the
autopsy: one taken after
Sexton opened the body bag,
another after the body was
undressed, a closer view of the
upper body and an even closer
view of the upper right chest,
where the gunshot wound
entered.
Both Britt and Sexton
donned rubber gloves to exam
ine clothing that Sexton iden
tified as that taken off the
body before the autopsy. The
items included black under
shorts and socks, a shirt and
pants.
They were allowed to leave
the courtroom to wash their
hands before the trial contin
ued.
Green could face the death
penalty if convicted.
Ala. blacks lose court challenge
over election of judges
By Phillip Rawls
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A
lawsuit designed to increase
the number of black judges in
Alabama has been scuttled by
the U.S. Supreme Court,
which will let the state keep
its at-large system of electing
judges.
The Supreme Court, without
com'ir.ent Monday, left intact
lower court rulings that said
Alabama’s at-large system
does not violate the federal
Voting Rights Act. Blacks hold
11 of Alabama’s 225 trial
court judgeships, or 5 percent
in a state that is 25 percent
black.
State Attorney General Jeff
Sessions, the lead defendant
in the case, said the decision
reflects a philosophical change
in the courts since the
Southern Christian
Leadership Conference filed
suit in 1988.
"Conventional wisdom had it
a few years ago the ruling
would go the other way and
they’d be carving out districts
in counties for circuit judges
and district judges. District
lines would have been driven
by race. It would have vulcan
ized justice and it would not
have been good for public poli
cy,” the Republican attorney
general said.
The outcome was no surprise
to SCLC President Joseph
Lowery. A similar case from
Florida ended up the same
way last year.
"The Reagan and Bush judi
cial appointments are in
charge of the system at the
moment and these opinions
are reflections of Reaganism,”
the Atlanta minister said.
In Alabama, circuit judges -
who handle all types of cases -
"The Reagan and Bush judicial appoint
ments are in charge of the system at the
moment and these opinions are reflec
tions of Reaganism.”
- Rev. Joseph Lowery
SCLC president
are elected at-large from 40
judicial circuits that cover one
or more counties. District
judges, who handle family
court and juvenile court cases,
are elected in countywide elec
tions.
Led by the SCLC, a group of
black voters filed a class-
action lawsuit challenging the
system for electing circuit
judges in 10 circuits and dis
trict judges in four counties.
There are 69 circuit judges
in those 10 circuits - 64 white
and five black. There are 21
district judges in the four con
tested counties - 20 white and
one black.
The lawsuit contended that:
• Predominantly black coun
ties were often grouped with
white-majority counties into
judicial circuits to dilute black
voting strength through at-
large elections.
• Black voting strength in
single-county judicial circuits,
including Alabama’s five
largest counties, was diluted
by having judges run county
wide.
The percentage of black
judges in the state mirrors the
percentage of black lawyers,
but SCLC said racially polar
ized voting deters black
lawyers from running for
judgeships.
"Until racial politics are in
our past, the choices of black
voters are unlikely to win,”
said Richard Cohen, a
Southern Poverty Law Center
attorney who handled the case
for the SCLC.
Sessions said it would have
been difficult to draw districts
like those used for legislators.
He cited a lack of lawyers in
some districts and potential
problems with judges siding
with constituents.
Sessions said the decision
could help his challenge of a
lawsuit settlement reached by
his predecessor. Democrat
Jimmy Evans, to appoint at
least five blacks to the state
appeals courts. An appeal
seeking to overturn the settle
ment is pending with the 11th
Circuit.
The challenge to circuit
court elections involved judi
cial circuits in Bibb, Dallas,
Hale, Perry, Wilcox,
Chambers, Macon, Randolph,
Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa,
Calhoun, Cleburne, Jefferson,
Mobile, Montgomery, Henry,
Houston, Madison and Russell
counties.
The district-court challenge
centered on elections in
Jefferson, Mobile,
Montgomery and Russell
counties.
The Supreme Court’s action
removes an obstacle that had
been blocking elections to fill
new judgeships the legislature
had created for the judicial
circuit covering Henry and
Houston counties, the
Bessemer division of Jefferson
County and Montgomery and
Tuscaloosa counties.
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