In flawed murder case, taxpayers on hook for $5 million

ASHEVILLE – Buncombe County taxpayers will pay at least $5 million to settle with five men who say they were wrongfully accused in a 15-year-old murder case after county commissioners approved the agreements Tuesday evening.

Between the settlement amounts and attorney fees to defend former Sheriff Bobby Medford and several investigators, the cost of civil litigation relating to the 2000 shooting death of Walter Bowman totaled about $7.9 million, with insurance picking up $2.9 million.

Some attorney fees and insurance claims have yet to be tallied, but taxpayers can expect to pick up $5 million — about the same level of funding the library system receives. The county, this past fiscal year, was running on a $368 million operating budget.

The settlement and fees were approved in a 6-0 vote by commissioners, after the agreement was presented by County Manager Wanda Greene.

"The circumstances that led to their guilty pleas raised many questions about the practices and interview techniques used by former Sheriff Bobby Medford," she said. "After hundreds of hours of interviews and depositions, it's clear the actions were inappropriate and a disservice to the defendants and the criminal justice system has failed these five men."

At $5,125,000, the biggest payout went to Robert Wilcoxson, who spent 11 years of a 15-year sentence in prison for Bowman's death and was later exonerated by the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, in part on DNA evidence.

Wilcoxson filed a federal lawsuit against the county two years ago, one that settled in July, the sum undisclosed until the amount could be approved by commissioners on Tuesday.

His case was viewed as the most damaging to Buncombe County. Not only had he won exoneration, but he received the harshest sentence for Bowman's murder and had no other criminal convictions.

Wilcoxson had also hired David Rudolf, a widely respected Charlotte attorney, known as a bulldoggish litigator whose trial strategy included expert testimony on mishandled criminal investigations, false confessions and false guilty pleas.

Wilcoxson did not confess to Bowman's homicide, but did plead guilty to his death. He did so, he later told the Innocence Commission, because he feared greater repercussions and a longer prison sentence had he gone to trial.

That rationale is much the same as the county's reason for settling. Had the case gone to trial, Buncombe County officials were concerned a jury might have awarded each man $1 million for every year they spent behind bars, according to a document summarizing the settlement amounts.

Following guilty pleas, Teddy Isbell spent six years in prison; Damian Mills was incarcerated for 10 years and Larry Williams, who was 16 years old when he was charged, spent nine years behind bars.

Those men respectively received $240,000, $512,250 and $750,000 in settlements that came on the heels of the Wilcoxson resolution.

That group, however, remains guilty in Bowman's death. They are appealing to have their convictions overturned by a superior court judge through a motion for appropriate relief, a matter that will likely resolve late next month.

Brad Searson, attorney for Williams, said his client is pleased with the settlement, but moreover, hopes to have his criminal conviction erased, a move that would aid him on a host of fronts, from restoring voting rights to leaving the "felon" box unchecked on applications.

"From the beginning and through all of this, he has said his primary goal is to have his name cleared. We are convinced that the resolution of civil claim allows him a fresh shot," Searson said. "We are continuing to press forward though the (motion for appropriate)relief process so he can be restored to full citizenship."

Williams, he added, is married with one child and he and his wife are expecting another.

As he and his co-defendants look toward criminal resolution, a favorable settlement with one government body — the county — likely can only help their standing in the eyes of the criminal court.

The county opted to settle with the men ahead of criminal court proceedings because the underlying facts of their cases are much the same as those of the Wilcoxson case, said Curt Euler, a county attorney.

Documentation he provided also indicates officials believed the value of claims by Isbell, Mills and Williams would have doubled if the convictions are overturned and the county then started settlement proceedings.

While it's unusual that a civil resolution outpaces criminal proceedings, that course has been trod before. In Charlotte, a police officer is on trial for shooting an unarmed black man, but the city has already settled with the victim's family for $2.25 million in a wrongful death lawsuit.

A fifth man in the Bowman case, Kenneth Kagonyera, settled with the county in April for $515,000. Like Wilcoxson, he also was exonerated by the Innocence Commission after initially pleading guilty and receiving a 15-year sentence. That sentence, however, included criminal charges unrelated to Bowman's death, meaning his settlement amount was not as lucrative as Wilcoxson's payout.

The five men had all pleaded guilty in the death of Bowman, who was shot in his Fairview home in 2000. Three men, each wearing bandanas over their faces and gloves, burst into his home, one firing a shotgun round through Bowman's bedroom door, killing him.