jmccann@heraldsun.com;419-6601
DURHAM -- Two cases will be closely followed in 2010.
The first will be whether the venue is changed and a state trial date set for the two men accused of killing former UNC student body president Eve Carson.
Attorneys for Demario Atwater have asked that his trial on federal charges be moved out of state. His trial has been scheduled for May 10, 2010 on those charges. He also faces state charges, but no trial date has been set yet for those charges.
Defense lawyers for both Atwater and Laurence Lovette Jr. also have been in court arguing over whether the CrimeStoppers tip information should be given to them as well as GangNET information, which led police to the two suspects.
In addition to developments in the Carson case, in February, look for the trial to begin for the woman accused in the 2007 killing of an N.C. Central University graduate student.
Shannon Elizabeth Crawley is charged with first-degree murder in the 2007 shooting death of Denita Monique Smith at Campus Crossings apartments on East Cornwallis Road.
Crawley was a 911 worker in Guilford County. Smith, who was 25, was a popular NCCU student whose activities included both snapping pictures and writing stories for the Campus Echo, the school's newspaper.
Assistant District Attorney Saacks has said the slaying apparently was motivated by "unresolved feelings" Crawley had for Smith's purported fiance, Greensboro Police Officer Jermeir Jackson-Stroud.
Defense lawyers have downplayed the love-triangle theory.
