By Michael Gordon
mgordon@charlotteobserver.com

A Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer was indicted Monday on voluntary manslaughter charges linked to the shooting death of unarmed man.
A Mecklenburg grand jury returned the indictment against Police Officer Randall Kerrick after Superior Court Judge Bob Bell ruled earlier in the day that the 18-member panel could hear the case.
Kerrick, 28, was arrested Sept. 14 in connection with the shooting death of Jonathan Ferrell, 24. During a brief confrontation northeast of Charlotte, Kerrick fired 12 shots at Ferrell, hitting him 10 times.
But in an unexpected move, a separate grand jury voted last week not to indict the police officer on voluntary manslaughter charges, instead asking state prosecutors to bring back a lesser charge for them to consider. Of the 277 cases that grand jury considered, only Kerrick’s did not end with an indictment.
Attorney Roy Cooper quickly announced plans to take the case — and the original manslaughter charges – before the county’s other grand jury. Defense attorneys went to court to stop them.
But Bell said state law gives prosecutors authority to resubmit a case and a charge, clearing the way for an unsual second grand jury deliberation over what has become one of Charlotte’s highest-profile legal fights in years.
Kerrick is the first Charlotte police officer arrested in connection with an on-duty shooting in at least 30 years. If convicted he faces a prison sentence of between three and 11 years.
Demonstrators called for Kerrick’s indictment in an early morning rally. Attorneys for Ferrell’s family have described Kerrick as a “rogue cop” who committed “cold-blooded murder.”
The demonstrations and increasingly fiery rhetoric has led Kerrick’s defense team to question whether the grand jury can do an unbiased job.
“How in the world is that grand jury supposed to go into that courtroom and make a decision when you’ve also got the NAACP outside?” defense attorney Michael Greened asked Bell.
“How is Randall Kerrick supposed to get a fair trial and due process?”
Grand jury proceedings are closed. But only 14 of the normal 18 members were on hand to hear the Kerrick case last week. Twelve votes are needed for an indictment. That meant as few as three grand jurors could have turned the Kerrick vote. The final vote totals remain secret.
Senior Deputy Attorney General Jim Coman, who took over the case at the request of Mecklenburg District Attorney Andrew Murray, told Bell that if prosecutors had known ahead of time of the missing jurors, they would have rescheduled their case.
The fatal night
The shooting drew national headlines, in part because Kerrick is white and Ferrell was black.
Ferrell, a 24-year-old former college football player, had wrecked his car northeast of Charlotte after giving a co-worker a ride home. Autopsy reports indicate Ferrell had been drinking but was not drunk.
After kicking his way free of his car and apparently losing his cellphone, Ferrell walked to the nearest house and, according to police, pounded on the front door. The woman inside called 911.
Three officers responded. Ferrell ran up to them, ignoring police calls to stop, investigators say. One officer fired his Taser but missed. Ferrell then veered toward Kerrick, who fired 12 shots at Ferrell from close range.
The 28-year-old police officer, who had three years of experience at the time, was arrested the next day. Police Chief Rodney Monroe said a video from one of the police cars at the scene indicated Kerrick used “excessive force.”
Laughrun, who has described Ferrell’s death as tragic, said the video shows his client acted appropriately.
If convicted, Kerrick faces a prison term of three to 11 years.
‘Uncharted waters’
The legal ebbs and flows of the case have caught many veteran members of the legal community by surprise.
“This case is treading uncharted waters,” said prominent Charlotte attorney James Wyatt. “It’s very unusual to not return an indictment. It’s even more unusual for the attorney general to resubmit to the grand jury on the same charge.
“That raises some due-process concerns that are mentioned in the defense motion.”
Scheer and other former prosecutors say refiling charges is a common strategy, even if state law “technically” restricts the move.
In fact, Scheer said it’s possible that Laughrun and Greene’s motion could lead to Kerrick’s temporary release from the manslaughter charge, “but there is no block for the attorney general from taking the same charge back before the grand jury.”
Meanwhile, in a prepared statement Friday, attorneys for the Ferrell family said the latest move by Kerrick’s legal team lacks constitutional basis.
“It appears that this motion was filed solely because Officer Kerrick’s attorneys feel their client will be indicted once the full grand jury properly considers the evidence in this case,” the statement said.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/01/27/4643483/judge-denies-effort-to-block-grand.html#.UubjcvZMGCY#storylink=cpy

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The nation’s largest microlending organization, Accion Texas Inc., has promoted Lisa Riley to Vice President Delta Region.
Riley, who previously served as Delta Region Manager, will remain based in Birmingham at 500 Beacon Parkway West, 1st Floor of The World Business Center of Alabama and will continue her ongoing responsibilities throughout Alabama and oversee Accion’s small business lending and education programs in Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.
She continues to be responsible for the management and performance of the nonprofit organization’s loan programs throughout the region, supervising all lending staff, fundraising, public relations, marketing and more.
“Lisa has proven herself a valuable member of our team and we are proud of her contributions to Accion – especially her leadership in the Delta region,” said Chief Lending Officer Dan Lawless. “We continue to move forward with our mission and continue helping entrepreneurs and existing small business owners in Alabama and the Delta Region.”
Riley helped launch Accion’s Alabama operations in January 2012. She is well established and highly regarded in business and civic circles throughout the state. She recently received the Distinguished Service Award from the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama – where she also served as initial chair of the Minority Business Council. She serves on the boards of the Autism Society of Alabama, Cornerstone Ministries Inc. and Arts ‘N Autism. She also is a member of the Verner Elementary School PTA in Tuscaloosa. She is a judge for Round 3 Alabama LaunchPad. She was re-appointed by Alabama Governor Robert J. Bentley to the board of trustees of the State Mental Health Department. She is currently majoring in business at the University of West Alabama.

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”
– Muhammad Ali

Wanda’s experience in education extends over decades from serving as an elementary school teacher, school principal, chief academic officer, educational consultant and project manager.  She was recruited to the Morris Jeff Community School Board by former Board President Aesha Rasheed, but had previous involvement with MJCS during her tenure as Chief Academic Officer of the Recovery School District.
“I supported school leader Patricia Perkins and her team plan a world-class, diverse community school.  I was driven by the school’s grassroots approach to educational reform and dedication to creating a racially and economically diverse public school,” says Wanda.
Wanda felt compelled to serve because she recognized that students were still being underserved after Hurricane Katrina. She believed she could add value to a system that needed talented and dedicated people to move education forward.
“The opportunity to serve on a charter board was compelling because it allows me to give back to a city that gave so much to me.  My motivation is driven by the valuable input that trustees offer toward building a solid foundation for the future successes of our children,” reflects Wanda.
In addition to her role as Board President, Wanda serves on the Governance, Academic, and Grievance Committees. Charter school boards are responsible for the evaluation of school leadership.  Wanda oversaw the school leader’s performance evaluation process.
Prior to joining the board, Trustees Melissa Jagers and Aesha Rasheed made certain that she knew the level of commitment needed and the importance of understanding governance and support versus management.  The relationship between trustees and school leaders has thrived due to a healthy flow of clear communication and clearly defined roles and responsibilities of all members and recruits.

The Top Shelf
The success of a charter school hinges largely on the decisions of its governing board. The Top Shelf enhances the capacity of charter school boards through professional development, board recruitment and community engagement.

INS Veteran Shares Economic Benefits
of Tighter Immigration Control
Income inequality and the minimum wage have become national buzzwords, but noticeably absent from the conversation is the economic plight of American farmworkers.
“Almost half the people laboring in our fields are U.S. citizens and legally authorized immigrants, but Americans tend to think they’re all illegals, so they accept the situation,” says Michael Harpold, a 35-year veteran of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and author of the new book “Jumping the Line,” (www.jumpingtheline.com) a realistic and dramatic portrayal of an illegal immigrant and a Mexican-American farmworker family.
“We’re terrified food prices would skyrocket – a fear perpetuated by some in the agriculture industry — if we don’t keep the lid on labor prices.”
Ask the farmers and they’ll say, “I’m paying far more than the minimum wage,” and that’s often true, Harpold says. “What’s not said is that the work is seasonal, so the laborer works only 100 days a year. His annual income falls far below the poverty line.”
Non-supervisory farmworkers earned an average hourly wage of $10.80 in 2012, well over the federal minimum wage of $7.25, according to the Farm Labor Survey conducted by the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
The same survey found nearly half did not have year-long jobs.
The impact of extreme poverty on farmworkers – more than 2 million, including undocumented immigrants — affects all of us.
“Imagine how well local businesses would do if these workers had enough money to dine in their restaurants, visit their shops and pay for their services,” Harpold says. “Imagine the benefits to us all if their children could stay in one school for a full year, and if they could aspire to careers beyond the fields.”
If we could stem the flow of cheap labor crossing illegally into our country, and if we relied only on legal immigrants and citizen workers, wages would rise, he says.
What would that look like for the rest of us? Harpold says it’s not the frightening picture some stakeholders paint.
•    We’d pay less than $1 more a month for produce. According to University of California at Davis agriculture economist Phillip Martin, a 40 percent increase in farmworker wages would translate to a 2 to 3 percent increase in retail prices for fruits and vegetables. The trade-off is less economic cost borne by government to support impoverished farmworker families.
•    We would curtail the creation of more substandard jobs in agriculture. Guest worker programs – where foreign workers are invited to work on U.S. farms — perpetuate pockets of rural poverty by keeping labor costs low, encouraging the creation of more low-skilled, low-income jobs in the area. Pending House and Senate legislation proposes to allow in hundreds of thousands of new guest workers. If enacted, this will continue the vicious circle of poverty and inadequate education trapping immigrant farmworker families striving to assimilate in our society. Children of immigrants living in two-parent families are twice as likely to be poor (44 percent versus 22 percent) as the children of natives. Two-thirds of farmworker children who live with both parents remain poor. ¹
•    Growers will (as they have in the past) innovate to make up for fewer workers. When forced to compete for labor such as occurred when the United States stopped the importation of Mexican farmworkers in 1964, growers innovate, mechanizing harvests, planning crop cycles to coincide with worker availability, and providing housing or transportation. Then, growers signed contracts with farm workers union president Cesar Chavez containing hire back clauses for migratory workers, raising wages and providing healthcare. The brief golden age for American farmworkers ended after a decade and a half because the U.S. failed to stop illegal immigration.
As a nation, Harpold says, we cannot talk about income inequality and minimum wages without including immigration in the conversation.
“It’s all tied together,” he says. “When we address immigration, we will also address persistent poverty for a large segment of the population.”