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Judge considering separate trials in gang case

By Blake Hanson
By Blake Hanson

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A U.S. district judge said Tuesday he could decide this week whether three accused gang members will get separate federal trials.

Ahkeem McDonald, Randall Hankins and Nana Adoma appear headed for trial. The trio are among 12 suspected United Blood Nation gang members and associates charged in the federal case. The other suspects have reached plea deals with prosecutors.

At a hearing Tuesday, attorneys for McDonald and Adoma argued their clients should get separate trials from Hankins. Unlike Hankins, neither McDonald nor Adoma is charged directly in the 2014 slayings of Doug and Debbie London. Prosecutors said the couple was killed to prevent their testimony after a robbery at their mattress store in early 2014.

Defense attorneys argued photos of the double homicide scene could unfairly sway the jury, despite McDonald and Adoma's lack of direct involvement.

Jeremy Smith, a defense attorney for Adoma, introduced 91 exhibits of photos that U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn reviewed in court. Cogburn placed the photos under seal until trial.

Smith said he and other counsel have worked several murder cases and viewed "graphic" photos but didn't "know that [they] have seen more emotionally disturbing photos" than in this instance.

Federal prosecutors stated several reasons they disagreed with separate trials.

Among them is that McDonald, Adoma and Hankins are all charged as being a part of the same conspiracy.

Prosecutors said it was "forseeable" to the defendants that the gang would engage in murders.

"Separating [the case] does no one any good," said Don Gast, assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Gast said victims, witnesses and investigators would be forced to go through the same process twice, or even three times.

Cogburn said he would consider the motion to split the trial and likely issue a decision by Thursday.

James Wyatt, a Charlotte defense attorney who is not involved in the case, told Eyewitness News that severance cases are difficult to argue.

"There's a policy that favors joint trial when you have co-defendants and the reason for that is the efficiency of not having several trials," Wyatt said.

The court and attorneys also indicated that a trial might not begin until after July. Gast estimated a trial could take two to three weeks.

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