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Next sheriff retires from CMPD amid concerns about previous homicide cases

By Mark Becker, wsoctv.com
By Mark Becker, wsoctv.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mecklenburg County’s Sheriff-elect Garry McFadden confirmed he has retired from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department after sources told Channel 9 police found items in his office that raised questions.

For more than 20 years, McFadden was a homicide detective with CMPD, working both routine and high-profile cases.

[RELATED: Sheriff-elect McFadden stays focused on issues from campaign]

Since retiring from full-time work, he had a very different role as a liaison between police and the community.

Sources tell Channel 9 that’s why some within the department were surprised when they went into his office and discovered items tied to homicide cases.

Sources said they found a box with some of the personal effects of Jonathan Ferrell, who was shot and killed five years ago by former CMPD officer Randall “Wes” Kerrick.

McFadden had worked with Ferrell’s family during Kerrick’s trial, and he told Channel 9 he’d been holding onto that box with the blessing of Ferrell’s mother.

[RELATED: $2.25M settlement reached in Jonathan Ferrell civil suit]

Sources also said police found a box containing files from a 1995 murder case that ended with the defendant getting a life sentence.

Now, some within the department are concerned that some of those files may not have gotten to his defense attorney. If so, that could be grounds for appeal.

Sources said police have alerted the District Attorney’s Office and asked officials to review the files they found.

“Due diligence is going to require everyone to look at and say if it’s important evidence or material evidence,” Brad Smith, a defense attorney and former prosecutor, told Channel 9.

In a phone conversation Thursday morning, McFadden told Channel 9 he’s confident he didn’t do anything to compromise that case or any others.

[RELATED: New sheriff in town: McFadden ousts Carmichael in Meck County]

In a statement he released later Thursday, he said he’s enjoyed his career at CMPD and retired to begin to work on his transition to becoming the next sheriff of Mecklenburg County.

McFadden said this is a distraction that comes less than a week before he’s officially elected the next sheriff, and it won’t stop him from taking on big issues when he officially takes over a little more than a month from now.

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