‘A weight to carry’: Court delays leave family waiting years for justice in deadly shooting

CHARLOTTE — Andre Boyd Jr. was 22 years old when he was shot and killed at an apartment complex in north Charlotte in the summer of 2020.

His family says they were hurt when they heard the news and remain hurt to this day.

“He was a very gentle-hearted person, funny, made everyone laugh,” a relative shared with Channel 9′s veteran crime reporter Glenn Counts.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police worked quickly to arrest 20-year-old Curtis Beatty and 17-year-old Deontre Watson.

They were both charged with first degree murder, but Watson pled guilty to robbery with a dangerous weapon and could be out of prison in as little as five years.

“I felt like it should have been more,” the family member said. Channel 9 is not naming the relative due to concerns for the person’s safety.

Beatty intends to go to trial and his attorney intends to build the case around self-defense.

A backlog of cases created when courts shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic means Boyd’s loved ones will likely have to wait another two to three frustrating years before a trial begins.

“Just kind of stringing along, stringing it out, but it’s definitely a weight to carry,” the family member said.

Beatty has been out of jail for more than a year after making his $300,000 secured bond and as long as he doesn’t violate it, he’ll be a free man until the trial.

Channel 9′s Counts has been reporting on crime in Charlotte for years and talks to prosecutors on a regular basis.

He says no one is certain when the court backlog could clear, but knowing trials stopped for two years, it’s possible it will take just as long to remedy.

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