Police mistake causes mistrial for Raleigh man charged in toddler’s death

The murder trial for a man charged with killing a 22-month-old boy ended in a mistrial because the Raleigh Police Department failed to submit evidence to the defense on time.

Torrance Adams was in the car of his mother’s boyfriend, Michael Buchanan, when he stopped breathing and was eventually rushed to the hospital on Feb. 14, 2017.

Buchanan said the toddler choked on a waffle, and medical workers spent hours treating Torrance for respiratory distress.

Buchanan, 26, was charged with child abuse after doctors discovered Torrance’s fractured skull. He was charged with murder after the toddler died. His trial started earlier this month.

Buchanan’s attorney said in court they planned to show Torrance choked on a waffle and then hit his head on the sink.

The trial ended in a mistrial April 16. because “a fair and impartial trial has become impossible due to prejudice to the defendant as a result of the late disclosure of the evidence,” a judgment signed by Judge Paul Ridgeway stated.

The court also lowered Buchanan’s bail to $250,000 and ordered private electronic monitoring in his parents’ house with no contact with the victim’s family or extended family.

The evidence involved was data from the child’s mother Marquise McCall’s cell phone. She gave the police department consent to extract data from her phone March 13, 2019, and be placed on a hard drive, which was in a Raleigh police detective’s desk and not uploaded to the Raleigh Police Department portal where that kind of data is usually uploaded.

More than two years later, on April 1 2021, Assistant District Attorney Melanie Shekita asked the Raleigh Police Department to search for the data, but they only found it on April 16 around 7 a.m., five days into the trial.

The court suspended proceedings on April 16 for the defense to review the information. Buchanan’s lawyers then argued the contents were relevant to the defense and moved to have the case dismissed or declared a mistrial.

The case is expected to be tried again because it could have provided an alternative cause of death, explanation for motive, intent or circumstances of death.

“I am not going to make any comments about this since the case is still pending at this time,” Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said. “We anticipate that the case will be reset for trial.”

The court also found the detective’s explanation for misplacing the hard drive with the data credible. Misplacing the hard drive was negligent, but there was no evidence of intentional misconduct, according to court documents.

“I don’t understand how that wasn’t submitted with all the evidence,” said McCall, Torrance’s mother. “I just don’t understand a lot of what went on.”

“It wasn’t just frustrating, it was hurtful,” McCall said. “because I thought I would be getting closure, and now I have to start all over again.”

McCall said she still has confidence that the DA’s office will bring justice for her son. She said the phone records are not going to change the outcome of the case.

Joyce Adams, the boy’s aunt, said she and her brother Michael Adams, Torrance’s father, are frustrated and angry.

Adams questioned why officials weren’t prepared with all the information they needed before they started.

“Why didn’t they have everything together?” she asked.

Adams and her brother are traveling back and forth from the Washington D.C. area for the case, she said.

“His main concern is: what is next? Will they have all the information that is needed?” Adams said. “I am praying that they do. He is ready for it to be over.”

It is stressful to be far away and feel like you don’t know what is going on, she said.

If you suspect a child is being abused or died from maltreatment, state law requires you to report that information to the local county Department of Social Services. For help recognizing child abuse as well as resources for parents go to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services website.