Kearney back in court on 2018 murder case
May 21—WARRENTON — A judge on Thursday declined to make it easier for murder suspect Lester Kearney to get out of jail before his trial, or to move him to a local facility instead of Central Prison in Raleigh.
Superior Court Judge Henry Hight made those decisions after prosecutors called to the stand Amy Lafluer, a program safety director at Central Prison who testified about Kearney's confinement there.
Kearney — accused in connection with the 2018 death at her Littleton home of Dr. Nancy Alford has been kept as a safekeeper at the prison.
He is on what the N.C. Department of Public Safety terms "restrictive housing for control purposes," which is designed to control inmates who pose a threat to the safety of staff, other inmates and the security of a prison facility.
Lafluer said Kearney was caught submitting a letter with pictures of co-defendant Kevin Munn's children, threatening to kill them.
She testified on Thursday that after the first threatening letter, Kearney was written up for two other threatening letters found in a search of Munn's cell. Two letters and the report about Kearney's actions were submitted as evidence.
Kearney "said, 'You know I wouldn't kill those kids — I was just trying to scare him,' " Lafluer said.
Some other contents of the letters include appeals to Munn from Kearney, claiming, "I don't even know you," and "Please tell the truth."
Authorities allege that on March 9, 2018, Kearney, who's from Littleton, and Munn who's from Warrenton, broke into the home of Alford and her husband, the Rev. John Alford, on Mulberry Court in Littleton.
Nancy Alfored, 76, was kidnapped and taken to a State Employees' Credit Union bank in Roanoke Rapids, where she was forced to withdraw money. She was then driven back to her home, which was set ablaze with her and the Rev. Alford inside.
Rev. Alford escaped the home with burns over much of his body and injuries sustained when he was beaten, allegedly by Kearney. Dr. Alford did not make it out of the burning home alive. Kearney and Munn are charged with first-degree murder in the Alford case.
After a change of his defense team, Kearney is now represented by lawyers Amos Tyndall and Robert Singaliese, who requested Thursday's hearing.
While this was an atrocious crime, Kearney is not the man who killed Dr. Alford, Singaliese said.
"Mr. Kearney is innocent of those crimes," Singaliese said.
Singaliese claimed Kearney was arrested after Munn implicated him. Munn has told "unbelievable" stories about how the crime occurred, Singaliese said.
Munn accepted a plea agreement on April 30, 2018, to two counts of first-degree murder in the death of Nancy Alford and October 2017 death of James Thomas "Tommy" Ellington Jr. The agreement called onfor him to be sentenced to two consecutive life terms, forgoing the possibility of the death penalty.
In exchange, Munn agreed to fully cooperate with authorities regarding investigations into other individuals involved in both cases.
Singaliese said Munn is not telling the truth about Kearney and has not told the same story twice. The two stories Munn gave early on are inconsistent with each other, he said, providing specific details.
"It's not because of threats from Kearney, it is because he is lying," Singaliese said.
In addition, Singaliese played a recorded phone call, reportedly from Munn from prison, to Kearney's girlfriend, in which Munn states he and Kearney were never together on March 9.
The defense lawyer also alleged some inconsistencies in John Alford's testimony about Kearney during a probable-cause hearing. The Rev. Alford said he was 100% sure Kearney was the man who broke into his home.
But Singaliese said Alford had said Kearney's face was covered, but he said he knew he was black because he saw his hands. Also, the reverend said Kearney has no tattoos, but Kearney has tattoos on both hands and on his neck.
The lawyer also said authorities didn't approach John Alford with a photographic lineup of suspects. Singaliese claimed there was "obvious taint" to the identification, beginning with a joint press conference in March 2018 by Warren County Sheriff's Office, the State Bureau of Investigation and local prosecutors when District Attorney Mike Waters announced the arrests of Munn and Kearney.
The press published the photos of Munn and Kearney, and Rev. Alford saw the photo from the press and misidentified Kearney as a co-defendant, Singaliese said.
In addition, Singaliese claimed Kearney's phone was not in the vicinity of the Alford home or of the credit union. Evidence shows Kearney was using his cell phone at Kearney's girlfriend's house when the crime occurred — more than 10 miles away, he said.
Tyndall, Singaliese's co-counsel, told Hight there's concern about the extensive press coverage of the case and how it might impact the jury pool.
Waters responded that if the case isn't handled in Warren County, it might not be addressed in a timely manner.
"We think the venue is right," Waters said on Thursday.
The 10 a.m. hearing began with members of the Alford family filing in first, and after a recess continued into the afternoon. Also attending was Cheryl Ellington, widow of Tommy Ellington.
Another hearing is scheduled for June 14 in Warren County Superior Court to discuss such matters as the venue for the upcoming trial.
