WILMINGTON – Two sides in a high-profile defamation suit met in court this week to discuss evidence that one side has and the other wants.
READ MORE: 3 accused of ‘racial terror’ seek damages against civil rights lawyers in Pender case
Tuesday’s hearing was another step in a three-year drama that started with a missing girl, and has resulted in three lawsuits and four criminal charges filed.
Attorney Jennifer Carpenter with Law Offices of G. Grady Richardson, Jr., P.C., who is representing Jordan and Timothy Kita and Austin Wood, presented a motion to New Hanover County Superior Court Judge Frank Jones. It was to force the defense, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, to produce documents, emails, social media posts, text messages, phone records and financial documents, in regards to an upcoming Sept. 18 jury trial.
It’s a battle the plaintiffs have been fighting since March 22, when Pender County Superior Court Judge Phyllis Gorman ordered the defense to produce documents for discovery.
Alexander Cote, who represents Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said his group has provided the plaintiffs with everything they’ve asked for, except for documents that have no bearing on the case. He also said information that shows the defendants’ legal strategy or client information has been withheld.
After a two-and-a-half hour court hearing, the plaintiffs presented their case, though the defense only had roughly 30 minutes. Therefore, they reconvened virtually Wednesday morning, as Cote had to fly back to the West Coast after court Tuesday.
According to lead counsel for the plaintiffs, Grady Richardson wrote in an email to Port City Daily Wednesday morning, a ruling might not come for several days, if not a few weeks.
Plaintiffs Wood and the Kitas are seeking maximum damages under state law of $25,000, claiming two lawyers from Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law made false accusations by publicly calling the white individuals “racist” and using “inflammatory words.”
Much of Carpenter’s presentation centered around a pair of press releases the plaintiffs’ attorneys allege were used to defame their clients. A Jan. 26, 2021 press release written by Lacy Crawford Jr., who was part of the communications team for Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, used language such as “lynch mob” and “vigilante,” after a 2020 incident in Pender County made national headlines.
On May 3, 2020, Jordan Kita — then a New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office deputy — formed a search party along with his father Timothy and neighbor Austin Wood, to look for his missing adopted sister, Lekayda Kempisty. After an online tip from a classmate led them to a student named Josiyah, the group went to the Avendale neighborhood of Rocky Point to find her.
However, Josiyah had moved a month before, and the search party went to the house of Dameon Shepard instead. When they arrived, Shepard told the search party he didn’t know the girl — and they were at the wrong house — but, according to court documents, Jordan Kita blocked the door with his foot and demanded entry.
Kita’s NHCSO-issued weapon was on his hip and Wood was armed with an assault rifle, documents detail.
Kempisty ended up safe and was found the day after the incident.
Kita was fired by the department five days later during a press conference held by District Attorney Ben David on May 8. Wood faced a misdemeanor breaking and entering, and Kita was charged with willful failure to discharge duties, forcible trespass, and breaking and entering.
The Shepards filed a civil lawsuit against the Kitas and Wood for trespassing, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy, and violating North Carolina’s civil rights and fair housing statutes in January 2021.
Prior to the trail beginning, the first of two press releases by Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law was sent to media outlets.
It stated: “North Carolina has a long and sordid history of direct and indirect white mob violence against African American communities. When a dozen or more white men and women with guns invade a Black family’s property, terrorize the people that live there, and refuse to listen or leave, the situation can easily spiral into tragic and deadly racial violence and death.”
The press release that came out before the trial was one of several Carpenter and the plantiffs’ attorney saw as inflammatory.
The Shepards’ suit was voluntarily dismissed following mediation on March 2, 2022.
Another press release, written by former Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law communications head Don Owens, was released the day after Kita and Wood were acquitted from criminal charges in February.
“While we are disappointed in the outcome of the criminal trial, we will continue to fight for justice for the Shepards in our civil suit. The harm that the defendants caused our clients demonstrates that the nation’s, and indeed North Carolina’s, history of racist violence against Black people is far from over,” the group wrote in the statement. “The fact that defendants did not stop to think how their actions — taken late at night, in a large group, while armed with multiple guns — would impact the Shepards, is evidence that white privilege remains alive and well.”
The Kitas and Wood sought an apology from the Shepards and when that didn’t happen, the current defamation suit was filed last May.
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law managing attorney Mark Dorosin said in 2021 the purpose of the press releases was for fundraising. However, both Kitas and Wood have lost their jobs as a result of the case, and their attorneys believe the negative impact of the press releases went a long way to fostering that sentiment.
The press releases were disseminated to media outlets, including Port City Daily.
During her presentation, Carpenter said the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law was behind the creation of the press release, though it’s unclear if it was done through an in-house public relations agency or hired outside firm. Therefore the legal group had no expectation of privacy.
She cited Calvin Klein Trademark Trust v. Wachner, where the Fourth District Court of New York ruled in 2000 that attorney-client privilege and work-product doctrine — including notes, emails or letters — did not protect the majority of a public relations firm’s documents.
But Cote said that same ruling also helped his clients. He said though the court ruled the documents were not protected by attorney-client privilege, those same documents were protected because they revealed potential confidential client information.
“We have less than two months to prepare for trial at this point,” Carpenter said. “You cannot assert attorney-client privilege and use it as a defense at the same time. It doesn’t work that way.”
Carpenter told the court written requests and phone calls for discovery have been made since August for communications regarding the releases.
However, according to Carpenter, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law has been slow getting them what they need to prepare for trial — and what it has offered up has been heavily redacted.
One of the exhibits entered into record was a spreadsheet of documents provided to the plaintiffs, including emails with only first names, such as “Wyatt.” Carpenter wanted to know who “Wyatt” was.
“As you can see, anything related to the press release itself is not redacted,” Cote said. “What is below those documents is because it relates to attorney-client information. … Nothing that was redacted is coming into trial on Sept. 18, and everything that is, we’ve already provided.”
Carpenter also sought access to social media posts and comments relating to the press release, as well as financial records from the legal group. She suggested it profited by soliciting donations to smear the reputations of her clients.
Cote said he provided those records, and on the three days the press release was active — Jan. 26 to 28 — $375 was donated, $250 of which came from the wives of the attorneys. The law firm is a nonprofit and relies on donations to cover expenses and pro-bono work.
Carpenter also asked for the redacted contents of a 2021 email exchanged between Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law managing attorney Dorosin and former WECT investigative reporter Ann McAdams. In the email, Dorosin made plans to do an interview with McAdams in anticipation of the plaintiff’s criminal trial.
Carpenter has cited CNN reporting from March 2021 that Monica Shepard did not initially think the Kitas and Wood acted with racist intent when they came to their home to search for the missing girl. The lawyer intends to put the interview into the record.
When asked by CNN if she thought race played a factor, Monica Shepard told the outlet: “[I]t doesn’t matter because there was no aggression on my part.”
Since Kita’s firing from the NHCSO, he has worked for the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office, a lower-paying job, according to court documents. Wood was forced to sell his business and quit coaching his children’s sports teams.
Carpenter said Tuesday the language used by Dorosin and fellow attorney Elizabeth Haddix in the press releases have ruined their clients’ reputations, and every time someone does an Internet search of them, the words “racist” and “vigilante” will always pop up, so every possible document matters.
“When it comes to the documents we need, it’s been a slow trickle to keep us at bay,” she said.
CATCH UP ON PREVIOUS REPORTING:
3 accused of ‘racial terror’ seek damages against civil rights lawyers in Pender case
‘A mistake I will truly regret forever’: Men acquitted after going armed to Pender family’s home
Vigilante mob or search party? Family involved in Pender County incident breaks their silence
Tips or comments? Email info@localdailymedia.com.
Want to read more from PCD? Subscribe now and then sign up for our morning newsletter, Wilmington Wire, and get the headlines delivered to your inbox every morning.
