NEW HANOVER COUNTY — The three defendants in connection with a 2021 double-homicide will have to wait longer before their cases are tried.
On Wednesday, Judge Kent Harrell held a hearing in New Hanover County Superior Court to receive a status update on the health of Michael Ramos, a defense attorney representing Raquel Adams.
Adams, along with defendants Dyrell Green and Omonte Bell, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder and felony conspiracy.
The prosecution alleges the trio is responsible for the murders of Koredresse Tyson and Bri-yanna Williams, who were killed July 24, 2021 at the Middle Sound home of George Taylor III, the former chief operating officer of TRU Colors Brewing.
Adams’ trial was set to begin on Wednesday but was pushed back in May due to Ramos suffering from a health emergency.
Now the prosecution wants to begin the trial this fall, with Judge Harrell ordering the appointment of an additional capital defender to ensure the date can be met.
“I’d like to get this case resolved in October,” Harrell said Wednesday.
The district attorney’s office is describing the murder as a “gang hit”; Tyson was a member of the Gangster Disciples; Williams was his girlfriend. The defendants are members of the United Blood Nation gang, rival to the Gangster Disciples.
Tyson, Bell and Adams had worked at TRU Colors, which controversially employed active rival gang members, with the mission of bringing economic empowerment to low-income individuals and equipping them with real-world professional skills.
According to Sam Dooies, assistant to the DA, Bell and Green’s attorneys “withdrew from their cases earlier this year.” As such, trial dates remain unscheduled for them at this time.
Dooies did not respond by press to Port City Daily’s request for more information on the withdrawal. In April, WECT reported Green’s attorney Emily Byrum requested to be removed from the case after accepting a new job in Brunswick County, while Bell’s attorney, Jordan Willetts, withdrew earlier in the year.
On Wednesday, the prosecution proposed a new trial date of Oct. 28 and asked the defense if it would be able to begin at that time.
“Hopefully I’ll be there,” Ramos said, though later told the court that out of an abundance of caution, he would not count on it.
Ramos said his recovery from an undisclosed injury was going slower than expected, adding he was doing physical therapy but couldn’t drive. Substitution counsel could be an option, he said, but that would require a new person going through the copious amounts of discovering and “rebuilding five witnesses.”
Per judge’s order, another attorney, appointed by the North Carolina Office of Indigent Defense Services, will work alongside Ramos over the next three months to step in if Ramos is incapacitated.
Another status update hearing will be scheduled for September.
Inversely to Ramos, an attorney on the prosecution will not be on the case in October — DA Ben David. Last fall, the DA announced he would be retiring from his seat on September 3, 2024. As reported by WECT, David said in court he would like the case to go to trial before then.
David has been at the forefront of the cases against the trio, advocating last year to increase the men’s bonds from $750,000 (Bell) and $1.2 million (Green, Adams) to $2 million, though this motion was denied.
David also condemned the TRU Colors business model. When the defendants were arrested in 2021, David said it is impossible to renounce violence without disavowing gang affiliation, or like “trying to separate water from the wet.”
TRU Colors was the brainchild of George Taylor Jr., whose son and chief operating officer, George Taylor III, lived in the home Tyson and Williams were murdered at. The brewery shuttered in September 2022, with the senior Taylor blaming the amount of negative media coverage for adding to the business’ demise.
The cases against Bell, Green and Adams have been several years in the making, stemming from their arrests in August 2021. The three were indicted by a grand jury on Feb. 21 2022, though the defense raised qualms against some of the indictment proceedings in the months to follow.
The defense would go on to claim a presentation prepared by New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office Detective Jeremy Boswell contained potential perjury that violated the suspects’ constitutional right to due process.
In June 2023, Harrell heard the defense’s motion to dismiss the case and Boswell was there to answer a litany of questions about the presentation. The detective admitted there were inconsistencies in his statements. However, Judge Harrell denied the motion to dismiss, citing limited precedent to draw on, and declared any further questions about Boswell’s conduct could be left for a jury to decide.
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.
