Royce Mitchell was pressuring 15-year-old Tiffany Wright to end her pregnancy - and took her to an abortion clinic - according to new court documents that may shed light on why police say Mitchell should be prosecuted for statutory rape.
The documents, released Tuesday, say Mitchell took Tiffany - his adopted sister - to a Charlotte abortion clinic in mid-July but was turned away because, at 21 weeks of pregnancy, she was too far along.
Within days, Mitchell planned a trip to an Atlanta clinic where Tiffany's pregnancy could be terminated, the documents say. Tiffany refused to go.
On Sept. 14, Tiffany, a Hawthorne High junior, was fatally shot as she waited for her school bus on Mallard Creek Road. Doctors delivered her baby girl, but the infant died.
The new information comes in affidavits from the day of the killing, when police sought search warrants for Mitchell's south Charlotte home and an apartment police say he visited that day.
Police call Mitchell, 36, a "person of interest" in the killing, but they haven't charged him. On the day of Tiffany's death, Mitchell was jailed on charges of statutory rape and taking indecent liberties with Tiffany.
But those charges were dropped last week by prosecutors after a DNA test showed Mitchell was not the father of her baby. Without Tiffany alive to testify about her relationship with Mitchell, prosecutors said the case lacked enough evidence.
The move angered Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, who criticized the prosecutors' decision. Police said they believe there's "probable cause" based on "evidence gathered" to prosecute Mitchell on the sex charges - even without DNA evidence.
Read more at CharlotteObserver.com
.jpg)
Comments