Henderson County judge orders more police video showing mother arrested at son's shooting
HENDERSONVILLE — Henderson County Superior Court Judge Michael Robinson indicated March 4 that a mother arrested at the scene of her son's deadly shooting should be allowed to view all law enforcement footage containing her and her dead son. However, he said he wants to watch video not yet disclosed to the court before deciding if he'll sign an order.
In two back-to-back court hearings, Robinson discussed the potential disclosure of Hendersonville Police Department and Henderson County Sheriff's Office bodycam and dashcam footage to Patricia King, who was arrested Nov. 24 in the parking lot of the Orchard Bar and Grill feet away from where her son, Elija Timmons III, lay dead, his head wound exposed to bystanders from under a white sheet. King's charges were dismissed Feb. 19 by District Attorney Andrew Murray.
In her request to see footage, which City Attorney Angela Beeker helped her file, Patricia King asked to see all law enforcement videos that contained footage of her and her son, who lived in Asheville and was 30 years old when he was killed. Attorneys from both agencies said in court March 4 that they do not object to disclosing the footage to King.
However, some of the applicable footage from both agencies has not been submitted to the court, according to the proceedings. Beeker told Robinson that they did not disclose video showing Timmons III in a far-off distance.
"In candor to the court, we have not produced all 25 hours to the court for Your Honor to view, but we certainly have it and would make it available," Beeker said, adding that she's provided about one or two hours of footage.
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"I'm going to enter an order orally on the record today that within seven days you provide to the court the portions of the video that are properly produced under the statute," Robinson said, indicating that the court is unable to justify not producing video that shows King's son, even if it's in the background.
In her hearing with sheriff's attorney Ron Justice, King indicated that she intended her request for sheriff footage to include her interactions with detention officers in the jail, though Robinson said the petition "says nothing about camera footage inside the jail."
"All I can give is that I don't believe our detention officers have the bodycams, but we do have fixed cameras inside of the jail," Justice said. "I have no objection to trying to produce that."
Robinson asked sheriff's attorney Justice to disclose camera footage from the jail and asked both attorneys to prepare a draft order regarding disclosure of the additional footage.
All heads of law enforcement agencies with officers depicted in the recordings, and Murray, were given notice of the petition and hearing, according to court proceedings. Beeker said even Attorney General Josh Stein was given notice, since a N.C. State Highway Patrol trooper was first on scene that night.
"I did speak with an assistant AG who authorized me to report to the court that (Stein) didn't object to (King) seeing what we've submitted to the court, and I believe he even sent his videos as well," Beeker said.
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No objection to showing footage of shooting
King said that she thought her request included the surveillance camera footage from the Orchard Bar and Grill of her son's shooting. While that video is not law enforcement footage and not included in this petition, both Myhand and Murray said in court that they have no objection to King watching the video.
"I have spoken with District Attorney Andrew Murray and there is no objection from us showing Ms. King the surveillance video of the actual shooting," Myhand said in court standing next to Murray.
"It is my understanding from talking to staff that she was shown portions of that video but not the actual shooting out of respect for her having to watch her son die."
However, King asserted that a police officer showed her the video, and she watched the shooter "walk across the parking lot, get the distance from my son, aim the gun and shoot him in the head and walk off calm." King said that she'd like to see the video again because "there's some real discrepancy in what they're saying happened and what I had seen happen."
Robinson said it's his understanding that Myhand will "voluntarily interact with Ms. King so that she can see the fixed camera surveillance footage captured by the restaurant or bar."
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What's next?
King has seen some of the footage of her arrest, but not the parts showing her dead son, due to the stipulation in N.C. General Statute 132-1.4A that a court order is required for a relative of a deceased person to view law enforcement footage depicting death or serious injury.
"When we were showing (the footage to King), if the officer happened to turn towards the body of her son, we stopped the video because I was taking a very narrow reading that it depicted death, and in respect to the statute we couldn't show her that without a court order," Beeker said.
Robinson gave each of the attorneys a week to submit additional video. The judge will then view the footage and hold another hearing where he will order whether or not the law enforcement video should be disclosed to King. The date of the next hearing was not disclosed in court.
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Ryley Ober is the Public Safety Reporter for Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at rober@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter @ryleyober
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Henderson County judge orders more police video in deadly shooting
