In rare move, Charlotte review board disagrees with CMPD on Danquirs Franklin case

In a unanimous vote late Thursday, Charlotte’s Citizens Review Board split with the police chief’s decision not to discipline Officer Wende Kerl following the fatal police shooting of Danquirs Franklin in March 2019.

The 7-0 vote marks only the second time in the board’s near 23-year history that it has broken with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s top leader in disciplinary actions following cases of shootings or other uses of police force. The vote does not override the police department or the district attorney’s past findings on the case.

“CMPD clearly erred in finding the Franklin shooting justified,” board chair Tonya Jameson said Thursday night after the vote.

Even before the vote, the board drew criticism Thursday night from officials with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police who claimed Kerl had been treated unjustly and there was “blatant bias” during the process. The controversy arose over how many attorneys could present on Kerl’s behalf Thursday.

The board reached its decision after a nearly 11-hour meeting. During the meeting, the review board heard testimony and evidence and deliberated behind closed doors. In the coming days, the board will write a letter to the Franklin family as well as CMPD Police Chief Putney and the city manager.

The review board’s decision breaks with the findings of CMPD’s internal review and decision to return Kerl to full duty in November.

Franklin’s family and lawyer appealed the personnel decision to the review board, asking members to decide whether Chief Kerr Putney erred in his decision.

Because the case concerns personnel information, which is protected under North Carolina law, the hearing is closed to the public and all participants sign confidentiality agreements.

‘Blatant bias’ accusation

A few hours before the decision, Charlotte’s Fraternal Order of Police accused the city’s police review board of “blatant bias” against Kerl.

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The FOP, a support organization for CMPD officers, issued its criticism after it says it was told two attorneys representing Kerl were told they could not both present on Kerl’s behalf during the hearing.

After the board vote, Jameson said there was no bias but she refused to comment on why Kerl was only allowed one attorney to present during the hearing.

An attorney for the board also pushed back on the FOP’s complaint.

“It’s also hard to understand how you can legitimately claim the board is biased when in its existence it’s heard 94 cases and 92 times it has come down in favor of CMPD and the officer,” said Julian Wright, attorney for the review board.

The first and only other time the the board has voted to disagree with Putney on disciplinary decisions was in 2017. That case involved an officer who held a gun to an unarmed man’s head and threatened to kill him while he was being handcuffed by other officers on the ground.

Officer did not appear

Kerl chose to not provide testimony in person to the review board, according to the FOP statement sent by FOP public information officer Chris Kopp. Instead, Kerl relied “on her previously provided statements,” Kopp said in a statement Thursday.

Kopp, who was not present at the hearing, refused to specify how the FOP learned what had occurred during the closed session hearing. When reached by the Observer Thursday night, he said the review board had decided Kerl could have one attorney present but not two.

The review board may request officers involved in cases to appear during hearings but the board has no subpoena power to compel testimony. The board also has no authority to overrule the police department or the police chief but sends its recommendations following a vote.

FOP officials Thursday took issue with what they described in a statement as “the ongoing unfair and unjust treatment toward Officer Wende Kerl.”

Attorneys for both Franklin’s family, the review board and the police department were present during Thursday’s hearing, according to the FOP and observations by an Observer reporter present during a brief public portion of the meeting.

The FOP said the exclusion of Kerl’s two attorneys from presenting evidence was equivalent to a “decision to deny Officer Kerl her right to counsel.”

“We’re not going to let our officers get railroaded,” Kopp said.

Civil attorney Lori Keaton and criminal defense attorney Jeremy Smith — both lawyers for Kerl — left the hearing in the morning. Reached by email later, Smith said prior to leaving, the attorneys made a statement to the board declining to participate in the hearing.

Keaton and Smith refused to comment any further.

Burger King shooting

Franklin was killed March 25, 2019, after Kerl and another officer responded to a Burger King on Beatties Ford Road after 911 calls came in about a man inside the restaurant with a gun.

When officers arrived, Franklin was squatting next to a car in the parking lot, body camera footage shows. Police have said Franklin was armed.

In body cam video from the camera Kerl was wearing that day, she is heard yelling at Franklin to put the gun down more than 15 times in the roughly 40 seconds before the shooting.

“Following his death, critics said the video showed Franklin lowering a gun toward the ground when Kerl shot him,” the Charlotte Observer previously reported. During the investigation and a review by the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office, Kerl said she saw Franklin pull out a gun and that she believed he was preparing to point the gun toward someone.

The DA’s office found Kerl was legally justified in shooting Franklin and she was not charged.

Following the investigations, Kerl was placed back on full duty in November to a non-patrol investigative assignment.