The State for Feb. 1

Jury selection at issue in death-row case

A prosecutor in the trial of the first death-row prisoner to challenge his sentence under the state's Racial Justice Act was three times more likely to dismiss blacks during jury selection for capital cases than other races, a researcher testified Tuesday.

The testimony came on the second day of the hearing in Cumberland County involving Marcus Robinson, a black man who in 1994 was convicted of the 1991 shooting death of 17-year-old Erik Tornblom, who was white. The Racial Justice Act gives death-row prisoners a chance to argue that racial bias played a role in their cases.

The prosecutor in Robinson's trial was John Dickson, who is now a Cumberland County District Court judge. Last year, Dickson was subpoenaed to testify at this hearing.

If he wins his claim, Robinson would be sentenced to life in prison without parole, according to the law, which was passed in 2009 and survived a legislative challenge last year.

The Associated Press

Greensboro doctor faces child-solicitation charge

A Greensboro doctor has been charged with seeking sex from someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl in Fayetteville.

Vijaya-Prakash Boggala, 31, is charged with felony solicitation of a child by computer to commit unlawful sex acts.

A spokeswoman for the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office says the doctor was arrested Tuesday in Fayetteville parking lot where he had arranged to meet an underage girl. Authorities say that person was an undercover sheriff's deputy he met on Internet.

Boggala is a resident in internal medicine at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro. He was being held under a $75,000 bond.

The Associated Press

Speedway event for convention still undecided

Democrats say there will be plenty of parties and entertainment in the days leading up to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte this summer.

But one key question remains: What will the celebration at the Charlotte Motor Speedway look like?

Dan Murrey, executive director of the Charlotte in 2012 convention host committee, said Tuesday that planners are still working on that event.

Murrey says they want to make it a family-friendly event.

The Associated Press

Hickory man charged with illegal gun sales

Yadkin County sheriff's detectives have charged a Hickory man with illegally selling and distributing firearms.

The arrest came after undercover officers contacted the suspect at a Hamptonville flea market to ask him about firearms, the Yadkin County Sheriff's Office said. Investigators said that people who could not buy firearms legally, including felons, were able to get them through the dealer, who was not licensed to sell firearms.

Officers seized 35 rifles and shotguns, three handguns and two sawed-off double-barrel shotguns.

John Jacob Morton, 64, of 720 36th Ave., Hickory, is charged with possessing a weapon of mass destruction, selling or delivering a weapon of mass destruction, and transporting a weapon of mass destruction, according to court documents.

He was being held in the Yadkin County jail under a $15,000 bond.

Paul Garber

Man sentenced for bringing gun onto campus

A man shot by police after bringing an assault weapon onto the campus of Elizabeth City State University has been sentenced to 60 days in jail.

Rashaad Gardner, 25, pleaded guilty Monday to misdemeanor charges of bringing a gun onto education property and going armed to the terror of the people. District Attorney Frank Parrish says Gardner will serve 26 days of his sentence because he received 34 days of credit for time served.

Gardner also was ordered not to go to the ECSU campus. Gardner graduated from ECSU in 2010.

Authorities have said that officers shot Gardner in the leg while trying to arrest him.

The Associated Press

High Point police arrest man after standoff

Police apprehended a man who kept them at bay for more than 15 hours on Tuesday.

Officers from the High Point Police Department arrested Jimmy Albert Burleson, 41, at 7:42 p.m. at his residence at 421 Westdale Place, bringing to a close the standoff.

Greensboro police Chief Ken Miller said a neighbor called police at 5:07 a.m. Tuesday to report hearing a man "calling out to God" while sitting on his porch with a gun.

When officers arrived, Miller said, the man went into his house and fired several shots. The man then came back outside and fired several times at the officer. Miller said the officer returned fire with a handgun and shotgun.

The man, who was naked, went inside and failed to answer officers' instructions to leave the house.

McClatchy-Tribune

Alamance House member not seeking new term

A state House member says a decade is long enough in the General Assembly and she won't seek re-election.

Democratic Rep. Alice Bordsen of Alamance County said Tuesday she wants to leave on her own terms and has seen other people remain in the legislature for too long. She said she finalized her decision after judges declined recently not to delay the May primary election while lawsuits challenging new boundaries for General Assembly seats are heard. She said her seat is still winnable for another Democrat.

Bordsen was first elected to the House in 2002.

The Associated Press