Defense lawyers Friday dropped their motion to replace the judge presiding over the murder trial of Rayquan Borum after the defendant made a call from jail in which he appeared to threaten the judge.
Borum is accused of shooting and killing fellow protester Justin Carr during demonstrations in uptown Charlotte after a police shooting in September 2016.
The trial stopped cold in its second week Wednesday when prosecutors revealed that Borum had appeared to threaten Superior Court Judge Gregory Hayes in a Feb. 20 call from jail, while jurors for his trial were still being selected. “I need him gone,” Borum said in the call.
But prosecutor Glenn Cole said Friday that Borum’s mother, who received the call, offered another explanation: Her son wanted her to get in touch with a spiritualist in northern Florida to “pray against” Hayes and others, including two Charlotte-Mecklenburg police detectives and a witness who testified against Borum.
Borum had also talked about “voodoo” in other calls from jail, Cole told Hayes, and had tried to raise money to pay a voodoo healer in Raleigh.
“What was being sought after here was a magical remedy to the defendant’s current position,” Cole said. Police detectives say jail inmates often believe in occult solutions, Cole added.
