The Brutal 2002 Robbery And Death Of NBA Star Chris Paul's Grandfather

May 2024 ยท 2 minute read

Christopher Bryant, Jermal Tolliver, Nathaniel Cauthen, Rayshawn Banner, and Dorrell Brayboy faced trial and were ultimately be convicted of murdering Nathaniel Jones (per the Winston-Salem Journal). Banner was only 14 when Jones was killed; the other four were 15. Despite their young ages, they were tried as adults. Bryant, Tolliver, and Brayboy each served nearly 15 years in prison before they were paroled (per the Winston-Salem Journal). Cauthen and Banner were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole and are still in prison.

The convicted men, now all in their 30s, made news again in 2020 when four of them petitioned the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission. U.S. News and World Report tells us that this body ruled that "sufficient evidence of factual innocence" and sent the case to be determined by a panel of judges for North Carolina's Superior Court. This case was argued in April 2022 on behalf of Bryant, Tolliver, Cauthen, and Banner. Brayboy was murdered after his release from prison.

The legal team for the convicted argued that there was never any physical evidence that could tie any of them to the murder. They argued that the confessions they gave to police during interrogations were all false and given under threats by the officers. This leaves the most damning part of their convictions resting on the shoulders of Jessicah Black, whose testimony helped seal their fate during their original trials. But she later recanted her version of events.

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