Jose Charles has been arrested again.
Charles was arrested on Friday, Nov. 8 and charged with conspiracy to commit robbery and attempted robbery for an incident that occurred on Jan. 11, 2019.
After Charles was arrested in Center City Park on July 4, 2016 and charged with malicious assault of a police officer, his case became a cause celebre when the group led by Nelson Johnson, who regularly come to City Council meetings to protest about the Greensboro Police Department, took up his case.
There were loud angry tirades at City Council meetings proclaiming his innocence and people protesting were removed from the Council Chambers. There were marches and protests. Once the group supporting Charles took over the Council Chamber after the City Council fled the dais and hid in the back room.
People demanded that the charges against Charles be dropped and the police body cam videos of Charles being arrested be released to the public. Many wrongly blamed the City Council and Greensboro Police Chief Wayne Scott for not releasing them.
By state law in North Carolina only a Superior Court judge can release a police body worn camera video to the public. These police body worn camera videos were never released to the public in part because Charles was a juvenile at the time of his arrest. But the City Council was allowed to view the videos and afterwards City Councilmember Justin Outling said, “There is a court order that prevents us from talking about what was on the video. But the vast majority of the council agrees with and supports the findings and conclusions of the city manager and the police chief.”
Both the city manager and police chief reportedly upheld the charges against Charles and found that the arresting officers violated no laws or city policies in making the arrest.
Eventually, as part of plea bargain, the Guilford County district attorney agreed to drop those charges against Charles when he agreed to plead guilty to several felonies.
Charles has also been arrested since then and was charged with attempted first degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury for a shooting that occurred on Dec. 24, 2017 in Gibsonville. Those charges were dismissed as part of a plea bargain where Charles pleaded guilty to common law robbery and conspiracy to sell marijuana for which he received a suspended sentence.
According to the Greensboro Police Department, Charles is currently out on bail, which was set at $35,000.
How can law abiding citizens be protected from serious crimes in cases like these? This habitual criminal should be behind bars without bond. We cannot stand by while special interest groups make a mockery of the criminal justice system. Any protests with threats to take over a City Council meeting should have resulted in the arrest and prosecution of these individuals. We have laws in this country. They need to be enforced. Judges and district attorneys who make such “deals” should be held personally accountable when a criminal commits additional crimes because they have been freed on bonds that are very low, given minimal sentences or have their sentences reduced.
The law abiding citizens deserve better. Wake up people and put the criminals back where they belong.
So this dude is going to get off on all charges included attempted first degree murder because of intimidation from special interest groups. Sweet.