By Drew Brooks
Staff writer
The longest-serving inmate at the Cumberland County Detention Center will have to wait another six months before going to trial because a judge agreed Friday to a delay.
Thurman Levone Burns, 48, has been housed in the jail since Jan. 2, 2006, when he was arrested on charges of killing his former girlfriend and shooting a Fayetteville police officer.
If convicted, Burns could face the death penalty, but his lawyers were granted a delay while they explore whether he can legally be put to death if convicted.
David Smith, who along with Carl Ivarsson represents Burns, said he has reason to believe that Burns suffers from mental retardation.
Smith asked Superior Court Judge Gregory Weeks to delay the Sept. 20 trial date by six months.
After some hesitation, Weeks granted the request because he believes not giving the defense enough time for additional tests could cause the state Court of Appeals to overturn a death penalty verdict.
"There's better than a 50-50 chance that cases would come back if there was a capital conviction," Weeks said.
Assistant District Attorney Rob Thompson opposed the delay, saying too much time has passed already.
Thompson said prosecutors have been ready to try the case since January.
"The longer it goes, we are being robbed of our rights to a fair trial," he said. "At what point do you just say its time to try the case?"
Weeks said he was concerned by the age of the case, but said the defense has legitimate claims to investigate.
He said it would not be fair to force the victim's family to go through a trial only to have the conviction or sentence overturned.
"They've already been victimized once," Weeks said. "How many trials do they want to go through?"
Smith said he learned of Burns' possible handicap after a routine consultation. He said he was told that Burns' IQ was likely in the mid-60s, which would make him mentally retarded and thus ineligible for the death penalty.
"This is not something we are doing for the purposes of delay," Smith said.
The delay was the latest in a case that has seen its trial date pushed back repeatedly in the past two years.
In January, defense lawyers were granted a delay because Ivarsson had been recently appointed to the case and did not have the time to research it.
Before that, the trial had been scheduled for May 2009 but was delayed because Smith was in the hospital.
According to investigators, Burns shot and killed his former girlfriend, Deana Prince, the night of Jan. 1, 2006.
Ten minutes after the shooting, Burns shot Fayetteville police Officer Chris Kempf in the chest and stomach after the officer stopped him on Ramsey Street.
Kempf was saved from serious injury because he was wearing a bullet-proof vest, police said. He spent two days in the hospital.
Burns turned himself in to Hoke county sheriff's deputies the day after the shooting and was charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.
Court records show that Burns has previously served time for another killing.
He pleaded guilty in 1989 to voluntary manslaughter in the 1988 shooting death of a Cumberland County man. He was released after serving 13 months in jail.
Staff writer Drew Brooks can be reached at brooksd@fayobserver.com or 486-3567.
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