CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – This year’s murder trials in Mecklenburg County date back to 2020, a testament to the ongoing uphill climb facing the district attorney’s office to clear a massive backlog.
Iryna’s Law, just passed by the North Carolina General Assembly in response to the August murder of a Ukrainian refugee on the Charlotte light rail, includes a provision that could help change that: funding for more assistant district attorneys.
WBTV Investigates has reported on the county’s murder backlog and its many causes for years, with families telling WBTV in 2024 that they had waited through a pandemic for movement on their cases.
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Now, the addition of 10 new prosecutors and five victim witness assistants represents the first step from the General Assembly since 2010 to expand the county’s staffing.
Staffing lags behind nationwide norms
District attorney Spencer Merriweather frequently points to nationwide studies showing that his 85-member prosecutor team is dozens of people behind recommended staffing for Mecklenburg County’s population.
Years of turnover and poor pay have left prosecutors demoralized, Merriweather said.
“When you have turnover in an office and you have people that have burned out and decided to leave, and new people have to all of a sudden learn that case and develop a relationship with that victim family, that is a strain.”
Most of the office’s attorneys are funded by the state, with about 20 assistant district attorney positions funded locally.
The decision from the General Assembly to add funding for 10 attorney positions is the first funding expansion from the state since 2010, Merriweather said.
“It’s a win for the community,” he said. “I’ve seen prosecutors in our office that have burned out because they’re doing the work of two and three people.”
Mecklenburg’s sluggish timelines for murder cases
Mecklenburg County’s murder case timelines lag severely behind its closest counterpart in population, Wake County.
According to the most recent data from the North Carolina Judicial Branch, Mecklenburg had 119 pending murder* cases more than three years old, or 46% of its total pending murder cases.
Wake County, in comparison, had just 15 cases in that bracket, or about 15% of its total pending murder cases.
The backlog is fueled by numerous factors, not all of which originate with staffing at the district attorney’s office.
Shortages in defense attorneys, courtroom scheduling protocols, and other issues all contribute to the problem as well.
But at the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s office, the new funding represents a big step forward. Merriweather plans to begin recruiting for the new positions immediately.
“This is monumental for our office,” he said.
*WBTV combined the totals for both murder and first-degree murder charges in the data, which represents a snapshot in time for the 2024-2025 fiscal year ending in June.
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