Prosecutor files to dismiss charges in Whiteville City Schools board member assault case
WHITEVILLE, N.C. (WECT) - The prosecution has filed to dismiss charges in an assault case involving Whiteville City Schools Board Member Kandle Rogers, according to a document provided by the Columbus County Clerk of Court.
According to the dismissal filing, prosecutor J. Kyle Smith has filed for the assault on a government employee offense to be dismissed. Smith is a prosecutor with the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys.
“With the evidence available to the State at this time, the State cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant Kandle Rogers was the perpetrator of the alleged assault on [the victim] on August 31, 2023,” the document states. “At the November 2, 2023 trial, the court received testimony from State’s witnesses regarding a racial epithet apparently directed at [the alleged victim], a Whiteville city worker.
“While the State certainly does not condone the use of such language, racial epithets are not an essential element of the charged offense of Assault on a Government Employee. Therefore, the State’s decision to dismiss the matter did not take this evidence into consideration.”
Smith says in the dismissal that the initial footage showed someone wearing a blue shirt and gray athletic pants getting out of the passenger side of an SUV, and that two witnesses from the state identified the person as Kandle Rogers.
The dismissal states that the defendant’s council showed the state higher quality security camera footage than was previously available. This footage shows Kandle Rogers wearing gray shorts with a gray shirt alongside a person wearing a blue shirt and gray athletic pants, per the dismissal. Smith writes that the footage also shows the person with the blue shirt and gray pants entering the passenger side of the same vehicle.
Copyright 2023 WECT. All rights reserved.
