The trial of a Durham man charged with murder is moving forward.
Darrius Tyson is charged with the 2022 death of Shawn Burton.
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Burton was last seen in March of 2022; his truck was found in Warren County with blood in it, but his body has never been found.
Prosecutors say Ring doorbell camera footage from Duke Street the night Burton went missing showed him using a key to get into a building with three men behind him holding guns. They argue one of those three men is Tyson.
Tyson was arrested in May of 2022 for kidnapping; he was then indicted for murder in February 2023.
Two other defendants, Tariq Henderson and Brentley Yancey, have also been indicted for murder in this case.
Pre-trial motions and discovery issues
Tyson has been awaiting trial for over four years since his arrest in 2022.
He was officially arraigned in front of all potential jurors Monday morning, pleading not guilty to murder, conspiracy to commit murder and kidnapping.
The judge reminded potential jurors that Tyson is still presumed not guilty and reminded them they have not heard any evidence.
Before jurors were brought into the courtroom, the judge heard pretrial motions from both the prosecution and the defense.
Defense attorney Daniel Meier asked for more time to review files in the case, telling the judge they were seeing duplicate files after two separate case numbers were used.
“We've gotten it so many times in so many forms,” Meier said, explaining there are more than 3,000 files. “We're just asking for a little more time to make sure we have everything organized and duplicated.”
Assistant District Attorney Mary Jude Darrow acknowledged the technological issues.
“I don't know that I can rely on the system I have been ordered to rely on when things are bouncing back or not getting through to defense,” Darrow said. “I believe we have released everything. I will not swear on a Bible that they have everything.”
The judge acknowledged past conversations among the court, the state and the defense regarding the issue.
“It looks like basically what we have here is an organizational and identifying problem, as well as an issue of release versus receipt,” Judge Leonard Wiggins said.
Because, he said, prosecutors "made a good faith effort to release and disclose all discovery to the defendant," Wiggins ruled that the trial go forward without delay.
Suspect's actions in jail won't be part of trial
In 2024, new allegations about Tyson’s alleged behavior in the Durham County Detention Center surfaced.
Prosecutors said he used influence to get sex and drugs, impregnating two jail workers; he was then moved to Central Prison in Raleigh in 2024.
Both sides agreed those allegations against Tyson will not be mentioned during his murder trial.
The defense also made a motion to exclude any references to membership in gangs and gang-related activities. They argued the charges are not related to any gang-related crimes.
The state argued that while the murder was not investigated as gang-related, they say Tyson offered police information about gang-related connections during his initial questioning.
The state says Tyson called himself a “king Blood” in the state of North Carolina, arguing his statement was voluntary, and that it should be allowed to come in during trial.
The judge said the court would give a “limiting instruction” on how any gang activity can be considered in this case.
Jury selection underway
Jury selection began in the late morning on Monday.
The judge asked the potential 12 jurors standard questions about their lives, and whether they recognized the defendant, the victim’s name and any potential witness names.
ADA Darrow asked the jury about whether they feel that they can distinguish between a planned action and a reaction when it comes to first-degree murder, whether they can accept the felony definition of murder, and whether they can accept a sentence of automatic life in prison for a guilty verdict of first-degree murder.
“I will tell you up front, we do not have the body,” Darrow told potential jurors. “Knowing that, do you feel that you could consider there was a murder, or would you say 'no body, no murder'?”
The defense objected to that question, and the judge upheld the objection, saying it was “a little bit too much into the facts.”