Friday, June 16, 2006
Only one prosecutor involved with the criminal prosecutions of Darryl Hunt has decided to speak to a committee that is reviewing how Winston-Salem police handled the investigation into the 1984 slaying of Deborah Sykes.
And he was the one who had the least to do with the Sykes case.
Warren Sparrow, a former district attorney in Forsyth County, took office more than two years after Sykes was killed in downtown Winston-Salem. He twice prosecuted Hunt in connection with the unrelated slaying of Arthur Wilson in 1983, and he spoke to the committee yesterday about the case.
Hunt's first conviction in the Wilson case was overturned, and a jury found him not guilty during his second trial. Hunt was twice convicted of the murder of Sykes and served about 18 years in prison until he was freed after another man, Willard E. Brown, confessed in 2003 to raping and killing Sykes.
The Deborah Sykes Citizens Administrative Review Committee asked prosecutors involved in Hunt's cases to answer questions voluntarily to help provide information.
Although the committee is reviewing actions taken by the Winston-Salem Police Department - and not by prosecutors - committee members have said that the prosecutors have information that can help the committee do its work.
Sparrow served one term as district attorney. Hunt was first prosecuted by Don Tisdale, who lost to Sparrow in the Democratic primary election in 1986 after a backlash against Tisdale by black voters.
When Hunt's murder conviction was overturned, a state official told Sparrow that it would be a conflict for him to prosecute Hunt because two assistant prosecutors in Sparrow's office had previously worked for Hunt's defense.
Hunt's second trial was handled in another county.
Sparrow answered questions about the Wilson slaying but said he didn't know the answers to questions the committee had about the Sykes case because he wasn't involved.
"I don't really know anything about what went on with the Sykes case," Sparrow told the committee at its meeting yesterday at City Hall. "I just never got into the details of that case."
Tisdale has not agreed to talk with committee members. Neither has current District Attorney Tom Keith, who fought Hunt's appeals in the 1990s.
The committee also had hoped to hear from Dean Bowman, who prosecuted Hunt the second time in connection with Sykes's death.
Keith wrote a letter to the committee chairman last month saying he would be out of town and unable to attend a meeting. He said he was not eager to provide information.
"The two detectives assigned to this committee should also be able to answer most of your questions not found in the transcript," he wrote. "The last time I talked to them they knew nearly everything about the case, much more than anyone here will ever know."
Keith also said that his office was busy with new cases and had "only very limited time to work on this issue," but he said he would get back in touch.
In March 2004, the Winston-Salem city manager's office began a review of how police handled the Sykes murder investigation, 19 years after a similar review was done by the city manager. The city council later created a panel of citizens to act as an advisory committee during the process.
Donald Nielsen, the committee chairman, said that the committee was grateful that Sparrow came forward to answer questions. "Information that (prosecutors) can give us is appreciated," he said.
Nielsen said he is hopeful that Keith and other prosecutors will meet with committee members.
The committee plans to make a report of its findings, which may be ready by late summer.
Patrick Wilson can be reached at 727-7286 or at pwilson@wsjournal.com