Yo yo yo, it’s ya boy Dan and I’m here to tell you about the latest in a series of crazy crimes going down in North Carolina. Charles Michael Haywood, a 22-year-old dude, appeared in court on March 27 and is about to get hit with a capital murder charge for killing a woman at a hemp store last year.
Margaret Bracey, aged 42, was working alone at Exotic Hemp Company when Haywood showed up. Dude asked her about products and then pulled out a knife, demanding she hand over the cash from the register. Even though she complied with his demands, he stabbed her multiple times and ended up killing her. WECT reports that the State of North Carolina is seeking the death penalty for this senseless act.
Superior Court Judge Dawn Layton ruled in favour of the district attorney office’s proposal. “This is especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, given the facts and circumstances of what happened to Margaret Bracey that evening. It was also in the commission of an armed robbery, and done for pecuniary gain. These are all aggravating factors, where the state is empowered to seek the death penalty,” said Pender County District Attorney Ben David.
The arrest warrant spelled out exactly how this terrible event went down. “Haywood removed the cash from the register and then attacked Bracey with the knife, stabbing her multiple times,” a detective wrote as probable cause for a search warrant. “As a result of the knife attack by Haywood, Bracey was killed.”
The attacker even cut his own hand during the attack and was caught on camera bleeding all over himself. According to the warrant, he made off with around $750 from the store and then changed clothes to avoid being spotted.
But guess what? Haywood’s own mother turned him in after seeing his face on TV! “Haywood’s mother brought him to the Surf City Police Department where he was interviewed and ultimately arrested for first-degree murder and armed robbery,” the court document states. “While interviewing Haywood’s mother, she advised that Haywood had returned to her residence with his shirt wrapped around his hand. She stated that Haywood entered the residence and showered. She stated that she checked on Haywood and found that he had a laceration to his hand that required medical attention. She stated that Haywood put the shirt he had wrapped around his hand into a trash bag and put the trash bag into the outside trash can.”
While Haywood is being held in jail, he’s been denied bail and it looks like he’s gonna be tried for his life. District Attorney Ben David says he expects the jury to be selected from Pender County locals.
“Two of my prosecutors, Jason Smith and Amy White, are both gonna be actually handling the case when it comes to trial. I was present at the scene with Jason, the night it happened, and we’ve all been working closely. That’s one thing I want to stress, you know, these decisions are not made lightly, we have over 100-years worth of prosecutors around the table with me and the lead investigators when we have what are called critical case reviews,” David said.
So there you have it folks, another sad tale of senseless violence in our neighbourhood. Stay safe out there!
