The N.C. Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear an appeal on Monday of a Superior Court’s judge’s year-old ruling dismissing media companies’ petition for release of law enforcement camera recordings in the shooting death of Andrew Brown Jr. in April 2021.
The fatal shooting of Elizabeth City resident Andrew Brown Jr. by Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies on April 21, 2021, sparked massive protests in Elizabeth City. Amid those protests and questions from the public about what had taken place, a group of media companies, including The Daily Advance, petitioned for release of the body-worn camera footage and other law enforcement agency recordings related to the incident.
On Nov. 9, 2021, Chief Resident Superior Court Judge Jerry Tillett dismissed the media companies’ third amended petition seeking release of the deputies’ body-camera and vehicle-camera footage.
That decision was appealed and is the subject of Monday’s hearing before the N.C. Court of Appeals.
Michael J. Tadych, principal attorney for the petitioners, contends Tillett erred in the November 2021 ruling. The appeal states that Tillett in a Sept. 13, 2021, hearing “opined that a petition was not appropriate procedure to seek release” of the camera footage under state law “and that instead, a complaint and summons and discovery was required.”