Reels Brothers released on February 27, 2019!

While they have not regained ownership of their property, the Reels Brothers have been granted their freedom.

Keeping it Reels: Brothers out of Jail after 8 years

Reposted from ABC 11

https://abc11.com/family/keeping-it-reels-brothers-out-of-jail-after-8-years-vow-to-keep-fighting-for-land/5163473/?fbclid=IwAR3jcILUP5GY_ZKucZey2aBaOFj90idU5IPunrfl5igF3vOQPWM3C_nkAj0

Judge orders Reels brothers' release

( reprinted from Carteret County News-Times)
http://www.carolinacoastonline.com/news_times/article_83ac0e52-3aae-11e9-be36-3309805cb7b9.html

State’s highest judges rule on Reels appeal (from Carteret County News -Times)

Posted: Saturday, September 29, 2018 11:45 pm

MIKE SHUTAK | 

RALEIGH — In less than one month, the N.C. State Supreme Court has remanded an appeal in the civil case of Adams Creek Associates v. Melvin Davis and Licurtis Reels all the way back to trial court.

The State Supreme Court heard a motion appeal Aug. 29 to have Mr. Davis and Mr. Reels, who are brothers, released from Carteret County Jail, where they’ve been held for contempt of civil court for about seven-and-a-half years for refusing to comply with a 2011 court order to remove their property from a 13.25-acre lot that’s part of a larger, 65-acre lot on Silver Dollar Road in the Merrimon community near Beaufort, as well as sign a written agreement to stay off the 13.25-acre lot. While Supreme Court opinions can take several months to issue, in this case the court issued it on Sept. 21.

Attorney James Hairston Jr., who represents the brothers, filed the initial motion to have them released from jail in 2016. Superior Civil Court Judge Ben Alford denied the motion, which Mr. Hairston appealed to the N.C. Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals upheld Judge Alford’s denial in January, so Mr. Hairston took the appeal all the way to the state Supreme Court; the highest court for matters of state law.

“The decision of the Court of Appeals is vacated,” The State Supreme Court said in its filed opinion, “and this case is remanded to the Court of Appeals for further remand to the trial court for findings of fact concerning the defendants’ ability to comply with the removal of structures as a condition of the 2011 contempt order.”

The Supreme Court also said that in trial court, the brothers are “without prejudice” to advance claims not briefed or previously raised, but discussed during the oral arguments before the Supreme Court at the Aug. 29 hearing.

Attorney Lamar Armstrong Jr., who represents Adams Creek Associates, said in an email to the News-Times Wednesday, the case will now come back to Carteret County for a hearing.

“Judge (Benjamin) Alford will take evidence and thereafter make findings and conclusions, resulting either in Davis’ and Reels’ release or their continued incarceration,” Mr. Armstrong said. “It will probably take a month or two for the appellate court ‘mandates’ to return jurisdiction to Carteret County. It’s doubtful any hearing could be scheduled before Thanksgiving (Thursday, Nov. 22).”

Mr. Armstrong said that the specific action the Supreme Court took was to issue a “Per Curiam” opinion.

“It (a Per Curiam opinion) either affirms the Court of Appeals for the reasons stated in the (Court of Appeals’) majority opinion or reverses and vacates the majority opinion for the reasons stated in the dissent,” he said. “In this case, the Supreme Court vacated, but didn’t expressly adopt the Court of Appeals’ dissenting opinion; this is very unusual.”

Mr. Armstrong said that in his oral argument Aug. 29, he stressed to the court it “shouldn’t let bad facts make bad law.” He said this civil case is highly unusual and it’s easy to have empathy for the Reels brothers, but the law doesn’t support their release because they haven’t done what they can and must do under the law.

“My view is that the Supreme Court didn’t want to state why they were vacating, so they didn’t adopt the dissent and didn’t otherwise articulate their legal reasoning that led them to their result,” Mr. Armstrong said. “They don’t have to; we have an excellent Supreme Court. I know almost all the Justices. They’re excellent jurists who want to do what they believe is right; I understand why they didn’t want to say anything more than what they did.”

Mr. Armstrong said like the Reels brothers, Adams Creek Associates is “tired of this litigation and the tremendous expense incurred through the past several decades.”

“Adams Creek is considering its options and certainly hopes there’s some way to end Davis and Reels’ incarceration, while also providing peace on the property,” he said.  

Meanwhile, Mr. Hairston said his clients are grateful to N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Donna Stroud, who wrote a dissenting opinion to the Court of Appeals’ decision in January to uphold Superior Civil Court Judge Ben Alford’s denial of the release motion. He also said his clients are grateful to the Supreme Court for “recognizing the injustice of the situation.”

“Melvin Davis and Licurtis Reels have been locked up in the county jail for over seven-and-a-half years,” Mr. Hairston said, “not because they have committed any crime, but because they don’t have the $46,000 or so it would take to remove their homes and other structures from the land claimed by a developer. Ironically, the 2011 order allows the developer the option to remove all the structures and to tax the costs of the same to Mr. Davis and Mr. Reels.”

Mr. Hairston said he doesn’t understand why Adams Creek Associates doesn’t demolish the structures and pursue a civil judgment against the brothers if they fail to pay the cost.

“As a result of their failure to exercise that option, one can only presume that their motivation wasn’t to develop the land, but simply to keep the brothers incarcerated for what could possibly be a life sentence,” Mr. Hairston said.

He also said that the Supreme Court has sent this matter back to the civil court in Carteret County for findings on one issue: the Reels brothers ability to comply with the property removal portion of the order, not the requirement to provide a written agreement to stay off the 13.25-acre lot.

“I consider going back to court a perfunctory matter,” Mr. Hairston said, “but necessary to make the record clear, considering that the exact evidence necessary now had already been proffered during the last hearing in Carteret. The testimony of our expert, Steve Bray, was uncontroverted. The testimony of Mr. Davis and Mr. Reels regarding their current financial condition was also uncontroverted.”

Mr. Hairston said “team Davis and Reels” looks forward to getting back to Carteret County as soon as the Court of Appeals remands it there, per the Supreme Court’s order.

“Hopefully, that will be the same day they (the Reels brothers) will finally be released from the Carteret County jail,” he said.

The civil case over the property has been in court for years. The 65-acre tract has been in the Reels family since 1911; purchased by Elijah Reels, it was deeded to the Trustee of Carteret County for nonpayment of taxes in 1944, only to be purchased again by Elijah’s son, Mitchell, later that year.

Mitchell died in 1971 without a will, but with 11 children, including Gertrude Reels, mother of Melvin and Licurtis. She filed a civil action in 1976, and the Superior Civil Court at the time ruled in her favor, decreeing Mitchell’s children and wife the owners of the tract.

In 1978, Shedrick Reels, Melvin and Licurtis’ uncle, claimed the 13.25-acre section of land they’d built their houses and other structures on. His claim was upheld in court, and he sold the property to a developer, who sold it to Adams Creek Associates in 1985.

A long series of legal actions began, and during these actions the brothers received two separate court orders to remove their buildings and leave the property, one in 2004 and the other in 2011. They refused to comply, so they were incarcerated for contempt of civil court, and have remained there since.

Contact Mike Shutak at 252-726-7081 ext. 206, email mike@thenewstimes.com; or follow on Twitter at @mikesccnt.

http://www.carolinacoastonline.com/news_times/article_ae856a1e-c421-11e8-af86-afa3ad43d83f.html

New Petition to Free the Reels Brothers!

Please Sign this petition that will help Free the Reels Brothers!

We are family and friends supporting Melvin Davis and Licurtis Reels who are incarcerated in the Carteret County Jail in Beaufort, NC. They went into jail on March 17, 2011 for simple trespassing and contempt of court. They have not been outside during all that time. They refused to vacate land that had been in their family for more than 100 years.Their family seeks supervised release while their case is argued through the justice system.

We are trying to collect at least 5,000 signatures to send to Governor Roy Cooper of NC to get these men released. They will have another day in court before the NC Supreme Court, hopefully late 2018.

Please post this link everywhere!

NC Court of Appeals hear Reels Case

RALEIGH, NC -- The case of  Melvin Davis and LiCurtis Reels was heard by a three judge appellate panel at the  NC Court of Appeals on Morgan Street in Raleigh on September 6. 2017. We are awaint their decision. The two brothers have been held in the Carteret County Detention Center since March, 2011. The brothers contend the court is ignoring the 1976 judgment that awarded 13.25 acres of Merrimon shoreline (outside Beaufort, NC) to their family. When the court ruled the property belonged to Adams Creek Associates, Davis and Reels refused to remove their homes and vacate the contested property on Silver Dollar Road in Merrimon, claiming the land has been in their family since 1911. They were incarcerated when they refused to comply with a civil judgment to vacate the property.

The attorney for the Reels family, Attorney James Hairston, claims that this case is an abomination. This is the only case in the United States in which anyone has been imprisoned for more than six years for civic context. Since these men are being held in a detention center, they haven’t been outside since their initial incarceration six years ago, and many feel this is inhumane treatment.

The Reels family of Merrimon believes that the plaintiffs obtain their land through the illegal use of the Torrens Act. (The Torrens Act is used when land is in dispute due to multiple heirs. In such cases, all the heirs to the land are notified and then a new claim is registered to the new owner.)

In the early 1970’s, the disputed property was challenged in court by Shedrick Reels of New Jersey.  At that time, Claud R. Wheatley III represented the Reels family who reside on Silver Dollar Road in Merrimon.  In 1976, a judgment was made in favor of the Carteret County residents. Their case was won and they believed they owned the land. "In March 1979, attorney Claud R. Wheatly, III, (“Wheatly”) signed a certification on behalf of the present defendants or their predecessors in interest, certifying that they had no objections to Shedrick's petition to register the subject property.”  (source   http://caselaw.findlaw.com/nc-court-of-appeals/1018455.html) It should be noted that Gertrude Reels name on this certificate was signed as “Gertrude Davis,” a name Ms. Reels has never used. The Reels of Merrimon did not learn of this land transfer until 1983, and voiced objection to it. When they filed grievance in court, it was ruled that the statue of limitations had passed and they held no claim. Eventually, this parcel was purchased by the Adam Creek Associates.

Citizens Moral March for Carteret County

BEAUFORT, NC --- The family of the Reels brothers will be speaking at a peaceful, non-partisan Citizens Moral March for Carteret County will be held 11:00 am to 2:00 pm on Saturday, March 11, 2017 in Beaufort, NC.

The focus for this march is on emphasizing common concerns on issues affecting our county, state and country including equality; social, environmental and economic justice.  The rally will include multiple speakers addressing concerns including jobs, education, health care, mental health and substance abuse treatment and protecting our Crystal Coast.

Marchers are asked to gather at 11:00 am at Grayden Paul Park on Front Street (across from Beaufort Town Hall and BB&T Bank) the half-mile march begins at noon and ends with a rally at the Carteret County Courthouse.  For further information please call 860-671-1278 or visit our “Citizens Moral March for Carteret County” Facebook page.