Emancipate NC extends its sincere congratulations to Darryl Howard and his legal team, whose decades-long effort to overturn his wrongful conviction and obtain justice from the Durham police officers who caused it finally concluded earlier this summer. The city has agreed to pay $7.75 million to Howard to resolve all legal claims, after years of publicly proclaiming that it could not and would not.
Durham’s handling of the Howard case has long been a source of frustration for many people in the community, including those at Emancipate NC, which has called the city its home for nearly 50 years. Since 2021, when Howard obtained a federal jury verdict in his favor, city officials have falsely maintained they could not legally pay Howard even if they wanted to. City Attorney Kimberly Rehberg, one of the only people on record about the case, described the council’s hands as “tied” in 2022—a claim Emancipate attorneys quickly rebutted in a letter to the council that urged them to pay Howard. National publications like The Washington Post also weighed in, stating that “only a desire for justice and a sense of shame” could fix the situation, and lamenting that “Durham officials appear in short supply of both.”
Emancipate NC’s Dawn Blagrove, Kerwin Pittman, and Dedan Waciuri appeared alongside Howard at a City Council meeting in September 2022. Blagrove told council members that “a city so often touted for its progressivism, led by Black people, should understand the deep debt it owes to a Black man robbed of his freedom by a corrupt and racist system.” Waciuri reminded the council that people across North Carolina have long looked to Durham as “one of those cities that has been an example” when addressing social injustice, and he cautioned that by refusing the pay Howard, the city was tarnishing that reputation.
Earlier this year, Emancipate NC’s Elizabeth Simpson published an Op-Ed in the INDY Week, criticizing “Durham’s stubborn refusal to pay the judgment” and, along with Blagrove and Emancipate attorneys Ian Mance and Jaelyn Miller, sent another letter to the Council, explaining that “[d]efaulting on a civil rights verdict sets a terrible precedent” and “appreciably hurts the ability of other civil rights victims, specifically victims of serious police misconduct, to recover damages for their injuries.” The attorneys added, “We share this with you as people who litigate plaintiff’s side of police misconduct claims in North Carolina full-time.”
We are gratified that Durham has finally listened to the many people, not the least of them Howard’s counsel, who have urged it to reconsider its position. The city’s late-coming decision to cut a check is the right one. But it does not change the fact that Durham wasted years and millions of dollars in legal fees defending a legally untenable position. In the wake of the settlement, one city leader told The News & Observer that “any suggestion that the city could have just saved money and paid the settlement years ago betrays a profound lack of understanding of the intricacies of this case and the legal and fiduciary responsibilities of a chartered municipality.” This kind of statement reflects the degree to which officials rely on their attorneys to understand their options, as well as the significant consequences that can result when those officials get bad legal advice.
Emancipate NC’s attorneys explained to city officials two years ago that “the general statutes present no obstacle to paying Mr. Howard,” contrary to what Ms. Rehberg had asserted. Millions of dollars later, Durham has finally recognized the truth of this assertion and paid Mr. Howard. Emancipate NC extends its most sincere congratulations to him for his hard fought and well-deserved victory, and it hopes the city, defensive quotes from elected officials notwithstanding, has learned something in the process.