North Carolina minister arrested for son’s drugs settles with police

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (CN) — A North Carolina man arrested for his son’s cocaine reached a $325,000 settlement Tuesday with police he says maliciously prosecuted him to retaliate for complaints he helped file against the department.

Lee Marvin Harris Sr. claims he was arrested without probable cause in February 2018 after police officers in the town of Southern Pines saw his son hiding cocaine in an inoperable Cadillac on his property. The officers never saw Harris Sr. go near the car and had no evidence he knew about the drugs, he told the Fourth Circuit in 2024.

Still, Harris Sr., an ordained minister and former corrections officer, was charged with possession of and trafficking cocaine.

Officers didn't tell the district attorney they never saw Harris Sr. involved in drug activity, he said, or that they were investigating his son. He believes they intentionally omitted that information to secure charges against him.

Lee Marvin Harris Jr., who pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, admitted in his plea agreement that he used his father’s car to store cocaine.

Harris Sr. spent six months in state custody, with a $5 million bond, and four months on house arrest before federal charges were dropped. An assistant U.S. attorney confirmed the son was responsible for the narcotics in the vehicle. 

Abraham Rubert-Schewel of Tin Fulton Walker and Owen, Harris Sr.’s attorney, said they were preparing to go to trial in federal court in North Carolina when the defendants made the settlement offer. The parties jointly dismissed the case last October.

Harris Sr. said he is proud of the outcome of the case and pleased with a Fourth Circuit decision last August that he may have been arrested without probable cause. The ruling allowed his fabrication of evidence claim against the officers to continue in a lower court. 

“I hope it brings relief to other victims of police abuse,” he said. 

Local cops maliciously prosecuted him, Harris Sr. said in filings, because he helped people file citizen complaints against law enforcement for almost two decades, including multiple reports against Jason Perry, one of the officers who arrested him. Lee sued Perry, several other officers, the former chief of police and the town in December 2021. 

However, he is “deeply concerned and offended” that all of the officers involved —  barring the police chief, who has since retired — still work for the town. 

“I trust that with this outcome, the town will take a long look at their records and determine whether these are the types of officers we should be spending taxpayer money on,” he said. 

The case establishes groundbreaking legal precedent for people affected by police misconduct, Rubert-Schewel said. 

Harris Sr.'s 14th Amendment claim was initially dismissed in the Middle District of North Carolina because he was not convicted, and summary judgment granted to the town and officers. A Fourth Circuit panel reversed that decision, finding that the officers withheld evidence that was critical to determining probable cause and that a citizen arrested and detained for several months can make a 14th Amendment fabrication of evidence claim. 

“It defies common sense to say that an officer is entitled to qualified immunity when the allegedly unconstitutional conduct is deliberately withholding exculpatory evidence from prosecutors until after a suspect is indicted,” U.S. Circuit Judge Roger Gregory, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote in the opinion. “No ‘reasonable officer’ would have believed that he could constitutionally mislead and deceive prosecutors in this manner.” 

The Fourth Circuit’s decision “means police can no longer fabricate evidence in an attempt to increase someone’s bond or to influence the prosecution to bring charges,” Rubert-Schewel said. 

The ruling established an important precedent for future civil rights plaintiffs, Rubert-Schewel said, that citizens can make a due process claim even when officers have probable cause to make an arrest. 

Representatives for the defendants did not immediately reply to requests for comment. 

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