District attorney candidates address CIBO

Security, crime and justice took center stage during a  Council of Independent Business Owners breakfast April 1. The Asheville-based trade group’s meeting served as a forum for the three Democratic Buncombe County district attorney candidates: current DA Todd Williams, prosecutor and former Assistant DA Doug Edwards and assistant public defender Courtney Booth. (Attorney Joe Bowman […]

Candidates for Buncombe County District Attorney and Clerk of Court, 2018 general election voter guide

Editor’s note: Todd Williams (Buncombe County District Attorney) and Steve Cogburn (Buncombe County Clerk of Court) are unopposed this election. For the sake of concise organization Xpress has listed them together in one page. Todd Williams Incumbent, Democrat, unopposed What are your top three priorities for the next term?  1. I created a task force […]

Williams and Scales replay fight for Buncombe DA title

If this year’s primary race for Buncombe County district attorney seems a bit familiar, that could be because it’s happened before. After then-defense attorney Todd Williams upset six-term officeholder Ron Moore in the 2014 Democratic primary (with no Republicans or Libertarians competing), Ben Scales collected nearly 8,000 signatures to get on the general election ballot […]

Charges to be dismissed against mentally disabled man arrested during I-240 bridge incident

Terry Marzelle, an Asheville man with a mental disability, who was arrested last week during an incident involving a suspicious device on the Haywood Road Bridge over I-240, will not face charges. The arrest was caught on camera by WLOS. Asheville Police Department Chief Tammy Hooper released a detailed statement this afternoon in response to community concerns […]

Cure for pain: Preventing opioid-related deaths

Buncombe County, like many places across the country, is in the throes of an opioid epidemic, many local sources say. Despite law enforcement efforts and increased awareness of overprescribing, the last few years have seen a dramatic rise in opioid-related overdoses and deaths. Between 2005 and 2014, the county had 110 homicides, according to the […]

DA Todd Williams to file no charges in fatal police shooting of Jai “Jerry” Williams

No charges will be filed against Asheville Police Department Sgt. Tyler Radford for shooting and killing local man Jai Lateef Solveig (Jerry) Williams. Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams says an investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation has revealed that Radford acted lawfully and justifiably in self defense.