Still Searching for Truth

It has been fifteen months since the sentencing hearing of Hunter Wells, the phony procedural event where Morgan Patten was victim shamed by a prosecuting attorney and the judge refused to allow Morgan’s supporters to tell the truth about the injustice unfolding in his courtroom.
We received no response from Judge Robert Roupe regarding the letter (see earlier blog post to read letter), which has not been surprising.
We received a response from the North Carolina Bar Association, and, also unsurprisingly, they found that Senior Assistant District Attorney, Michael Maultsby did nothing wrong by providing false information to the Court while providing “Factual Basis”. Of course they did! Michael Maultsby had the luxury of saying that he presented false information, but it had been provided to him by investigating officers, who are not subject to Bar Association oversight, and they can all move on in their happy, corrupted lives.
Hunter Wells is living his best life at the Sanford Correctional Center, a minimum security facility in Lee County, NC, where he and 297 others get to play basketball and video games to pass their time. He communicates with family whenever he pleases with a prison issued tablet, and buys food from the commissary (paid for by his wife), because he does not like the meals served in the cafeteria. He is scheduled to be released on January 26, 2027.
We mailed a request to Wells in July, 2024, asking his permission to visit him at Sanford (that’s how it works in NC). He refused to allow us to visit him, and never replied in person, but had his wife send us a message stating that he may speak with us after he’s released, if we stop bashing his name on social media. His wife also said that she would get him to answer any of our questions if we wrote them down for her. We sent her a list of questions , and we’ve had six months of crickets chirping.
Charles Cornwall, we hear, is married now, with a child of his own. He still works as a Deputy Sheriff in Fergus County, Montana. We received a report from a concerned Fergus County resident, which we have not been able to confirm, that a former girlfriend of Cornwall’s was abused to the point that she moved several States away in order to make it stop.
With help from a NC Civil Rights Attorney, we located an independent DNA expert who will review the evidence held at the NC State Crime Lab and, also conduct DNA testing on Morgan’s clothing, with focus on the zipper that was undone when Morgan was found. Of course, NC is not lying down on this effort; they have said that the items held in evidence will be released only by Court Order, and even though we received a Court Order in November, 2024, for ALL items to be released to us, they are requiring a new Order for release to a private lab. Maybe if the Court schedule wasn’t filled with nonsense hearings, the need for trials to be replaced by negotiated plea agreements wouldn’t be so great! We already learned some very important information from the independent DNA expert though, with her only work product being a review of the State Lab report. It turns out that the male DNA extracted from under Morgan’s fingernails, which the Onslow County District Attorney told us was insignificant because it could have simply come from her touching something that someone else touched prior, was actually MALE BLOOD!
In November, 2024, we hand delivered an official complaint in response to the actions and inactions of eight NC State Highway Patrol Troopers , including blatant disregard for Agency Policy, mishandling evidence and providing false information to other State and Federal Agencies. Our complaint was accepted and acknowledged to be thorough and credible. An Internal Affairs investigation of the actions has been ordered, but, we have been informed that we will never know the outcome of the investigation. NC public records statutes protect any document generated by law enforcement investigators, including Internal Affairs officers, from release for any purpose for one hundred years. In North Carolina, it does not matter if a criminal case has been adjudicated, if charges were never filed, or if an investigation is deemed inactive for any reason, all records of investigators is locked away for a century! Let that sink in.
During our November 2024 NC trip, we met with NC District 26 (Onslow County) Senator Michael Lazzara. We spoke with him for nearly an hour about the NC public records statutes, which are the most stringent in the United States. Senator Lazzara listened intently to our presentation, offered an apology for the circumstances of our battle, and promised to research the matter further. His office has not returned emails since that day. Senator Lazzara seems to be as difficult to communicate with as every other public official that we have encountered in NC, but we will not be deterred.

We will be attending AdvocacyCon in March 2025, which is a unique and empowering conference designed to allow families of murdered and missing an opportunity to collaborate with advocates, experts and individuals who are passionate about attaining true justice. The creators of this event are some of the most empathetic and endearing people that we have ever interacted with, and we have high hopes for a very successful weekend! Morgan Patten will have a big presence at the conference, as well, and we look forward to sharing details of this in early April. Stay tuned.

Finally, we just want to say thank you to all who stand beside us in our fight for justice for Morgan. We recognize that, although we do not have a choice to stay in this battle, you all do, and, here you are. It is heartwarming on most days; it is life saving on some, to feel the support of a growing compassionate community. Thank you for loving her!,💔


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