Man who killed son while sleepwalking to have belongings returned
DURHAM, N.C. -- Joseph Mitchell, the father who was acquitted of killing his four-year-old son, asked for his belongings back from investigators on Thursday.
Mitchell's attorney and the district attorney met with a Superior Court judge on Thursday morning. The judge decided 50-year-old Mitchell would soon get back all of the jewelry he was wearing the night he suffocated his 4-year-old son and attacked his two other children.
At trial, Mitchell's attorney did not deny it happened, but rather defended why it happened, saying Mitchell has been sleepwalking the night he killed his son.
When Mitchell took the stand in his own defense, he said he had no recollection of the attack.
The prosecution argued Mitchell was desperate, facing foreclosure, and was capable of killing his son.
The jury, however, came back with a not-guilty verdict and Mitchell walked free later that night.
Thursday, his attorney Jay Ferguson said all of his confiscated jewelry will be returned. One of the returned items is a bracelet that the State Medical Examiner said left a skin impression on his son's neck.
Ferguson said the judge should sign the order soon.
