The Granville County sheriff has been indicted for plotting to kill a deputy who had a recording of the sheriff using a racial slur.
Granville County Sheriff Brindell Wilkins is accused of urging someone to kill a deputy he thought was about to expose his alleged use of racially offensive language.
Wilkins was indicted Monday on two counts of obstruction of justice, prompting county leaders to call an emergency meeting for Tuesday morning.
According to the grand jury indictment, Wilkins both withheld knowledge of a threat against Deputy Joshua Freeman and encouraged another person to “take care of it” saying, “the only way you gonna stop him is kill him.”
The sheriff is innocent until proven guilty, et cetera, et cetera, but race is an especially sensitive issue in Granville County; the county seat is the scene of Blood Done Signed My Name, the infamous case of the public killing of a black military veteran just a few decades ago.