Inmate urges commissioners to act, says he’s been jailed four years waiting for trial

At the public‑input portion of the June 29 meeting, James Anderson read a letter stating he has been incarcerated in the Columbus County Detention Center for four years on a case he says the prosecution cannot prove. Anderson told the board he has had multiple prosecutors on his case, that successive murder trials have caused postponements of his own, and that the repeated rescheduling amounts to a denial of a speedy trial under state law.

During his three‑minute statement Anderson cited several North Carolina appellate cases (as read from his prepared remarks) to support his contention that there must be legal evidence sufficient to proceed and asked the board to note what he described as prosecutorial delay. The board timekeeper ended his allotted three minutes at the time limit and the hearing moved on to subsequent agenda items; Anderson’s statement was recorded in the public input minutes.

The board did not take immediate action on the specific claims Anderson raised during the meeting. County criminal matters are handled by the district attorney’s office and the courts; commissioners do not adjudicate criminal prosecutions. Anderson asked for expedited attention from the incoming district attorney and for the board to be aware of his claim that his constitutional right to a speedy trial has been violated.