Charge dropped in 40-year-old murder case |- Burlington Times News

GRAHAM — For almost 40 years, Ralph K. Averitte has remained in the custody of the state of North Carolina, housed in mental institutions and charged with first-degree murder.

Through the years, and after several psychiatric evaluations, courts repeatedly found that Averitte wasn’t competent to stand trial for the murder of Jerry G. Davis. A deputy with the Alamance County Sheriff’s Department and a former Burlington firefighter, Davis was killed the afternoon of Sept. 1, 1970 while he and another deputy, A.G. Horner, were attempting to serve Averitte with mental commitment papers at his stepfather’s home.

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