Ex-NC death row inmate expected in court

CHARLOTTE — A former death row inmate accused of kidnapping a North Carolina grandfather and his family is expected in court.

Jerry Douglas Case is scheduled to appear in federal court Tuesday in Charlotte. Investigators say he threatened to kill Gastonia resident William Payne, his adult daughter and two grandchildren.

Court papers say Case forced the family to drive around North and South Carolina for 12 hours in July. They escaped at a gas station when Case briefly left the vehicle. He was later wounded in a shootout with police and hospitalized.

Case faces several kidnapping charges and a motor vehicle theft charge. He was sentenced to death in 1986, but a court threw out the conviction. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was paroled in December 2007.

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