Ethiopian Review

SMITHFIELD — Criminal charges against Lamount Friend, the ex-convict shot by his lover, have been dropped.

The district attorney’s office for Johnston County dismissed two misdemeanor charges against Friend on Monday morning.

Friend, who was released from prison April 3, had been scheduled to appear in court on allegations that he assaulted Kristel Rider, his former prison psychologist, and that he violated a court order in June that ordered him to keep away from her.

Rider shot Friend near his heart on April 21 after an altercation in front of his grandmother’s house. She has not been charged.

On May 1, she asked for and received a domestic violence protective order. Friend said the couple soon reunited, however. He was then arrested in June for violating the order.

Carrie Randa, the assistant district attorney handling the case, said Rider had admitted to prosecutors that she invited Friend to live with her, even though she had earlier requested the restraining order.

“He had been staying with her for quite a few weeks before the charges came up,” Randa said. “It’s a difficult sell to a judge when the victim invites the person into the home to live there and to stay with them.”

Randa said that the protective order remains in effect and that Friend is still barred from seeing his former therapist. Neither Friend nor Rider could be reached for comment Monday.

An article in Monday’s editions of The News & Observer recounted the couple’s troubled relationship. They met at Neuse Correctional Institution, a state prison where Rider worked until losing her job over her relationship with Friend. Therapists are forbidden from engaging in romantic affairs with their patients.

Had Friend been convicted Monday, he could have been sent back to prison for up to 300 days.

Richard Price, Friend’s defense lawyer, said he and his client arrived in court Monday only to be told the case had been dismissed. Price said he was not given any explanation for the decision, which came as a surprise.

“As a practical matter, the guy got shot,” Price said. “I guess there were some equities for the DA to consider, given the history. You just kind of hope they stay out of trouble and get on with their lives.”

- BY MICHAEL BIESECKER | The News & Observer