Jeremy Mayfield’s quest to race in NASCAR again has taken a positive turn as 10 felony burglary-related charges were dropped in Iredell County because the primary witness against him died in a motorcycle accident last year.
Mayfield, suspended by NASCAR in May 2009 for a failed drug test, still faces nine felony charges in two other North Carolina counties.
Some of the Iredell County charges — stemming from alleged burglaries at Red Bull Racing and Fitz Motorsports — were dropped in November and the final one was dropped March 6, according to the court file.
The dismissal sheets state that there is insufficient evidence to warrant prosecution because “co-defendant/primary witness against defendant is deceased” and “witness who can establish property was stolen from alleged victim is deceased.”
The co-defendant in the case is John Kavann Franklin, who died following an aborted police chase on Sept. 16.
According to Charlotte television station WSOC, police found methamphetamines and scales in a compartment in Franklin’s motorcycle. A passenger on Franklin’s motorcycle also was killed.
Mayfield and Franklin were indicted April 2, 2012 on charges in Iredell County. Mayfield faced three felony larceny charges and seven felony breaking and entering charges.
According to the indictment, Mayfield was charged for participating in stealing $177,721 worth of goods — mostly electrical equipment — from Red Bull Racing and surface plates and other items worth $20,000 from Fitz Motorsports.
Mayfield also was charged in those cases in Catawba County, N.C., because that is where he allegedly had the possession of the stolen goods.
He faces three possession of stolen goods charges, one charge of obtaining property under false pretense and one methamphetamine possession charge in Catawba, while he faces four larceny charges — for stolen goods unrelated to the race-team property — in Caldwell County.
Those two counties share a prosecutor’s office. Mayfield’s next court date is April 1 in Catawba County court.
The charges in those counties could carry sentences of more than 27 years in prison but the maximum sentences are highly unlikely. The dropped charges in Iredell County had maximum sentences of more than 13 years in prison.
Mayfield has been discussing a possible plea deal the last few months but there has been no resolution and Mayfield has vowed not to make any plea that results in jail time. The prosecutor’s office for the pending charges would not comment at the time on how Franklin’s death could impact the case.
Mayfield has won five Sprint Cup races in 433 career starts and made the Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2004-05. He was trying to run his own team before being suspended by NASCAR in 2009 for a drug test that he said was a false positive for a mixture of allergy medication and the prescription drug Adderall.
He unsuccessfully sued NASCAR to get reinstated and later alleged that NASCAR worked with authorities on the cases that resulted in his criminal charges.
His wife eventually filed for bankruptcy last year, and the couple recently moved off the approximately 400-acre property that was the focus of the Nov. 1, 2011 search that uncovered the alleged stolen goods and methamphetamines.
Mayfield recently has been more open to going through NASCAR’s recovery program to be reinstated and said he wants to return to racing. (SportingNews)
