Last updated: January 19. 2005 10:29PM

Slain officer's funeral today
By Ken Little
Staff Writer
ken.little@starnewsonline.com
Law enforcement officers from across the region will gather today at the funeral of Boiling Spring Lakes Police Department Auxiliary Officer “Mitch” Prince, who was shot and killed during a traffic stop early Tuesday on N.C. 87.
Those who knew Officer Prince recalled him Wednesday as a dedicated police officer and a person genuinely interested in helping others.
As Officer Prince’s family, friends and the law enforcement community made plans to honor his life, investigators continue to review the events that led up to his death. Two people in the car with accused shooter Darrell W. Maness were characterized Wednesday as “cooperating witnesses” by Brunswick County District Attorney Rex Gore.
Officer Prince, 36, had stopped a car driven by Mr. Maness, 19, of Alamance County. Mr. Maness, who was on probation for selling marijuana, struggled with Officer Prince and was able to gain control of his service weapon, a .40-caliber Glock handgun.
Officer Prince was shot three times – twice in the head and once in the shoulder area, said Dr. John Almeida of the state Medical Examiner’s Office, who conducted an autopsy Tuesday in Jacksonville. The preliminary cause of death is multiple gunshot wounds, Dr. Almeida said.
Mr. Maness fled the area and was taken into custody after being found hiding under a mobile home behind the Port Motel on Long Beach Road. After Officer Prince was killed, shots were fired at three officers from other departments.
Mr. Maness was indicted Tuesday by a Brunswick County Grand Jury on charges of first-degree murder and 10 other felonies, including assault with a firearm on a law enforcement officer, attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to kill and robbery with a dangerous weapon.
He remains held without bond and was transferred Wednesday to the state’s Polk Youth Institution in Granville County for safekeeping, Mr. Gore said.
A young man and young woman in the car with Mr. Maness when the traffic stop occurred stayed behind when he fled, said Mr. Gore, who identified the female as Mr. Maness’ girlfriend. No charges have been filed against either person. Authorities would not identify them Wednesday.
“They did not leave the scene of the shooting. They were outside the vehicle when the officer was killed,” Mr. Gore said. “They were not active participants. I would classify them as cooperating witnesses.”
An undisclosed amount of marijuana was found on Mr. Maness and there was also an open container of alcohol in the car, authorities said. Mr. Gore said Officer Prince might have decided to pull over the Honda sedan driven by Mr. Maness after observing him driving erratically.
Mr. Maness swerved on N.C. 87. The car might have gone over the centerline to avoid a deer that Officer Prince did not see, Mr. Gore said.
“It sounds to me like he was on routine patrol and did what he would 99 times out of 100,” Mr. Gore said. The State Bureau of Investigation is assisting the Sheriff’s Office in the investigation.
Mr. Maness will appear at a hearing Jan. 31 in Brunswick County Superior Court. At the hearing, prosecutors will outline the aggravating factors they believe justifies capital punishment.
“We consider that there are at least three aggravating factors that are present. We intend to ask for the death penalty,” Mr. Gore said.
Officer Prince lived in Supply with his family. He previously served with the Shallotte and Yaupon Beach police forces, and briefly with the Oak Island Police Department after it merged with the Yaupon Beach department.
Oak Island Police Maj. Van Eddinger was Yaupon Beach chief when Officer Prince was hired as an auxiliary officer. He eventually went full-time with the police force.
“He was friendly. He was personable. He grew up on the island and he knew everybody. He was well liked,” Maj. Eddinger said.
Officer Prince had already completed basic police officer training when he came to the Yaupon Beach Police Department and successfully went through a field training program, Maj. Eddinger said.
“He carried himself just like any other officer. We would not have used him if we were not comfortable with him,” he said.
Even back in South Brunswick High School, Officer Prince expressed interest in a law enforcement career, said friend Dan Cook, who is now an auxiliary police officer in Caswell Beach.
“He was a great guy. Law enforcement is something he wanted to do forever,” Mr. Cook said.
The mood remained somber Wednesday at the Boiling Spring Lakes Police Department, where Officer Prince was one of seven officers on the roster. Chief Richard White said he has received condolence messages from law enforcement agencies across the country, in addition to many in the close-knit Boiling Spring Lakes community.
“We’re very close here. It’s a small town and it’s just wonderful,” Chief White said of the response to the tragedy.
Then he paused momentarily.
“It doesn’t bring him back,” the chief said.
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. today at the Highest Praise Worship Center in Shallotte, where Officer Prince was a valued member. Rev. Sherwood Lancaster, who knew him well, will officiate.
Officer Prince served as an usher, oversaw security for church events and enjoyed working with young people there. Last year, he organized a fishing trip for about 70 boys, Rev. Lancaster said.
“That kind of characterizes how he will be missed,” he said.
Officer Prince had a talent for cooking and often prepared food for church functions, in addition to working part-time at a Shallotte restaurant. He also was in the process of getting a catering business off the ground, Rev. Lancaster said.
Officer Prince is survived by his wife, Pamela Clemmons Prince, and two teenage children, Kyle Prince and Stacy Prince.
“The killing itself was senseless and we’re not here to understand all these things that happen, but we still have to trust God anyway,” Rev. Lancaster said. “The fact is, there’s some mean people here on this earth and we just have to deal with that.”

Ken Little: 343-2389
ken.little@starnewsonline.com

Last updated: January 18. 2005 11:35PM
Teen accused in officer’s death
Alamance County man, 19, charged with first-degree murder in shooting
By Ken Little
Staff Writer
ken.little@starnewsonline.com

BOILING SPRING LAKES | The black bands of mourning adorning the badges of law enforcement officers throughout Brunswick County said it all.
Shortly after 1 a.m. Tuesday, part-time Boiling Spring Lakes Police Officer James Mitchell “Mitch” Prince was shot to death during a routine traffic stop on N.C. 87 just north of Sunny Point
A 19-year-old Alamance County man charged with first-degree murder in con-nection with the act, Darrell Wayne Maness, could face the death penalty if convicted.
The death of Officer Prince, 36, a devoted husband and father, left many people stunned.
“It’s just a shame,” Boiling Spring Lakes Police Chief Richard White said as he left to speak with members of Officer Prince’s family. “Why in the world would a 19-year-old gun down a police officer? It’s terrible.”
Officer Prince stopped the Honda sedan driven by Mr. Maness, who was wanted on a warrant for violating probation on a drug possession conviction.
A struggle ensued when Officer Prince attempted to take Mr. Maness into custody. Somehow, he gained control of Officer Prince’s service revolver, a .40-caliber Glock, and turned it on him, investigators said.
About 10 minutes later, a Southport police officer responding to the scene to provide backup found Officer Prince’s body. He had been shot multiple times, investigators said.
Ten minutes after that, an Oak Island police officer spotted the Honda parked at the Port Motel on Long Beach Road. Shots were fired, missing the officer but striking his sport utility vehicle. Shots were also fired at two other officers, according to court documents.
The Sheriff’s Office Emergency Response Team was called to the scene and found Mr. Maness hiding under a mobile home behind the motel. He was flushed out with tear gas and taken into custody after the occupants were evacuated.
A few hours after the sun came up Tuesday, Sheriff Ronald Hewett said he knew Officer Prince for about 15 years.
“It’s been one of the worst nights you can imagine,” he said. “Last night was a law enforcement officer’s worst nightmare.”
By a quirk of courthouse scheduling, a Brunswick County grand jury met Tuesday for the first time this year. Enough evidence was assembled to secure an indictment for Mr. Maness on the first-degree murder count and 10 other felonies within 13 hours of the shooting.
As legal wheels turned Tuesday, others stopped to remember Officer Prince, known to many as “Mitch.”
Officer Prince was a dedicated member of the Highest Praise Worship Center in Shallotte, and church members were among those who comforted his family. Church secretary Kim Jenkins said Officer Prince organized a father-and-son fishing trip each year in South Carolina.
“We always called him ‘Mr. Mitch,’»” Ms. Jenkins said. “He headed that up, and the boys looked forward to going with him every year.”
Officer Prince loved to cook and received a grill from his children as a birthday present last year, Ms. Jenkins said.
“He loved the Lord and he loved his family and he loved to serve in any area he could,” she said. “It’s kind of a shock. Everybody just saw him on Sunday.”
Officer Maness, who lived in Supply with his family, was previously a member of the Yaupon Beach and Shallotte police forces. The fact that he was a part-time officer with Boiling Spring Lakes did not mean he had any less training than his full-time peers, Sheriff Hewett said.
“The duties are the same as a full-time officer. He is sworn, certified and answers the calls,” Sheriff Hewett said. “I served on the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Training Standards Commission that certifies our officers, and there is absolutely no difference in the training Officer Prince received from any other officer in North Carolina.”
Officer Prince joined the small Boiling Spring Lakes police force in October 2003, town officials said.
“He was a good officer,” Chief White said.
Sheriff Hewett called Officer Prince a consummate professional.
“He was a father, a husband, a good man, and he died valiantly while serving the citizens of Boiling Spring Lakes and Brunswick County. While the citizens of Brunswick County and Boiling Spring Lakes were warm in their homes, Mitch gave his life on a cold dark Highway 87 that he had sworn to protect and defend,” Sheriff Hewett said.
All law enforcement officers feel it deeply when one of their own dies in the line of duty, District Attorney Rex Gore said.
“Every murder is sad. But when it is a law enforcement officer charged with the responsibility of combating crime, it hits home,” he said. “They’re always a heartbeat away. It’s tough on the system when an officer dies in the line of duty.”
Mr. Gore said a Columbus County deputy sheriff was shot and killed shortly after he became district attorney in 1991.
In Brunswick County, it is the first confirmed killing of a law enforcement officer since 1914, authorities said. Some believe the 1999 death of Bald Head Island Police Officer Davina Jones was suspicious.
The Brunswick County district attorney’s office, however, does not consider her death a homicide.
In addition to first-degree murder, Mr. Maness was also indicted Tuesday on three counts each of assault with a firearm on a law enforcement officer, attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to kill and one count of robbery with a dangerous weapon.
Mr. Gore said there are enough aggravating factors in the case to justify capital punishment, including the fact that the crime was committed against a police officer.
“We will pursue it as a capital case,” Mr. Gore said. “We try in these cases not to rush to judgement, but in this particular case, it was easy to make the call.”
A grim-faced Mr. Maness appeared in court Tuesday in leg irons, handcuffs and orange jail garb. He showed little reaction to the list of charges outlined by Superior Court Judge Gary Locklear.
“These are serious matters. You must know that,” Judge Locklear said. “Young man, you are in a world of trouble. Follow closely the instructions of your attorney.”
Lawyer Michael Ramos was appointed to represent Mr. Maness. Also standing alongside the defendant was Kevin Peters of the state Capital Defenders Office. Capital Defender Rick Miller was also in the courtroom.
Mr. Miller said afterward that he believes Mr. Maness will receive a fair trial but acknowledged it can be difficult to find an impartial jury in cases involving the death of a cop.
“It may take longer. A lot of people have very strong feelings when a police officer is killed,” he said.
Judge Locklear set a Jan. 31 return court date for Mr. Maness, who is held without bond and will likely be moved to Central Prison today for safekeeping, court officials said.
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Ken Little: 343-2389
ken.little@starnewsonline.com

Last updated: January 18. 2005 11:31PM
Through tears of grandmother, some of suspect’s history emerges
By John DeSantis
Staff Writer
john.desantis@starnewsonline.com
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When an Alamance County deputy came calling at her mobile home before sunrise Tuesday, Eyvonne Hill was certain the news was not good and that it likely involved her grandson, 19-year-old Darrell Wayne Maness.
Right on both counts, the former mill worker had no idea just how bad the news would be.
“He said Darrell Wayne had shot an officer; that’s all he said he knew,” Mrs. Hill recalled, choking back tears 12 hours after the encounter. “He said, ‘I hate to tell you this,’ and I just went all to pieces.”
Mr. Maness is accused of fatally shooting Boiling Spring Lakes Police Officer James Mitchell “Mitch” Prince with his own weapon during a struggle that followed a routine traffic stop on a rural Brunswick County highway Tuesday. Officials said Officer Prince was attempting to take Mr. Maness into custody on a probation violation.
Apprehended near a Long Beach Road motel following a gunfight with other officers, Mr. Maness now faces a charge of first-degree murder.
The charge makes for a legacy both eerie and tragic.
Mr. Maness’ father, Darrell E. Maness, is serving a life sentence at North Carolina’s Caledonia Correctional Institute for the 1986 fatal shooting of a retired Burlington Police Department lieutenant. The retired officer was killed during a confrontation that followed a drug store burglary. Darrell Wayne Maness was less than a year old at the time.
The elder Maness, corrections officials said, was notified Tuesday morning of his son’s arrest.
The events of 1986 had several direct effects on the boy’s life. He ended up living with his maternal grandmother. In his volatile teens, when he was living with paternal relatives, the son was well reminded of the father’s crime.
“His grandfather would tell him he would end up behind bars just like his daddy,” Mrs. Hill said.
By all available accounts, young Mr. Maness steered clear of legal troubles through his senior year in high school. There was one scrape in 2003, when charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor were brought against him and then dropped.
But last February, a large undercover drug bust coordinated at schools throughout Alamance County resulted in more than 60 arrests of students, including Mr. Maness, on a charge of misdemeanor drug possession with intent to sell.
When he failed to meet with a probation officer this past September, Alamance County authorities said, a warrant for his arrest was issued. Had Mr. Maness not struggled with the officer and allowed himself to be brought in on the warrant, he would have faced no more than six months in jail, authorities said. Now he faces the possibility of life in prison and even a possible death sentence.
Friends and acquaintances contacted Tuesday in Burlington expressed shock when they learned of his charge.
“I wouldn’t even think Darrell would do something like that,” said Scotty Childress, a former schoolmate. “He seemed like a pretty cool guy. I seen him not too long ago; he was working at Little Caesars, said he was good.”
Mr. Maness rarely spoke of his incarcerated father, Mr. Childress said, although the circumstances were general knowledge at Graham High School where both attended.
Mrs. Hill said her grandson was keenly aware the drug arrest could derail his future but had spoken of hopes he could complete his probation program.
When Mr. Maness first found out he was wanted for violating his probation, he expressed a desire to do the requisite six months and get it behind him, his grandmother said.
But then he expressed fear, she said, that because his father had killed a former police officer – still beloved by many in the community of Burlington – he would be ill-treated if incarcerated.
“His friends told him he would be treated lower than a dog,” Mrs. Hill said.
She was not aware of specific reasons why Mr. Maness, who had lived with her since September, was in Brunswick County.
“I knew he had been going back and forth to the beach,” she said. A female companion believed to have been in the car with him when he was pulled over, Mrs. Hill said, had parents who lived somewhere in the Brunswick County area. But she lacked further details.
Asked what she wanted people to know most, Mrs. Hill said the need for prayers was apparent.
“I want everyone to pray for the officer that was killed and for his family,” Mrs. Hill said. “Darrell Wayne was a loving child .».». I don’t know what went wrong. He’s a good boy.”
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John DeSantis: 343-2223
john.desantis@starnewsonline.com

Policeman gunned down
BY SARAH SUE INGRAM, Staff writer Brunswick Beacon

Brunswick CountyDistrict Attorney Rex Gore vowed to seek the death penalty for a teenager who allegedly killed a Boiling Spring Lakes police officer with his own gun.
Officer Mitch Prince, 36, formerly a police officer in Shallotte, died in the wee hours of Tuesday morning after being gunned down during a routine traffic stop, according to Brunswick County Sheriff Ronald Hewett.
Prince was the first Brunswick County law enforcement officer to die in the line of duty since 1914, Hewett said. Prince is survived by his wife and two children.
"This is one of the worst things we've ever had to go through," Hewett said.
The suspect was captured after the Brunswick County Sheriff's Office SWAT team threw tear-gas grenades under a trailer where 19-year-old suspect Darrell Wayne Maness was hiding and flushed him out at gunpoint.
Maness still had Officer Prince's weapon on him when he was arrested and at least 10 law enforcement officers had their firearms aimed at the suspect, Hewett said.
A mere 131/2 hours after Prince was killed, Maness was indicted for first-degree murder and 10 other charges, including the attempted murder of three other officers he fired upon while attempting to make an escape.
The suspect stood stone-faced as Superior Court Judge Gary Locklear read off felony after felony indictments in the Brunswick County Courtroom.
Eight Brunswick County detectives, blurry-eyed from investigating the case almost all night, watched the courtroom proceedings.
At the district attorney's request, Maness was to be moved from the Brunswick County Jail to another detention facility for his own safety.
The crime
1:08 a.m.: Brunswick County's 911 Center receives a call about a routine traffic stop of a 1992 Honda on Highway 87 just north of the Sunny Point Military Terminal intersection.
Officer Prince had seen Maness' vehicle swerving in the road.
"He pulled him over for going left of center," Sheriff Hewett said.
The 911 dispatcher alerts Prince that Maness, of 1752 Lot 16 Dixon Swimming Pool Road in Burlington, is wanted for probation violation on drug charges, Hewett said.
On this 17-degree January night with a 9-degree wind chill, Maness and Prince scuffle.
"Maness was able to take Officer Mitch Prince's duty sidearm and shoot him several times," Hewett said.
"He shot him with his own gun. Officer Mitch Prince died at the scene."
Indictment documents state that the weapon was a .40 caliber Glock handgun.
1:19 a.m.: Eight minutes later, a Southport officer responds as back-up to the scene and finds Prince shot multiple times.
The call comes into the 911 Center: "We've got an officer down."
"The defendant, who has already shot Officer Prince, turns the gun on Southport Officer Mike Szendry," Hewett said.
No bullets hit him, and Maness flees.
The Southport officer sends out an alert with the description of the vehicle involved in the shooting.
Maness also allegedly fires shots at Caswell Beach Police Officer David Phelps.
The suspect drives away and pulls in behind the Port Motel.
1:29 a.m.: Oak Island Police Officer Carl Pearson spots the vehicle, turns his police vehicle around and chases the suspect, who allegedly fires shots at the Oak Island officer.
"Several rounds strike the police vehicle," Hewett said. "Officer Pearson returns fire but he does not strike the suspect."
The suspect then crawls underneath a trailer where the underpinning had been pulled back, the sheriff said.
The capture
"The worst nightmare for a law-enforcement officer is being awakened, advised that you've got an officer who's been shot and killed and the suspect is loose," Hewett said.
The Brunswick County SWAT team, with about 10 members, arrives at the trailers behind the motel.
Officers think the suspect is inside one of two mobile homes.
"We evacuated two homes in the middle of the night," Hewett said. "The people were scared to death. We escorted them out at gunpoint running."
The sheriff and Lt. Mickey Smith, the SWAT team commander, went in the homes, ran the residents out and took them to a safe place.
A man inside one of the trailers did not answer calls to come out.
"So we end up lobbing massive amounts of tear gas inside the home," Hewett said.
After that man came out, officers discover that Maness has crawled under the trailer.
"I ordered my troops wearing gas masks to throw multiple grenades underneath the trailer-CS and OC chemicals," Hewett said.
Then the suspect came out.
"The suspect was still armed with the deceased officer's weapon," Hewett said. "Ten or 12 people had him at gunpoint. We caught him at 3:22 a.m."
Maness, who had a cut that stretched the length of his left temple, is taken to the Brunswick County Jail.
Prince's body is transported to the state medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill.
"He died from multiple gunshot wounds-the M.E.'s office did confirm it," Det. Lt. Dave Crocker said Tuesday afternoon.
Maness had been previously arrested for selling drugs in a high school-the same undercover investigation that cost a prized basketball recruit a scholarship to the University of North Carolina, Hewett said. UNC refused to take the high-scoring high school player after he was arrested on drug charges.
Marijuana was found in the vehicle Maness was driving Tuesday, Hewett said.
"But I don't think Officer Mitch Prince was killed because of drugs," Hewett said. "The motive was he did not want to go back to jail, and because of that, Officer Mitch Prince has lost his life."
The courtroom
District Attorney Rex Gore was awakened at 3:30 a.m. about the "officer down" and was in his office by 4.
Later that morning, he was still wearing a yellow sweatshirt with the D.A. insignia. By 2 p.m., he entered the courtroom in a coat and tie and said immediately afterward, "We will seek the death penalty."
The district attorney's office tries never to rush to judgment, he said, but "when murder is the way this officer died," it sped up the process.
"We appreciate the grand jury hearing this case on such an expedited basis," Gore said.
The judge said, "Typically, things don't move this fast. But they were ready and you (Maness) were here."
Maness turned 19 exactly a month ago.
After the D.A. spoke, Judge Locklear, a rotating Superior Court judge from Robeson County, looked at Maness and said, "Young man, you are in a world of trouble."
The judge also told the defendant to follow closely the instructions of his two court-appointed attorneys, Mike Ramos from Shallotte and Kevin Peters from Wilmington.
Locklear told Maness he is charged with murder, which is punishable up to and including the death penalty.
When Gore told the judge that Brunswick County Jailer Kevin Holden asked for a safekeeping order, Locklear granted it and said Maness would not be held in the Brunswick County Jail.
"Given this involves the death of a law enforcement officer, the best practice would be to house you somewhere else," Locklear said.
The 11 indictments included first-degree murder of Officer Prince; three counts each of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, assault on a law enforcement officer and attempted first-degree murder of respectively Officers Szendry, Phelps and Pearson; and robbery with a dangerous weapon for taking the handgun from Officer Prince.
No bond was allowed because of the murder charge.
The aftermath
In 1991, within six months of his becoming district attorney for three counties, Gore recalled that Columbus County road Deputy Bob Hinson was killed. The 16- and 17-year-old convicted murderers each were sentenced to life in prison.
Sheriff Hewett said Prince is the first law-enforcement officer in Brunswick County to die in the line of duty in 91 years since Issac Skipper on July 4, 1914.
Brunswick County Sheriff Jackson Stanland previously died in the line of duty, on Nov. 30, 1908.
Hewett had tears in his eyes just after Holden, the jailer, and he returned from visiting Officer Prince's widow and children.
The sheriff said he was going to visit Officer Prince's parents next.
Sherry Carmichael, who works in the clerk of court's office, said she went to South Brunswick High School with Prince.
"He's one of those officers everybody liked," she said. "Everybody's just destroyed over it."
Hewett described Prince as a "a good man, a good husband, a good father and a good police officer."
Det. Capt. Gene Caison, who lives down the road from the Princes, said when he heard what happened, "My heart just sank."
Gore said the death reminds people how close law enforcement officers are every moment to not seeing their families again, adding:
"Sometimes we lose sight of the fact that they're one bullet away from not being here anymore."

Brother, community in shock over shooting
BY LAURA LEWIS, Staff writer
Shannon Thomas, his brother and his fiancee were in the living room watching a video when they first heard the sirens, followed by gunshots.
His first reflex was to protect his fiancee and their 18-month-old baby, who had been asleep.
"I got the baby on the floor and covered him and my old lady with a mattress," said Thomas, 22, relating how the chase of an accused police killer ended at their trailer outside Oak Island around 2 a.m. Tuesday morning.
Tuesday afternoon, Thomas stood outside the trailer behind the Port Motel off Long Beach Road and pondered the events that sent them running for cover.
Broken, shot-out windows on the trailer and his blue Chevy Blazer and bits of shattered glass scattered on the ground were evidence of the melee that had unfolded hours earlier. A gaping hole under the trailer marked the spot where a hiding fugitive and shooting suspect was forced into capture.
Tear gas the officers used to drive suspect Darrell Maness from under the trailer also forced Thomas and his family outside.

Prince remembered as 'super guy'
BY SARAH SHEW WILSON, Staff writer

Officer Mitch Prince worked full time at Jerome's Steak and Seafood in Shallotte during the day, and at night, worked as a police officer at Boiling Spring Lakes.
Upon learning of his death in the line of duty on Tuesday, his co-workers set up a collection box at the restaurant's cash register to assist the wife and children he left behind.
What he is mainly remembered for is his kindness and willingness to work hard.
"Mitch worked here for several months as a grill cook and has been a very, very good employee, just a super guy," said restaurant owner Jerome Walker, who hired Prince on July 15, 2004.
"He was always willing to do everything. I can't say anything negative about him. He came in in the mornings and worked all day. Then he started with the police department, off and on, and it became more and more of a job at night, but he always came in and always did his job.
"He was always trying to get his fingers into something else, from bottling barbecue sauce to starting a catering business. · He was a working fellow. Can you imagine working the night shift and then coming in here and working the grill all day long?"
From 1993 to 1994, Prince worked at the Shallotte Police Department as a part-time officer and was considering coming back to the department, according to Shallotte Police Chief Rodney Gause.
"The thing that sticks out more than anything [about him] was that he had a big heart," Gause recalled. "He would help anybody who needed help. He was a really gentle, kind person. There wasn't nothing he wouldn't do for anybody.
"He always talked a lot about his family, and he was always working. He was a hard worker."
The last time Gause saw Prince was at Jerome's, where he told the chief he was interested in coming back to the Shallotte department.
"He said he wanted to work closer to home," Gause said.

Accused cop killer pleads not guilty
BY SARAH SUE INGRAM, Staff writer
Darrell Wayne Maness entered a "not guilty" plea to the first-degree murder of Boiling Spring Lakes Police Officer Mitch Prince during the defendant's arraignment Wednesday in the Brunswick County Courthouse.
Brunswick County District Attorney Rex Gore told Superior Court Judge Jack Hooks and Maness' defense attorneys that the state will be ready for the trial by September.
The defendant also pleaded "not guilty" to 10 other felony charges. As the D.A. read each charge out loud, court-appointed attorney Mike Ramos of Shallotte, standing next to Maness, said, "He pleads not guilty."
Pam Prince, the officer's widow, sat on the front row of the courtroom with family members, Boiling Spring Lakes Police Chief Richard White and another officer. She had tears in her eyes during the court session that lasted only 10 minutes.
"Once again, she's in the same room with the man accused of murdering her husband," Gore said afterward. "It's not routine for Mrs. Prince. She never expected to be in court. She never expected to be talking about a trial for the murder of her husband."
Gore said of Maness, "We arraigned him, which is basically asking him how he pleads. It is the state's intent to seek a trial in September. We have given the defense attorneys most of the discovery. We definitely would like to have the case tried before the end of the year."
The district attorney said law enforcement officers have already collected an abundant amount of evidence in the case.
Asked if the not guilty pleas were expected, Gore said, "Anything other than that would be unexpected."
No other court sessions are scheduled until the trial.
"The question is whether the defense attorneys can have adequate time to get ready [by September]," Gore said.
Defense attorneys might file motions before the trial.
Maness, from Burlington, is being represented by court-appointed attorneys Ramos as the lead counsel, and Rick Miller and Kevin Peters from the capital defender's office in Wilmington.
"This is the first time a capital defender's office has come to Brunswick County for a case," Gore said.
Maness, shackled and wearing an orange and white-striped prison uniform, was led into the courtroom Wednesday. After he stopped at the defense team's table, one of the capital defender's office attorneys rubbed and patted Maness on the back, while Prince's family and friends looked on.
The defendant did not say anything to the court.
Maness, 19, was brought to Brunswick County from Polk Youth Institution for inmates ages 18-21 in Butner, where at the request of Brunswick officials, he was transferred the day after Officer Prince was killed.
Prince, 36, was gunned down during a routine traffic stop on Jan. 18. At 1:08 a.m., the officer called in to say he was stopping a 1992 Honda for swerving in the road.
The 911 dispatcher alerted Prince that Maness was wanted for parole violation on a drug conviction.
The two men scuffled.
"Maness was able to take Officer Mitch Prince's duty sidearm and shoot him several times," Brunswick County Sheriff Ronald Hewett said.
Prince was shot three times, in the head and shoulder, and died at the scene. He was the first law-enforcement officer in the county to die in the line of duty in 91 years.
After a chase in which three other officers were fired upon, Maness hid under a trailer. The Brunswick County SWAT team threw tear gas under the trailer and captured Maness at 3:22 a.m., a little more than two hours after the fatal shooting.
Nine of the county's 17-member SWAT team rushed to the scene on a moment's notice and participated in the capture.
The Brunswick County Grand Jury, meeting for the first time in 2005, also moved quickly and, by mid-afternoon on the day of the murder, 11 felony indictments were issued against Maness.
Gore pledged then to seek the death penalty.
Asked Wednesday if it is still a capital case, Gore said, "Yes. Oh, yes."
Maness' father, Darrell E. Maness, is serving a life sentence for killing an off-duty officer in Burlington in the mid-1980s.
The Brunswick County sheriff said on Jan. 18 that it was the first time he had heard of a second-generation cop killer.

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