Charlotte judge wrong to block video of cop shooting cop, appeals court says
A federal judge in Charlotte “violated the well-established rights of the press and of the public” when he ordered police video be kept under seal, according to a new ruling from appellate judges.
When Charlotte news station WBTV asked District Court Judge Max Cogburn Jr. to unseal police video of one officer shooting at another 10 times during a 2019 FBI operation, Cogburn said the officer’s right to a fair trial outweighed the First Amendment right to access.
Judges in the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, and the video will soon be unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.
The case Cogburn presides over is a 2022 federal lawsuit filed by the officer who was shot and injured. Then-Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officer Heather Loveridge shot Gastonia Police Department officer Clarence Belton as they tried to serve a warrant to a man they suspected was trafficking methamphetamine.
Loveridge thought Belton was the suspect, and began firing her weapon. CMPD and the FBI were secretive at first about the shooting, and wouldn’t say that it was Loveridge who shot. According to Belton’s lawsuit, Loveridge was “suspended and cited to the civil service board for termination” following reviews from the State Bureau of Investigation and CMPD’s Independent Shooting Review Board.
Mecklenburg District Attorney Spencer Merriweather did not charge her.
Belton survived but was seriously injured. His career in law enforcement ended.
WBTV, operated by Gray Media, entered the court docket in February 2024 when it filed a motion to unseal video of the shooting. Cogburn denied it in September 2024, saying that the First Amendment didn’t protect the public’s or press’s right to the video and agreeing with Loveridge’s defense that unsealing the video would jeopardize her right to a fair trial.
But Loveridge didn’t “present any evidence, reasoning, or argument as to why specifically her right to a fair trial would be impacted,” the appellate judges said.
The First Amendment right of public access is too precious to be foreclosed,” Appellate Judge Nicole Berner wrote, referencing case law, in the unanimous opinion, “by conclusory assertions or unsupported speculation.”
This story was originally published October 2, 2025 at 4:00 PM.
