Harold Massey was charged Tuesday on numerous counts of sex offenses purportedly committed against a minor over the course of six years.
Massey was released from jail custody early this morning, both Halifax County Sheriff Wes Tripp and Chichester confirmed.
This evening Chichester said, “As one of Mr. Massey’s attorneys, I would like to state on his behalf that there are two fundamental cornerstones in the North Carolina and United States Constitution as they apply to criminal law.”
The first, Chichester said, “is that criminal charges are no evidence of guilt and the second is that everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence. Those rights were written for every citizen of North Carolina and the United States and certainly apply to Mr. Harold Massey.”
Said Chichester: “Mr. Massey is a good and decent person who has lived an honorable life. His friends will understand this and his enemies will probably rejoice in his current situation.”
He said himself and Davis “fully intend to vigorously defend Mr. Massey on each and every charge that has been wrongfully filed against him.”
Asked whether he could shed any light on the charges filed against his client, Chichester said, “At this point we are starting to conduct our own investigation and it is too early for me to be able to comment on that. Law enforcement has apparently been investigating for quite some time and we are in the early stages of our investigation.”
Chichester said an arraignment date, which is largely decided by the district attorney’s office, has not been set.
Chichester and Davis were hired by Massey Tuesday evening.
Massey did not immediately return a phone call placed earlier this afternoon.