Neighbor reacts after convictions overturned for men accused of killing NBA star Chris Paul’s grandfather in Winston-Salem

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) – A defense attorney is sharing how she’s worked tirelessly to clear the names of the men she said were wrongly convicted in the murder of NBA star Chris Paul’s grandfather more than 20 years ago.

On Friday, FOX8 learned the convictions for four of the five people charged in the case were overturned, and two of the men who have been in prison all this time will finally get to go home.

An anonymous neighbor who lived in an east Winston-Salem neighborhood remembers 61-year-old Nathaniel Jones, the grandfather of NBA star Chris Paul.

“We stayed real close … We grew up together,” the neighbor said.

The neighbor told FOX8 she remembers the night of Nov. 15, 2002, when Winston-Salem police found Jones dead at his home.

“I was at a football game, and I was coming home from the football game, and we couldn’t come down the street, and I remember that night,” the neighbor said.

At the time, police arrested five teenagers in connection to Jones’ death.

Brothers Nathaniel Cauthen and Rayshawn Banner were sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder.

Three other teenagers were convicted of second-degree murder and robbery. They were eventually released from prison.

One of them was Dorrell Brayboy, who was stabbed and killed in 2019 after his release.

In January 2025, there was an evidentiary hearing for four of the convicted men.

Chris Mumma said she was the defense attorney for Cauthen and Banner. She’s the executive director of the nonprofit North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence.

“It’s very clear from the order that the reason it took so long is because the judge was incredibly careful to review the evidence,” Mumma said.

Mumma said the evidence included new DNA in the case, a critical witness recanting their testimony, new science related to the false confessions and ineffective assistance of counsel for all four boys.

“It’s hard to decide whether they’re boys or men. They were 14 and 15 years old back then. Two of them grew up in prison most of their lives. Two others grew up in … informative years of their lives. In a lot of ways, they’re still boys inside men’s bodies,” Mumma said.

According to an attorney, on Friday, a judge overturned their convictions. Mumma described the moments Cauthen and Banner learned about the news.

“Nathaniel’s mother was able to give him … the news. I know it was incredibly joyful for them. I was able to give the news to Rayshawn. I was pretty overwhelmed with emotion at the time. I gave him the news, and he was certainly overwhelmed on the phone, crying and yelling out because it had just been so long,” Mumma said.

Mumma said compensation is not something Cauthen and Banner are thinking about right now.

Their main focus is getting home.