Daven Fetherson was sentenced to life in prison in Mecklenburg County today after a judge found him to be a violent habitual felon. Prosecutors told the court the punishment stems from what they described as a decades-long pattern of weapons and violence-related convictions that, in their view, made him eligible for one of North Carolina’s toughest penalties.
According to WCNC, the sentence was imposed today, when the court applied North Carolina’s violent habitual felon statute and ordered life without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors argued that Fetherson’s prior record met the legal threshold for the enhanced punishment.
Lawsuit dismissed last year
Following his 2021 arrest, Fetherson filed a federal civil complaint against the City of Charlotte and members of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. That lawsuit did not get far. Court dockets reviewed by Justia show the complaint was dismissed in September 2025, and the case was formally closed in November of that year.
Police say he fled a 2021 traffic stop
At sentencing, prosecutors revisited a June 1, 2021, traffic stop on Sunset Road that they said set this latest case in motion. They alleged that Fetherson fled officers, drove erratically into oncoming traffic and through residential yards, then bailed out of the vehicle and ran into nearby woods. A subsequent search turned up a large amount of fentanyl and a firearm, details prosecutors cited in court and that were reported by WCNC during the hearing.
Decades-long convictions
Public records and prior coverage show Fetherson’s criminal history stretches back to the mid-1990s. Prosecutors pointed to multiple weapons and assault convictions and used them as predicate felonies to support the violent habitual felon designation. Reporting by WCCB Charlotte traces a series of state and federal cases that authorities relied on to build the history needed under the statute.
Legal context
North Carolina’s violent habitual felon statute leaves little room for leniency once someone is convicted under it. The law requires a sentence of life imprisonment without parole for anyone found guilty as a violent habitual felon. The statute states that “a person who is convicted of a violent felony and of being a violent habitual felon must, upon conviction … be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole,” according to the North Carolina General Statutes…