CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A murdered girl's testimony was heard in a federal courtroom on Tuesday.
The question before the court: Did her adoptive brother violate his probation when he was charged with raping the pregnant teen?
Royce Mitchell was convicted of federal drug charges in 2002. The hearing held Tuesday was to determine whether he violated the terms of his supervised release.
Mitchell was arrested and charged with raping 15-year-old Tiffany Wright, but the charges against him were dropped when DNA showed that he wasn't the father of the teen's unborn baby.
Before Wright was shot and killed at her school bus stop in September, she talked to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police investigator Teresa Johnson, who was looking into statutory rape allegations against Mitchell.
The recorded interview was played in court Tuesday.
Investigator: What happened in those 5 to 10 minutes?
Wright: We did it.
The teen, who was 20 weeks pregnant when she was questioned, told the investigator that she and Mitchell had sex at his house in February.
Wright began living with Mitchell and his wife after Wright's adoptive mother passed away in January.
In March, Wright was sent to a foster home and the teen implied that it was because she told Mitchell's wife about the relationship.
Investigator: What did she say when you told her that Royce was having sex with you?
Wright: She asked me was I lying and I said no, and then she started crying and said she couldn't do it anymore.
Mitchell is a person of interest in Wright's murder. Part of the evidence against him is that he allegedly tried to force Wright into having a late-term abortion. He and a female friend picked her up and took Wright over to Mitchell's friend apartment.
Investigator: Tell me what happened after you got in the house?
Wright: They were trying to force me to get an abortion.
Investigator: They were trying to do an abortion in the house?
Wright: No, no. They were trying to get me to go to Atlanta.
At one point, the conversation got heated and Mitchell's friend allegedly threatened the 15-year-old.
Wright: (She said) you keep talking. I'll do the abortion right here, right now. I was like, yeah whatever.
Late Tuesday afternoon, Mitchell's defense attorney called an 18-year-old to the stand, saying that he was the father. A 17-year-old also took the stand and said that Wright told him that he was the father.
Mitchell has been in jail since his arrest in September. His attorneys argue that he should be released.
One more witness is scheduled to testify. The hearing will resume at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
