You still need a Judge (a Judge that has to be re-elected) to be willing to take the heat. I don't know if you'll find one in Durham. They'll know the public will demand their head on a platter if they let these guys walk out free.
The chief superior court judge is Orlando Hudson, who presided over the Michael Peterson trial. He is AA and seemed to me eminently fair. If he took the case, I think his decisions, whatever they were, would be respected by all sides.