innocence
Innocence delayed: Advancing bill potentially sets new hurdles for wrongly convicted
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a bill Tuesday that would change laws governing the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission — after debating whether it would make it harder for innocent people convicted of crimes to get out of prison and clear their name. A previous version of the bill would have barred the […]
Gov. Cooper’s pardon for 2019 exoneree Dontae Sharpe is overdue, advocates say
Criminal justice advocates rallied and delivered a letter to Gov. Cooper Friday petitioning him to issue a pardon to Dontae Sharpe, who spent 24 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Sharpe, who’s Black, was convicted of the 1994 murder of a George Radcliffe, a 34-year-old white, Greenville man, according to the National Registry […]
Gov. Cooper’s pardons correct wrongful convictions of five innocent men
Gov. Roy Cooper issued pardons of innocence to five men, Ronnie Long, Teddy Isbell Sr., Kenneth Kagonyera, Damian Mills and Larry Williams Jr., according to a release from his office yesterday. It marks the first time he has used his constitutional power to pardon during his governorship. Long, whose case has received the most public […]
NC public opinion on the death penalty appears to have reached a tipping point
There is powerful new polling data today on the public attitudes of North Carolinians toward the death penalty. A press release from the good people at the DeathPenalty explains: New poll shows death penalty supporters now in the minority among N.C. voters Public concerns grow over racial bias and the execution of innocent people Durham, […]
Vigil tonight for innocence crusader Darryl Hunt
Criminal justice advocates (and justice advocates of all kinds) around North Carolina and the nation were shocked this morning to learn of the tragic passing of Darryl Hunt. As WRAL reported here, Hunt was found dead in his car in Winston-Salem early this morning after having been declared missing yesterday. The Wake Forest University School […]
Another victim of NC’s Kafkaesque criminal justice system is rescued
Yet another innocent man got out of a North Carolina prison this week after serving decades of a sentence he didn’t deserve. How anyone could still believe we should be putting people to death in light of such a development is unimaginable. The following story appeared originally on the blog of the NC Coalition for […]
Charlotte Observer calls on Guv to act on McCollum and Brown pardon
As has been chronicled for some time now on these pages, the unexplained delay in justice for Henry McCollum and Leon Brown continues. This is Day 243 since the pair submitted their pardon application to Gov. McCrory. The two remain essentially indigent after having had 31 years of their lives stolen by the state of […]
Day 228 of Gov. McCrory denying justice to Henry McCollum and Leon Brown
Monday marks the 228th day that Governor Pat McCrory has refused to grant a pardon of innocence to Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, the two Robeson County men who both spent 31 years in prison for a rape and murder they did not commit. McCollum and Brown, both mentally disabled, were freed September 4 of last […]
Day 224 of Gov. McCrory denying justice to Henry McCollum and Leon Brown
Thursday marks the 224th day that Governor Pat McCrory has refused to grant a pardon of innocence to Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, the two Robeson County men who both spent 31 years in prison for a rape and murder they did not commit. McCollum and Brown need the pardon to receive the financial compensation […]
Day 223 of Gov. McCrory denying justice to Henry McCollum and Leon Brown
Another day, another decision by Gov. Pat McCrory to deny justice to Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, two Robeson County men who both spent 31 years behind bars for a rape and murder they did not commit. Brown and McCollum were freed last September after the N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission found DNA evidence that proved another […]
How many innocent people have been convicted by junk science?
The following post appeared earlier today on the N.C. Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty blog. Reasonable doubt: N.C. says 900 convictions based on bad evidence By Kristin Collins This week, buried in a Charlotte Observer editorial, was a surprising admission: The N.C. Commission on Actual Innocence is reexamining 900 convictions in which the […]
Day 222 of Gov. McCrory denying justice to Henry McCollum and Leon Brown
It has now been 222 days since since Governor Pat McCrory received a formal request for a pardon from Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, two Robeson County men who both spent 31 years in prison for a rape and murder they did not commit. Brown and McCollum, both struggling to make ends meet, need the pardon so […]