A man who spent nearly 20 years on death row was recently re-sentenced to life in prison without parole. It was a sane resolution to a senseless and much-regretted crime committed by a deeply troubled teenager. Phillip Davis was re-sentenced with the full of support Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams. If only more North Carolina district attorneys would consider resolving decades-old cases with evidence of prosecutorial misconduct.
NCCADP seeking new coordinating director
The North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (501c3) is seeking a Coordinating Director for a coalition of nonprofits that has been working towards reform and repeal of the death penalty in North Carolina for more than a decade. The coalition has achieved legislative and legal successes over the years and is seeking […]
Living while waiting to die: Writings from inside death row
Meet Paul Brown, a man living while waiting to die. He has been on North Carolina’s death row since 2000, awaiting an execution that may never come. He makes no excuses for his crime, and he doesn’t lament his punishment. He began writing a few years ago simply to answer the question: How do I make something of the life I have left?
In life and death, N.C. courtroom corruption threatens the innocent
“Thank God this wasn’t a capital case,” Barry Scheck said as his client, Darryl Howard, walked free after 21 years wrongfully imprisoned for a double murder he did not commit. Howard’s exoneration in a Durham courtroom this week was yet another reminder of why we cannot trust our justice system to decide life and death.
N.C. passes a decade without executions
Today is a somber anniversary in North Carolina. The last execution carried out in our state was on this day 10 years ago. We didn’t know it then, but that day marked a dividing line in North Carolina’s history. Before, North Carolina had one of the most active death chambers in the nation. After, we became the only state in the South to put executions on hold.
Weak evidence sends innocents to prison, or death
Howard Dudley got a life sentence based on the outlandish story of a troubled 9-year-old. People in North Carolina are frequently prosecuted for the death penalty based on evidence just as flimsy.
N.C. public safety officials turn against the death penalty
Even the death penalty’s traditional supporters — law enforcement, prosecutors, and prison officials — are starting to change their minds about the need for the ultimate punishment. A new group of public safety officials has come together from across the nation to express serious concerns about the death penalty, and a former North Carolina police chief is one of its leaders.
A promise worth keeping: No more death penalty in Wake
Now that Wake County juries have rejected the death penalty six times in a row, Wake DA Lorrin Freeman says she might reconsider pursuing death in future cases. The citizens of Wake County should hope she keeps that promise. Death penalty trials cost at least four times as much as non-capital trials, and Wake has wasted millions.
The strongest punishment for the weakest among us
On trial for his life, Kenneth Neal was assigned a recently convicted child pornographer for a defense attorney. Just like the poor, intellectually disabled Brendan Dassey in Making A Murderer, Neal got stuck with a sub-par attorney who sabotaged his chance for a fair trial. The latest in NCCADP’s stories from death row.
Former AG who sent inmates to execution: ‘I’m about to change my mind’ on the death penalty
Edmisten says death penalty is as arbitrary as “Russian roulette.” His comments come two weeks after Rep. Jon Hardister became the first N.C. Republican legislator to announce his opposition to the death penalty. Support for the death penalty is quickly eroding in N.C.