Facts of the Crime:

Petitioner James Campbell was convicted by a North Carolina jury of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree rape, kidnapping, armed robbery, and the burning of personal property. He was sentenced to death for the murder conviction. On September 11, 1992, the body of Katherine Price was found in a field in Rowan County, North Carolina. Price had sustained twenty-two knife wounds to her neck. Five days later, North Carolina police officers arrested James Campbell for the murder. He confessed, and directed the police to various pieces of physical evidence, including the knife used to kill Price.

Campbell faces execution for the September 9, 1992 murder of Katherine Price, a 20-year-old Kannapolis resident. Campbell abducted Price after she apparently stopped her car along Airport Road and offered him a ride. He forced her to drive to an area off N.C. 150 in the Millbridge community, where he raped and then stabbed her to death.

Campbell admitted killing Price in a statement to investigators a week after the murder but recanted when the state said it would seek the death penalty.

Campbell has exhausted his appeals and the US Supreme Court denied certiorari on February 20, 2007. An execution date scheduled for February 9, 2007 was stayed.