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Thread: North Carolina Capital Punishment News

  1. #71
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    So is there supposed to be any forward progress in the this state at all in terms of appeals? I've been monitoring over 30 of these guys since 2015 and the only forward action I've seen is a guy file an appeal in District Court. All the higher courts seem to do here is reverse the findings of the court below them.
    Last edited by Mike; 05-09-2020 at 12:40 AM.
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  2. #72
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    This is just a theory but I think that a lot of cases are going to stall until the North Carolina Supreme Court rules on the Racial Justice Act cases. James Little who was sentenced back in 2008 is still on direct appeal as is pretty much everyone sentenced till 2013 when the the act was repealed. Two inmates have had their entire convictions thrown out but every other cae in pending. Since then, cases sentenced afterward have been reviewed ( Mario McNeil, Juan Rodriguez).

  3. #73
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Robeson County to pay millions to two brothers wrongfully sent to NC’s Death Row

    BY ANDREW CARTER
    The Charlotte Observer

    On the day that closing arguments were to begin in the civil trial of law enforcement members whose work led to the wrongful convictions of two intellectually disabled half brothers who spent more than 30 years in prison, one party has decided to settle.

    Lawyers representing former Robeson County Sheriff’s Office deputies James Locklear and Kenneth Sealey agreed in federal court on Friday morning to a $9 million settlement with Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, the brothers who were twice convicted of a brutal crime they did not commit. The $9 million will be divided between the brothers.

    Since 2015, McCollum and Brown, both Black, have pursued a civil case against law enforcement members behind their wrongful convictions, claiming that their civil rights were violated during the interrogations that led to their convictions.

    All the while, until Friday morning, lawyers representing the two deputies had maintained that their clients did nothing wrong — and that the brothers might have still been guilty, after all.

    The settlement by Robeson County brings an end to one half of the civil case. Lawyers representing two former SBI agents, Leroy Allen and Kenneth Snead, have not settled. Closing arguments in the civil case will continue for that part of the case on Friday morning.

    DNA EVIDENCE CLEARED MEN OF RAPE AND MURDER

    McCollum and Brown, released from prison in 2014 after DNA evidence exonerated them, were teenagers when they were accused in 1983 of the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in Red Springs, a small town on the northern edge of Robeson County.

    The brothers were originally questioned by police on the basis of a rumor that they might have been involved in the crime. The state then built its case against the brothers on the basis of confessions that law enforcement officers — including Red Springs Police Department officers, Robeson County Sheriff’s deputies and SBI agents — wrote out and had the brothers sign.

    The town of Red Springs, originally named in the civil suit, settled in 2017 for $1 million.

    McCollum was 19 when he was interrogated; Brown, 15. They both had IQs in the 50s. Both were convicted and sentenced to death on the basis of those confessions. McCollum spent most of his 31 years in prison on death row, becoming North Carolina’s longest-serving death row inmate. Brown’s sentence was later changed to life in prison.

    Locklear, Sealey, Snead and Allen were all lead investigators in the case, and all had a role in procuring the confessions. For decades, McCollum and Brown maintained that their confessions had been coerced, and that police pressured them to sign statements that were untrue.

    Both have said they were led to believe they’d be able to go home if they signed the statements, and that if they didn’t they’d face the gas chamber.

    A Robeson County judge threw out their convictions in 2014 after DNA evidence pointed to another convicted murderer, Roscoe Artis, who in 1983 lived in a house next to where the victim in the McCollum/Brown case was found.

    https://www.charlotteobserver.com/ne...251411148.html
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  4. #74
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Murder most foul; justice denied

    May I introduce you to some of the 1st-degree murderers who had their death sentences indefinitely postponed by Chief Justice Beasley and our state Supreme Court on June 5, 2020? All of these are from Randolph County:

    Kenneth Bernard Rouse Date of Death Sentence: 03-23-1992

    Rouse stabbed Hazel Broadway to death while she was working at a convenience store. He sexually assaulted Ms. Broadway while the knife was still in her neck. An Asheboro officer discovered Rouse with Ms. Broadway’s body in the back of the store. She was covered in her blood. Rouse was also convicted of armed robbery and 1st-degree rape.

    NOTE: Rouse was suspected of murdering another older woman before Ms. Broadway. DNA testing many years later matched him to evidence left at the scene of that murder. Since he was on death row, Rouse has not been charged in that murder.

    James Edward Williams Date of Death Sentence: 11-03-1993


    Williams brutally beat and then strangled to death Elvie Marie Hamlin Rhodes. Ms. Rhodes’ body was found by hunters. She was murdered in her home. Large amounts of blood were located. The autopsy revealed that Ms. Rhodes was beaten severely on her upper body and died from a combination of blunt force trauma and strangulation. Williams’ fingerprints were found in Ms. Rhodes’ stolen car.

    Jeffrey Clayton Kandies Date of Death Sentence: 4-24-1994

    Kandies raped and beat to death Natalie Lynne Osborne, age 4. Kandies was the “boyfriend” of Natalie’s mother. A search for Natalie was conducted over several days. Her nude and beaten body was discovered in a plastic bag in the closet of her home. Kandies claimed he accidentally ran over her with his vehicle. The autopsy revealed that Natalie had been brutally beaten and raped. Kandies was also convicted of 1st-degree rape of a child.

    Jason Wayne Hurst Date of Death Sentence: 03-17-2004

    Hurst robbed and murdered Daniel Lee Branch. Branch was a hard-working family man, married with children. He was selling several firearms to raise money. Hurst contacted him and expressed interest in buying the firearms. Branch agreed to take Hurst to a remote field to prove that the firearms worked. As Branch walked into the field to set up a target, Hurst shot him with a shotgun. Branch fell, got up, and ran for his life. Hurst shot him again and Branch fell. Hurst then stood over Branch as he begged for his life. Hurst shot him a third time in the face. Hurst then removed the keys to the car from Branch’s pocket and took the car and guns, traveling to West Virginia. Before leaving the area, he sold some of the firearms. Hurst’s motive was to obtain money to see a girlfriend.

    John Scott Badgett Date of Death Sentence: 05-06-2004

    Badgett robbed and murdered J.C. Chriscoe in the older man’s home. Badgett was homeless. Chriscoe had agreed to let him stay in his home temporarily. Badgett stabbed Mr. Chriscoe in the throat and followed him around the house as he bled to death, even knocking him down when he tried to call for help. Badgett claimed self-defense, alleging that Mr. Chriscoe became irate and was yelling at him. After murdering Chriscoe, Badgett came back to the house later, stealing and selling items from the house. Badgett had been convicted of manslaughter years before by stabbing that victim in the throat as well. Badgett had a violent history of stabbing and beating other persons while in custody.

    Alexander Charles Polke Date of Death Sentence: 02-07-2005

    Polke murdered Sheriff’s Deputy Toney Clayton Summey. He also shot and wounded Deputy Nathan Hollingsworth. Deputies Summey and Hollingsworth went to Polke’s home to serve an order for arrest for failure to appear in District Court. Polke fought with Deputy Summey and obtained his weapon from his holster. He then shot Deputy Summey several times, killing him. Polke then fought with Deputy Hollingsworth and attempted to murder him with Deputy Summey’s pistol. Polke shot and struck Deputy Hollingsworth in the upper arm as they exchanged gunfire at close range.

    George Thomas Wilkerson Date of Death Sentence: 12-20-2006

    Wilkerson murdered Casey James Dinoff and Christopher Cameron Voncannon. Wilkerson was a violent drug dealer. He believed that one of the victims owed him a small amount of money for a drug sale. He obtained an SKS rifle that had been modified to fire fully automatic. He drove to the residence of the victims at night where he cut power lines to the house and burst in killing both victims. One was asleep on the couch. Wilkerson bragged about the murders, stating he felt like a Navy SEAL.

    Gary Allen Trull Date of Death Sentence: 11-19-1996 (DECEASED)

    Trull murdered Vanessa Dixon. Trull died while on death row. Trull had been convicted of a brutal first-degree rape and sentenced to life. He was paroled and settled in Randolph County in an apartment complex where Dixon also lived. Trull kidnapped Vanessa
    Dixon from her apartment. He raped her while she was tied to a tree. He murdered her by cutting her throat. Vanessa’s badly decomposed body was discovered by hikers many days after she went missing. The autopsy revealed she had been raped. DNA testing matched the semen to Gary Trull. He was also convicted of kidnapping and 1st-degree rape.

    Could you tell which ones were black or white? I couldn’t. 5 are white, 1 is black. Polke is listed in military records as white but now claims a small percentage as an American Indian to bolster his claim under the Racial Justice Act.

    STATE v. RAMSEUR


    On June 5, 2020 the North Carolina Supreme Court reinstated the Racial Justice Act for these 1st-degree murderers on death row in State v. Ramseur. Chief Justice Cheri Beasley presided. Justice Anita Earls wrote the opinion. There had not been an execution in North Carolina since 2006. Most of these 1st degree murderers were sentenced to death long before 2006.

    Effectively, the decision of the state Supreme Court lengthened the moratorium on the death sentence by another 5-10 years.

    How did this happen?

    Public reporting on this decision has been wrong. On June 5 2020, WRAL published an article saying the Racial Justice Act “allowed death row inmates to seek to have their sentences commuted to life without parole if they could prove that racial bias may have tainted their trials.” Similar statements were made by NC Policy Watch and on NC Spin. These reports may have been induced to report it this way because the State Supreme Court opinion written by Associate Justice Anita Earls stated:

    Here the right is to challenge a sentence of death on the grounds that it was obtained in a proceeding tainted by racial discrimination, and, if successful, to receive a sentence of life without parole. Repealing the Racial Justice Act took away that right

    These characterizations of the Racial Justice Act are false. Long before the Racial Justice Act was passed in 2009 the law was:

    a finding that race was the basis of the decision to seek or impose a death sentence may be established if the court finds that the State acted with discriminatory purpose in seeking the death penalty or in selecting the jury that sentenced the defendant, or one or more of the jurors acted with discriminatory purpose in the guilt-innocence or sentencing phases of the defendant’s trial.

    But the Racial Justice Act provides that a remedy is available to white defendants who prove that discrimination occurred in other parts of the state in other decades to other defendants who were discriminated against. Can you believe it? As a result, 152 of the 156 murderers then on death row filed motions for relief under the Racial Justice Act.

    3 days before the Ramseur decision was announced, Chief Justice Beasley said:

    As the mother of twin sons who are young black men, I know that the calls for change absolutely must be heeded . . . And while we rely on our political leaders to institute those necessary changes, we must also acknowledge the distinct role that our courts play. As Chief Justice, it is my responsibility to take ownership of the way our courts administer justice, and acknowledge that we must do better, we must be better.

    Before the Act was passed in 2009, we predicted (accurately) that almost every person on death row, whether white, black, or Indian would exploit it. We predicted (inaccurately) a minimum additional time in court of 2 or 3 years. It has now been 13 years. The delay will likely go on for another five or 10 years under the Supreme Court’s latest opinion.

    If the trial is indeed tainted by racial discrimination the law should have granted the defendant a new trial. But it does not. It grants these murderers a sentence of life in prison. Why in the world would a person whose own trial was tainted by racial discrimination receive a life sentence instead of a new trial? The answer is that the discrimination to be proved is suffered not by that convicted 1st-degree murderer but by someone else in another place and time. Can you believe it?

    Since the modern era (1976) when our death penalty statutes were reformed to comply with U.S. Supreme Court decision, there has not been a single execution of a person who had any claim to factual innocence. Yet that canard is why we have effectively had a 16-year moratorium on death sentences for 1st-degree murderers.

    For those with a desire for extensive discussion and research on the injustice of the Racial Justice Act, please see this 2013 debate on the final repeal of the Racial Justice Act.

    The victims of the Racial Justice Act have been mostly innocent African Americans. Numerically most of the victims of homicide in North Carolina are African Americans. Several hundred of them and their families have been denied justice and an appropriate deterrent now for 13 years. Not everything proposed in the name of “racial justice” is worthy of the name.

    (source: Skip Stam was Speaker Pro Tem of the North Carolina House of Representatives in 2013 when the Racial Justice Act was repealed----The Carolina Journal)
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  5. #75
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    A North Carolina trial could change jury selection in death penalty trials

    By Michel Martin
    capeandislands.org

    MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

    For decades, courts have automatically disqualified opponents of capital punishment from serving on juries in death penalty trials. This has been accepted law and practice. But the outcome of an upcoming murder trial in North Carolina could change that. Ahead of jury selection in the case, attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union have argued that removing jurors based on their unwillingness to impose the death penalty is racist and prevents defendants from having access to a fair trial. They'll make the same argument this fall in a sentencing hearing in a Florida case. We're joined now by ACLU senior counsel Henderson Hill, who is working on both cases, to tell us more about this. Mr. Hill, welcome. Thank you so much for being with us.

    HENDERSON HILL: Thank you, Michel. I'm glad to be with you. I think this is an important conversation.

    MARTIN: You and your co-counsel have argued that this process is racist. What about it is specifically racist? I mean that there are Black people who support the death penalty - we know this - but there are white people, or non-Black people, who oppose it. Why is it specifically racist as opposed to, say, discriminatory on religious grounds or something of that sort?

    HILL: Jurors are excluded if it is determined that they cannot support the death penalty, that their views towards police or prosecutors is skeptical. It is clear - every social science study shows that there's greater skepticism in the African American community towards police, prosecuting authorities and courts. That skepticism grows out of a history of discrimination. And that's why exclusions of African Americans are two or three times as high as that of their white neighbors.

    MARTIN: Do you have some data or research that indicates this?

    HILL: There have been scores of studies by peer-reviewed social scientists that show both the impact on the conviction - the first stage - creating conviction-prone jurors, jurors who do not deliberate as candidly. If you have a diverse jury, you actually consider the evidence more carefully. You consider the viewpoints of the other jurors. This is borne out by literally scores of studies. If you exclude those people with scruples against the death penalty, what's left are people who are, in fact, in Thurgood Marshall's words, organized to return a death sentence, and, in fact, organized to return a conviction because the process of death qualification leads to the selection of jurors who are death-prone. So it's a twofer. It both creates a jury that is prone to convict, and it also creates a jury that is really organized to return a death sentence in response.

    MARTIN: Is it your contention also that Black potential jurors are - I don't know how to describe this - but in some ways discriminated against, regardless of their views on the death penalty? They're more likely to be struck from juries because of a presumption of opposition to the death penalty, whether it's true or not, that they're more likely to be struck than white jurors. Is that part of your contention as well?

    HILL: That is a consistent theme - study after study, across states, across times. It shows. In fact, there's a study in non-capital cases that show that same theme. But, yes, and what we've presented is the justification that African Americans are distrustful of police, of government, of authorities. That sort of grows out of the notion that the history of discrimination leads to skepticism in the Black community. That skepticism leads to disqualification to sit in the jury box. And so what you have is this vicious circle of the history of discrimination leading to greater skepticism in the Black community. That skepticism leads to disqualification for jury service. It's a vicious circle that we have not been able to get out of.

    MARTIN: But what would you say to those who would argue that, A, there are Black potential jurors who do support the death penalty, therefore they are death qualified - No. 1 - and No. 2, that it's - forgive me for using this terminology because - when human life is at stake - but it's common sense that if one of the options is to impose a certain penalty, if you are automatically opposed to it, then you cannot really serve fairly? How would you answer that?

    HILL: Well, on two points. On the first point, yes, obviously, the African American community is not monolithic. And of course there are Black citizens that approve of the death penalty, are supporters of the death penalty. That's unquestioned. What we're talking about is the incidents in which African Americans are excluded. Black women are excluded, in Wake County, 31% of the time compared to 12% of everybody else. That rate of exclusion silences a particular viewpoint, a particular voice that needs to be part of this sort of important community discussion.

    MARTIN: So your motion comes before two trials, one of them in the case of Brandon Hill, who's been charged in the killing of two people - a pregnant woman and her boyfriend. What drew you to this case?

    HILL: Well, frankly, the fact that North Carolina's largest county, Wake County, is one of the few counties in the state that is still vigorously prosecuting capital cases. That brought our attention. The fact that in 10 out of 11 cases, the death sentence is rejected in favor of life. Why not give it to the community and let a fair cross-section of Wake County decide this important matter of civic policy?

    MARTIN: What's the outcome you're working toward? Like, what would it look like?

    HILL: What you need is to have the full viewpoint of the community expressed. You know, we had the testimony of a Catholic deacon who spoke on behalf of the tens of thousands of Catholics in Wake County and the state of North Carolina. And to think that their viewpoint is disvalued, their ability to share their views in a jury room is not valued, that hurts them to the quick, in much the same way that African Americans who have been excluded from the jury box for over a hundred and fifty years feel shunned. And, you know, it's that practice of letting the state have an undue hand, undue authority in selecting the citizen judges. That's what we're trying to change.

    MARTIN: That was Henderson Hill, senior counsel at the ACLU. Henderson Hill, thanks so much for joining us to talk about this.

    HILL: Thank you, Michel. So important this conversation. Appreciate it.

    https://www.capeandislands.org/2022-...penalty-trials
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  6. #76
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    The only notable election night victory for the DP was that the Supreme Court in NC will be majority Republican, meaning that the racial justice act and these other lawsuits might finally get the boot.
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  7. #77
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Neil's Avatar
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    I’ve always stated that North Carolina was a dark horse candidate to resume executions. North Carolina is a state that keeps escaping Democratic takeover despite having a lot of similar demographics to Virginia.

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