Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Carl Stephen Moseley - North Carolina

  1. #1
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534

    Carl Stephen Moseley - North Carolina


    Deborah Jane Henley




    Summary of Offense:

    Moseley was convicted of 1st-degree murder in 1992 in Forsyth County in the death of Deborah Jane Henley, 38. And then in 1993, he was convicted of 1st-degree murder, 1st-degree rape and 1st-degree sexual offense in the death of 35-year-old Dorothy Woods Johnson in Stokes County. He was sentenced to death in both killings and also received a life sentence for the rape and sexual assault convictions.

    Johnson was found on April 12, 1991, in a secluded area in a Stokes County development. According to testimony, she had been raped, beaten, cut and strangled.

    On July 26, 1991, Henley’s body was found in a cornfield off Bethania Road. A pathologist testified that she had been beaten, stabbed, cut and sexually assaulted.

    Both women were last seen alive at the SRO nightclub on North Patterson Avenue. Witnesses said Henley had accepted a ride from Moseley. Johnson was last seen at the nightclub, dancing with Moseley.

    No. 08-10452 *** CAPITAL CASE ***
    Title:
    Carl Stephen Moseley, Petitioner
    v.
    Gerald J. Branker, Warden, et al.
    Docketed: May 19, 2009
    Linked with 08A781
    Lower Ct: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
    Case Nos.: (07-17)
    Decision Date: December 17, 2008

    ~~~Date~~~ ~~~~~~~Proceedings and Orders~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Mar 4 2009 Application (08A781) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from March 17, 2009 to May 16, 2009, submitted to The Chief Justice.
    Mar 6 2009 Application (08A781) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until May 15, 2009.
    May 15 2009 Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due June 18, 2009)
    May 29 2009 Brief of respondents Gerald J. Branker, Warden, et al. in opposition filed.
    Jun 10 2009 DISTRIBUTED for Conference of June 25, 2009.
    Jun 29 2009 Petition DENIED.

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.a...s/08-10452.htm

  2. #2
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534
    August 15, 2010

    Death row inmate claiming reverse discrimination

    A Surry County death-row inmate is claiming reverse discrimination under a new state law that a local attorney and N.C. General Assembly member believes is giving more weight to statistics than the facts surrounding a crime.

    While racial bias in the justice system usually involves accusations of blacks being treated unfairly, Carl Stephen Moseley, 44, of Mount Airy, has taken the unusual step of charging that he was sentenced to die because he is white.

    Moseley is one of nearly 150 inmates on death row in North Carolina who are seeking relief under the new Racial Justice Act, which was passed by the state General Assembly and later signed into law.

    Under the law, if an inmate can prove race was a "significant factor," in the seeking or imposition of capital punishment against them, they can have their death sentences transformed to life without parole instead.

    This can be done through use of statistics and other evidence to attempt to show that a defendant’s race had a bearing on the sentencing.

    The Crimes

    Moseley, who is on death row at Central Prison in Raleigh, is a convicted double-murderer of 2 women who were found dead in 1991 after becoming involved with the Mount Airy man at a nightclub in Winston-Salem.

    Dorothy Woods Johnson was killed in April 1991 after last being seen dancing with Moseley at the nightclub, with her body discovered in a field in Forsyth County.

    Then in July of that year, the nude body of Deborah Jane Henley was found in a remote section of Stokes County after she accepted a ride from the club with the Mount Airy man.

    Both women had been sexually assaulted, strangled, beaten and cut. Moseley was convicted of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the women's deaths along with rape and a 1st-degree sexual offense and sentenced to die for his crimes.

    His Claims

    In seeking to have his death sentence reversed under the state's Racial Justice Act, Moseley is claiming that the court system is biased against whites.

    A motion filed by attorneys for the Mount Airy inmate states that the reverse bias he allegedly suffered was a result of efforts to eliminate discrimination against black defendants.

    In attempting to prove that contention, Moseley's motion cites figures showing that prosecutors around the state sought the death penalty against a larger percentage of white defendants than those of other races during the decade of the 1990s.

    The dozen people executed in North Carolina between 1984 and 1991 were all white, Moseley's motion further claims. And in another time frame during the 1990s, the numbers show that whites were much more likely to go to trial, face a death sentence and actually receive that penalty than non-whites.

    Moseley also has encountered problems while incarcerated, including amassing six infractions from November 1992 to October 2008, according to state penal records. These have related to theft of property, illegal clothing, disobeying an order, fighting, using profane language and weapon possession.

    Stevens Reacts

    Rep. Sarah Stevens of Mount Airy, who has been an attorney for 24 years and is completing her first term in the General Assembly, said Saturday that Moseley's reverse-discrimination claim "has teeth."

    "That's not what they expected to happen when they did this bill," Stevens, a Republican, said of the Racial Justice Act's backers in the Legislature.

    Like other of the new law’s critics, she views it as a back-door approach to curtail the use of capital punishment in North Carolina by showing that it is racially discriminatory against blacks.

    However, Moseley's motion is a twist on that. "He can use the exact-same statistics and he'll use them from a different perspective," the local lawmaker and attorney said in discussing the law.

    "It seeks to do away with the death penalty."

    The main problem Stevens sees with the Racial Justice Act is that it relies on statistics in arguing whether a death sentence was appropriate for a particular inmate rather than the facts surrounding the specific crime.

    "It's the wrong way to approach this," she said. "It simply has to do with the trial of a capital case by statistics, and it doesn't go to the individual case — which is supposed to be what our justice system is all about."

    Stevens indicated that people can put spins on statistics in an effort to prove various things, but that they simply are being misused by inmates in a desperate attempt to avoid being put to death.

    Along with establishing guilt of a defendant beyond a reasonable doubt during the trial phase, the courtroom is the place to argue the idea of whether capital punishment is appropriate for a certain crime, Stevens said.

    This is determined after a detailed examination during the sentencing phase of a capital trial which establishes that an act was premeditated and especially heinous, among other findings.

    "There should be a better way to deal with it ... than statistically," Stevens said of the process that determines if people should die for their crimes.

    Based on her involvement in some murder cases in Surry County during her years as an attorney, "I've never seen racial prejudice used in our courts," Stevens said.

    "No matter what we do," she added, "there are some people who are never going to change." Stevens pointed out that one death-row inmate seeking to have his death sentence thrown out under the new law was convicted of 13 rapes and 9 murders.

    She is concerned that the state’s justice system might be headed down the wrong path with the use of statistics to provide relief to those in various social classifications, including whites, on the basis of discrimination.

    "Is the next thing gender?" Stevens asked. "A white woman is the least likely to get the death penalty. People just can't believe a white woman is going to kill people."

    Other Inmate Claims

    In all, 148 death-row inmates in North Carolina are seeking relief under the new act, 53 of whom are white.

    Of all 159 convicts on death row, 99 are non-white. The 87 black inmates included in that number make up more than 1/2 the state's death-row population.

    Supporters of the new law say this disparity shows that death sentences are disproportionately meted out to blacks, since they make up only about 22 % of North Carolina's population, according to the most recent U.S. Census figures.

    (Source: The Mount Airy News)

  3. #3
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Racial Justice Act faces constitutional test as first sentencing bias claims reach court

    Cases of 2 death row inmates had their first hearing Thursday in Forsyth County, but D.A. is challenging legality of the law passed in 2009

    As Republicans in the General Assembly weigh seeking a repeal of the Racial Justice Act, the first 2 post-conviction cases to be considered under the 2009 law reached a courtroom in Forsyth County Thursday.

    Superior Court Judge William Z. Wood Jr. opened hearings on whether racial bias played a role in the death sentences given Errol Moses and Carl Moseley, both of whom have been on death row since the 1990’s. If the judge finds that racial bias tainted their cases, the law requires that their sentences be converted to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    But more than the fate of the 2 men is at stake. The Racial Justice Act itself may be in jeopardy. Forsyth County prosecutors, led by District Attorney Jim O'Neill, are using the opening cases to question the constitutionality of the law. O'Neill contends that it is unconstitutional because it overly broad and punishes prosecutors in 1 jurisdiction for the actions of prosecutors in another.

    "It's unconstitutional because our neutral and systematic approach to death-penalty cases can be thrown in the trash based upon what some other DA in some other county in some other part of the state is doing about his death-penalty cases," O’Neill said a Jan. 23 story published in the Winston-Salem Journal.

    Ken Rose, an attorney for the defendants, said that a district attorney does not have standing to challenge the constitutionality of a law aimed at a statewide problem.

    Judge Wood plans to hold a hearing on the law's constitutionality Feb. 7. Should he agree with prosecutors, the Racial Justice Act – and the cases of more than 100 death row inmates who have applied for review under it – would be effectively repealed. Rose, an attorney with the Center for Death Penalty Litigation Inc., said a ruling striking down the law would be appealed to the N.C. Supreme Court.

    Thursday's hearing was a discovery hearing in which lawyers for the defendant agreed to turn over to prosecutors studies that documented the racial imbalance in the death sentence. In a press release, the Center for Death Penalty Litigation Inc. said the studies released last summer from the University of Michigan:

    " … found that qualified black jurors are being excluded from capital trials at more than twice the rate of white jurors. For those currently on death row, 33 cases had all-white juries and 40 had juries with a single person of color. The studies also found that for those who kill whites are nearly 3 times as likely to get a death sentence as those who kill minorities."

    Should the judge agree that the Racial Justice Act is constitutional, the cases of Moses and Moseley will be reviewed for racial bias.

    Moses, who maintains his innocence and is seeking to have his conviction overturned in separate proceedings, is African American, as was his victim. Mosley, who is white, was convicted of killing a white victim. He is is claiming racial bias in his death sentence primarily because, his lawyer contends, prosecutors systematically strike African Americans from juries in North Carolina capital cases.

    While Thursday's hearing simply set the stage for a major ruling to come, there was a dramatic turn in the audience. Among the onlookers was Darryl Hunt. His DNA-based exoneration on a murder charge after more than 18 years in prison gave impetus to the Racial Justice Act. The courtroom was the same one in which Hunt was originally tried and convicted.

    In the General Assembly, Republicans leaders newly in control are considering whether to repeal the Racial Justice Act passed by Democrats. The day before the new legislative session opened this week, Hunt appeared at a press conference outside the Legislative Building to defend the law. "To oppose the Racial Justice Act," he said, "is to oppose justice."

    (Source: The North Carolina Independent News)

  4. #4
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Forsyth County prosecutors seek dismissal of two Racial Justice Act claims

    Prosecutors are asking a superior court judge to dismiss two motions filed under the Racial Justice Act, arguing that the defendants failed to prove racial bias in their cases.

    The act, which was signed into law in 2009, allows death-row inmates and defendants facing the death penalty to use statistics and other evidence to show that racial bias played a significant factor in their sentence or in the prosecutors' decision to pursue the death penalty. The only remedy under the law is to reduce an inmate's sentence to life in prison.

    A dismissal of their motions would mean the two men would remain on death row.

    Prosecutors are basing their arguments on Forsyth Superior Court Judge William Z. Wood's ruling that the Racial Justice Act was constitutional in cases involving Carl Stephen Moseley and Errol Duke Moses, who are both on death row.

    Central to the dispute over the law is the use of statewide statistics. The statistics come from a study done by Michigan State University. That study found that a defendant in North Carolina is 2.6 times more likely to be sentenced to death if at least one of the victims was white. The study also showed that of the 159 people on death row in North Carolina at the time the study was done, 31 had all-white juries and 38 had only one person of color on the jury.

    Prosecutors have argued that using such statistics is unfair because it penalizes them for the actions of another prosecutor's office in another part of the state. Supporters of the act have said it would be impossible to prove that prosecutors pursued the death penalty in an inmate's specific case without using statewide statistics showing a pattern of racial discrimination.

    Of the 158 people on death row in North Carolina, about 150 have filed motions under the Racial Justice Act, including about 12 from Forsyth County.

    Earlier this year, state Republicans attempted to repeal the law. The proposed legislation passed the House but stalled in the Senate.

    Moses, who is black, was sentenced to death in the killings of Ricky Griffin in 1995 and Jacinto Dunkley in 1996. Moseley, who is white, was sentenced to death in the killing of Deborah Jane Henley. He was also sentenced to death in the killing of Dorothy Woods Johnson, whose body was found in Stokes County. Both bodies were found in 1991.

    Moseley's case is unique because he is arguing reverse discrimination, citing statistics showing that all of the 12 people executed in North Carolina from 1984 to 1999 were white.

    In his ruling, Wood said the Racial Justice Act allows courts to consider the individual facts of a case and is not limited to statewide statistics. The law also allows sworn testimony from prosecutors, law-enforcement officials and others, Wood said.

    Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O'Neill and Assistant District Attorney David Hall argued in motions filed late last month that Moseley and Moses failed to prove that racial bias was a factor in their cases.

    "This court has held that a claimant may only claim relief under the RJA where the racial discrimination complained of actually involved the facts and circumstances of the claimant's individual case, as required by the United States Supreme Court," O'Neill and Hall argue in the motion.

    They also cited a U.S. Supreme Court case known as McClesky v. Kemp. Warrant McClesky, a black man convicted of killing a white man in Georgia, argued that the administration of the death penalty was racially biased and that his death sentence should be set aside.

    The court rejected that argument in a 5-4 decision, but it did acknowledge profound racial disparities in the application of the death penalty. But the court also said that those disparities weren't sufficient to prove that the decision-makers in McClesky's case acted with racial bias.

    O'Neill and Hall argue that the McClesky decision requires that an inmate prove racial discrimination was a factor in his individual case.

    "To allow a defendant to seek relief under the (Racial Justice Act) without alleging actual discrimination in his or her case would create unjust results," they argue in motions.

    Hall said the motions are based on Wood's ruling. O'Neill said in February that Wood provided a narrow interpretation of the law in his ruling.

    Moses' attorney, Ken Rose, who works for the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham, said he disagrees with prosecutors' interpretation of Woods' ruling. He said the ruling doesn't limit the use of statewide statistics.

    "That can't possibly be the meaning of this law," he said. "The law was intended to prevent race discrimination on a system-wide basis in the county, district and state. The only way to effectively apply that is to use statistics that are broader than a single case."

    http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2011...l--ar-1401359/

  5. #5
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Judge denies motions to dismiss claims under Racial Justice Act

    Carl Stephen Moseley and Errol Duke Moses, two Forsyth County death-row inmates who filed motions under the Racial Justice Act, will have their cases heard in court, a Forsyth County judge ruled Thursday.

    Forsyth County prosecutors had asked a superior court judge to dismiss the motions Moseley and Moses filed under the law, arguing that they had failed to prove that racial bias occurred in their cases.

    Moseley, who is white, is on death row for killing two white women — Deborah Jane Henley in Forsyth County and Dorothy Woods Johnson in Stokes County. Their bodies were found in 1991. Moses, who is black, was sentenced to death for killing two black men — Ricky Griffin in 1995 and Jacinto Dunkley in 1996.

    Judge William Z. Wood of Forsyth Superior Court denied prosecutors' motions to dismiss the claims Moseley and Moses filed under the law. The next step would be an evidentiary hearing on the claims. A date for those hearings has not been set.

    The Racial Justice Act was signed into law in 2009 and allows death-row inmates and defendants facing the death penalty to use statistics and other evidence to show that racial bias played a significant factor in either their sentence or in the prosecutors' decision to pursue the death penalty. If a claim is successful, an inmate's sentence would be reduced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    About 150 inmates on death row have filed claims under the Racial Justice Act, and an evidentiary hearing is scheduled to be held in Cumberland County on a claim filed by Marcus Robinson, who was convicted in 1994 for the 1991 murder of 17-year-old Erik Tornblom. Robinson and another man kidnapped Tornblom, shot him in the face and stole his car and $27.

    Robinson's co-defendant, Roderick Williams, is serving a life sentence.

    Robinson and Williams are black; Tornblom was white.

    The hearing will be closely watched because it will be a test case for how the courts will handle other Racial Justice Act claims.

    The use of statewide statistics has been central in the dispute over the law. Prosecutors across the state have argued that using statistics is unfair because they are essentially penalized for what another prosecutor did in another part of the state. But supporters of the law have argued that it would be impossible to prove that prosecutors intentionally pursued the death penalty in an inmate's specific case because of racial bias. Statewide statistics can be used to show a pattern of racial discrimination, they say.

    The statistics in question come from a study done by two law professors at Michigan State University. The study found that a defendant in North Carolina is 2.6 times more likely to be sentenced to death if at least one of the victims was white. The study also showed that of the 159 people on death row in the state at the time of the study, 31 had all-white juries and 38 had only one person of color on the jury.

    Assistant District Attorney David Hall argued Thursday that state law and legal precedent required defendants to present facts proving racial bias in their own specific case.

    "There's no allegation in decision-making, jury selection or trial of any racial discrimination against Carl Stephen Moseley," Hall said.

    But Paul Green, Moseley's attorney, said that the Racial Justice Act doesn't preclude defendants from using statistical evidence. And the law doesn't require that defendants have to prove racial discrimination in their specific case, he said.

    Moseley's case was heard first, and the judge's ruling therefore applied to Moses' case, eliminating the need for Moses' case to be argued.

    This year, Wood ruled that the law was constitutional. He said in his ruling that the law allows courts to consider the individual facts of a case and is not limited to statewide statistics. The law also allows sworn testimony from prosecutors, law-enforcement officials and others.

    Also this year, Republican legislators filed a bill that would have essentially repealed the Racial Justice Act. The proposed bill would have required people filing claims under the law to prove that prosecutors intentionally used race to pursue or impose the death penalty. The bill stalled in the state Senate, and legislators have said they would take up the bill in the next session.

    http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2011...nd-ar-1497980/

  6. #6
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Two Forsyth County cases under the Racial Justice Act not to be heard until 2014

    Two men from Forsyth County will have to wait until at least 2014 for their chance to prove that racial bias helped put them on death row.

    The first evidentiary hearing under North Carolina's Racial Justice Act, signed into law in 2009, began last week in Cumberland County and is continuing this week. Marcus Robinson, who is on death row for killing 17-year-old Erik Tornblom in 1991, is alleging that race played a role in jury selection, resulting in a nearly all-white jury. Robinson is black and his victim was white.

    In Forsyth County, Carl Stephen Moseley and Errol Duke Moses have filed motions under the Racial Justice Act. The law allows death-row inmates and defendants facing the death penalty to use statistics and other evidence to prove race played a significant role in either seeking or imposing the death penalty.

    The law provides only one remedy if the motions are successful – a death sentence is converted to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    Last year, Forsyth County held the first hearing ever under the law in the cases of Moseley and Moses when prosecutors challenged the Racial Justice Act's constitutionality. Judge William Z. Wood of Forsyth Superior Court ruled the law constitutional.

    But Robinson's case has gotten to an evidentiary hearing a lot faster because the statistics are not as complex, said Gretchen Engel, a staff attorney with the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. The hearing in Cumberland County involves alleged racial bias only in jury selection, she said.

    That case doesn't look at prosecutors' decision to seek the death penalty or the jury's decision to impose it, Engel said. Wood, who is presiding over the two Forsyth County cases, has decided to tackle those issues first, Assistant District Attorney David Hall said. Hall and Assistant District Attorney Mike Silver are handling the Racial Justice Act motions in the two Forsyth County cases.

    The statistics in the cases involving Moses and Moseley are more complex, and Hall and Silver are challenging the methodology used to get those statistics. The data used in the motions come from a study by two Michigan State University law professors.

    Wood signed an order in December that spells out the schedule for discovery and depositions in the two cases. An evidentiary hearing wouldn't be set until late 2014, at the earliest, according to the order.

    Moseley, who is white, is on death row for killing two white women – Deborah Jane Henley in Forsyth County and Dorothy Woods Johnson in Stokes County. Their bodies were found in 1991.

    Moses, who is black, got the death penalty for killing two black men – Ricky Griffin in 1995 and Jacinto Dunkley in 1996.

    Engel said the extensive schedule isn't that unusual. She likened it to the schedule for a medical malpractice lawsuit.

    "This is a serious matter, and (this is) no less worthy of full court process than a civil matter," she said.

    http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2012...e--ar-1889781/

  7. #7
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    June 14, 2013

    SB 306: The Racial Justice Act and One Family’s Emotions

    Posted by Angela Hight

    SB 306 passed concurrence in the Senate. Civitas has shared many stories of families who are the real victims of the Racial Justice Act. After SB 306 passed through the Senate and House, we began to hear from other families and how the Racial Justice Act affected them. Families know the fight and closure are long from over, but they are relieved the Racial Justice Act will be no more.

    Below is a piece from a victim’s family that details many of the emotions one goes through when someone is murdered, and when they realize closure is jeopardized. The picture below is of Deborah Jane Henley.

    The Racial Justice Act is a ridiculous and heart-breaking piece of legislation has been shielded by the fear and threat of appearing racist if you oppose it. I should know. I have been accused of such in opposing it. I have been called racist. (I am bi-racial, white and Asian). I have been called ignorant. (I graduated cum laude from Salem College and am a certified research coordinator and project manager for a teaching hospital where I work with both NIH-funded and pharmaceutical company-funded research trials.) I have been called closed-minded — among other things.

    The truth is I am a pretty passionate liberal. I believe whole-heartedly in equal rights for all and have openly and proudly demanded equality for all races and sexual orientations. I admit this state has a tainted past when it comes to race relations and I do not doubt the accuracy of the research that shows a bias in the prosecution of its accused. I also know this: I actually took the time to understand what the Racial Justice Act (RJA) said, something I am positive Bev Perdue did not do.

    With the RJA, this state handed a “freebie” to every death row inmate who could take the time to appeal. It has cost this state an unimaginable amount in filing fees, court fees, attorney’s fees alone. Would that cost be worth it to save an innocent life? Of course, but this act did not have that intention. This act was another way to abolish the death penalty in this state, without having the courage to reveal what it truly was. Those who support this act know not what they support. This law is robed in its disguise of “racial justice” when in reality it makes a mockery of the idea. It uses the anger and passion people rightfully have against the injustices of racism to conceal the law as it changes our state entirely.

    It is a Trojan Horse, disguising its true effect of re-victimizing the families of homicide victims.

    I am ashamed that under normal circumstances I would probably have followed suit and like a sheep gotten in line to defend this legislation. The idea is a grand one and a noble one. This act however does not protect us from racism, not at all. With RJAs open language and dependency on statistics over evidence, it is laughable to think it would protect anyone or anything. There is no nobility to it.

    So why did I research this act? Why am I writing? Because in this case I am not a researcher, I am not a liberal, I am not an activist, I am not a protestor — I am a homicide survivor.

    In 1991, when I was only 7 years old, Carl Stephen Moseley (a white male) sexually assaulted and murdered my aunt, Deborah Jane Henley (a white female). He did not “just” murder her; he tortured her. She was stabbed multiple times, beaten brutally, had incisions down her chest, was sexually assaulted with a blunt object, and ultimately strangled. She did not know Moseley. She did not seek him out; he found her. He had done this before (to another white female)..

    Newspaper articles have even hinted at blaming the victim. My aunt was at a night club and I guess that made her deserve what happened. Funny how the most “equality-minded” “journalists” can become everything they claim to hate and blame a woman for violence against her when it suits their needs and supports their argument.

    I was 7 years old and I remember every minute of the ordeal: the phone call, the waiting, the cameras, the trial. I was in 2nd grade and became used to being picked up from school to accompany my mom back to court where the trial was going on. She says she needed me there. She needed to know I was safe. On that July night in 1991 when Carl Moseley killed my aunt, he also killed a part of each member of my family.

    As I grew I researched more and more about the trial and the trial summary, trying to understand why. Why did he have to do this? Why so violent? Why?

    There is no answer. Men like Carl Moseley are monsters. My family has suffered enough and is being re-victimized by this state and the supporters of the RJA. A large part of me believes another execution will never occur in North Carolina.

    There always seems to be some reason to delay the execution of these horrible human beings. I pray I am wrong. I pray my mother will get to watch Carl Moseley take his last breath, and though I know this will not heal the hurt or bring my aunt back, it will restore some part of my family’s belief in justice — an eye for an eye — that is true equality.

    For the first time in a while I have a glimmer of hope that day may come. Thank you for fighting for a worthy cause and not being intimidated by the name-calling and misconceptions of those who oppose you.

    With much gratitude,

    Ashley Widener McFadden
    Winston-Salem, NC
    (on behalf of the family of Deborah Jane Henley (1953-1991)

    https://www.nccivitas.org/2013/sb-30...tand-emotions/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  8. #8
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    Death row inmate convicted of killing 2 women in Forsyth and Stokes counties in the 1990s dies from natural causes

    A Mount Airy man who was in death row for murdering 2 women in Forsyth and Stokes counties in 1991 died Thursday night of natural causes. The same day he died, a joint consent order requesting new DNA testing in one of the murder cases had been sent to a Stokes County judge.

    Carl Stephen Moseley, 56, died at 9:58 p.m. Thursday at Central Prison Healthcare Complex, a hospital that treats prison inmates from around the state, prison officials said in a news release. State prison officials declined to provide any further details, citing medical privacy laws.

    Christine Mumma, director of the N.C. Center for Actual Innocence, was representing Moseley in his efforts to prove his innocence and said Friday that Moseley died from cancer. He was diagnosed in June 2021 with Stage 4 stomach cancer, Mumma said.

    Moseley was convicted of 1st-degree murder in 1992 in Forsyth County in the death of Deborah Jane Henley, 38. And then in 1993, he was convicted of 1st-degree murder, 1st-degree rape and 1st-degree sexual offense in the death of 35-year-old Dorothy Woods Johnson in Stokes County. He was sentenced to death in both killings and also received a life sentence for the rape and sexual assault convictions.

    Johnson was found on April 12, 1991, in a secluded area in a Stokes County development. According to testimony, she had been raped, beaten, cut and strangled.

    On July 26, 1991, Henley’s body was found in a cornfield off Bethania Road. A pathologist testified that she had been beaten, stabbed, cut and sexually assaulted.

    Both women were last seen alive at the SRO nightclub on North Patterson Avenue. Witnesses said Henley had accepted a ride from Moseley. Johnson was last seen at the nightclub, dancing with Moseley.

    Mumma said Moseley first contacted the N.C. Center for Actual Innocence in 2015. Mark Pickett, an attorney for the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, also represented Moseley. Pickett could not be reached for comment on Friday.

    Eventually, Mumma said she filed a motion for post-conviction DNA testing in the Stokes County case. A judge denied the motion and Mumma said she appealed the decision. The N.C. Attorney General’s Office agreed to consent to the DNA testing. Mumma dropped her appeal.

    A consent order signed by Mumma and Kimberly N. Callahan, a special deputy attorney general, was sent to a Stokes Superior Court judge on Thursday for the judge’s signature.

    Even though he faced a cancer diagnosis, Mumma said Moseley consistently claimed his innocence of both murders and wanted to get out of prison so he could be with his family.

    “He was adamant about his innocence,” she said.

    In 2010, Moseley was among hundreds of inmates on death row who filed claims under the Racial Justice Act, which was signed into law the previous year. Under the law, death-row inmates could use statistics and other evidence to prove that racial bias played a role in their sentencing. If they prove such bias, they could have their death sentences converted to life without parole.

    Moseley, who was white, raised the issue of “reverse discrimination” in his filing. He said he was discriminated against because he was white. In general, studies have shown that defendants are more likely to face the death penalty if at least 1 of the victims is white. Moseley’s motion argued that the alleged reverse discrimination stemmed from efforts to stamp out bias against Black people.

    (source: journalnow.com)
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •