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NC “deadliest prosecutor” valued winning over justice, new report shows
Joe Freeman Britt in his heyday When Joe Freeman Britt died in April, his local newspaper lauded him as a hero. The paper remembered Britt as a towering ex-prosecutor who won at least 38 death...
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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. At 2:11 a.m. on Aug. 18, 2006, Samuel Flippen was the last prisoner to die by...
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In life and death, N.C. courtroom corruption threatens the innocent
Darryl Howard hugs his attorney, Barry Scheck, after being exonerated. Photo: Sameer Abdel-Khalek via the Innocence Project “Thank God this wasn’t a capital case,” Barry Scheck said as his client,...
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As N.C. death penalty fades, death row becomes “costly warehouse for the...
N.C.’s execution chamber went unused for a tenth year in 2016 As 2016 comes to an end, the death penalty has become little more than a charade in North Carolina. The state passed the decade mark with...
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For North Carolina, Arkansas executions are a call to action
Ledell Lee just before his execution in Arkansas. Not long ago, Arkansas was much like North Carolina. It hadn’t executed a death row inmate in more than a decade, and the death penalty appeared to be...
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Why North Carolina’s death penalty is not for the “worst of the worst”
By Gretchen M. Engel Reposted from the blog of N.C. Policy Watch Our justice system said Henry McCollum was the “worst of the worst.” Then, we found out he was innocent. Photo by Jenny Warburg Since...
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Time to move on: Calls for death penalty fall flat in N.C.
Time to shelve the outdated death penalty rhetoric Maybe you heard that N.C. legislative leaders called last week for executions to return to North Carolina. It’s one of the oldest political tricks in...
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Jurors sent an innocent man to death row. Now they ask: “Where did we go wrong?”
Originally published in the News & Observer By Kristin Collins Henry McCollum, moments after his exoneration. ©Jenny Warburg One elderly woman sat with us in her living room, wearing a pink...
View ArticleWhy most of N.C.’s death row inmates never should have gotten the death penalty
After 12 years without an execution, many people believe the North Carolina death penalty is dead. That might be true — if it weren’t for the more than 140 people still on death row. Our state...
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New day in North Carolina: Poll shows majority of voters no longer support...
For generations, North Carolina politicians of both parties have had one thing in common: Almost all of them staunchly supported the death penalty. That’s largely because they believed their voters...
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Charles Finch is 10th innocent man freed after being sentenced to death in...
Charles Ray Finch is wheeled out of prison after more than four decades of wrongful incarceration Charles Ray Finch was released from prison last week, 43 years after he was sentenced to death for a...
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Another innocent person is exonerated after falsely confessing. Here’s how...
This week, James Blackmon was freed after 35 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. He was convicted in Wake County, based on his own false confession — which police dragged out of him after...
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