{NC} State's innocence commission is a first (AP/CNN)

[eppur_se_muova]

Panel created after high profile convictions were overturned

Thursday, August 3, 2006; Posted: 1:29 p.m. EDT (17:29 GMT)

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) -- Inmates in North Carolina who claim they were wrongly convicted got a new avenue of appeal Thursday as Gov. Mike Easley signed a law creating a state innocence commission described as the first of its kind in the nation.

The commission, modeled after one in the United Kingdom, was created after several high-profile convictions were overturned in North Carolina.

The North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission will review innocence claims from people who can present new evidence that hasn't been considered in court.

The eight-member commission will begin accepting claims in November. If five or more commission members agree there is enough evidence of potential innocence, the case would be sent to a panel of three Superior Court judges. Overturning a conviction would require a unanimous decision by the three judges.
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/08/03/innocence.commission.ap/index.html

[struggle4progress]

1. Sometimes, NC rocks!

[snowbear]

3. Yeah... they not only have a Democratic Governor...

But they also won the Stanley Cup!!


Rock on North Carolina!

[Doctor_J]

2. When the death penalty was iced here in Il, it was found that

half of the people on death row were innocent. This was mortifying enough, then some smarty-pants wrote a LTTE to the Tribune and noted that there isn't any reason to believe the conviction rate on non-capital crimes is any more reliable than that on capital crimes. This leads to the conculsion that half the people in prison are innocent. Uggh.