Orange County NC Website
FROM : PFADP FAX NO. : 919 933 5611 Sep. 28 1999 02:27PM 6 <br />"If (Charles) Munsey spent three years on death row for a crime he didn't commit, how many other innocent people are still <br />there? And how many has North Carolina already executed? Those and other uncertainties — concerning full disclosure of exculpa- <br />tory evidence and equal access to high - quality legal representation, for example —build a strong case for halting use of the death <br />penalty. At the least, its use ought to be suspended until the issues can be studied and citizens —in whose name executions are <br />carried out —can be reasonably assured that the death penalty is not being applied in discriminatory ways." <br />— The News df Observer, lWeigh (June 1, 1999) <br />"What happened to (Charles) Munsey is a textbook example of why the death penalty is so arbitrary and capricious.... The <br />attorney general's office owes him and everyone else in North Carolina an explanation of how something that should happen only <br />in the movies not only came to life, but came very close to death." — The HeraW- -Sun, Durham (May 25, 1999) <br />"What happens when someone unjustly convicted has no one to raise questions? This ought to concern every fair - minded <br />person. Since the development of DNA testing, scores of inmates on Death Row have had their convictions revered.... How many <br />others have been wrongly convicted? How many have been executed? That's why legislative proposals for a moratorium on <br />executions make sense.... Nebraska's legislature has approved such a moratorium. So should North Carolina...; ' <br />— The Charlotte Obso ver (May 25, 1999) <br />"I think that our [city council's] concern with crime and our concern with reducing violence in our community does make it <br />appropriate for us to support this moratorium. I think that we have a vested interest as city council members, our staff, our police <br />department, in fact, all citizens in the City of Durham have a vested interest in this issue. It's an issue that needs to be addressed so <br />that we can find more appropriate ways.., to reduce the violence in our society." — Pamela Blyth, Durham City Council <br />"I certainly am in favor of criminals being punished, but we all know that death is irreversible. If a person is found innocent <br />following an execution there's nothing that can be done. So I certainly think that this is something that needs to be studied and that <br />something better can come out of the process." — Mary Jacobs, Durham City Council <br />"I have come to believe that such support for the death penalty as there is in this state is, as I have said before, a mile wide and <br />an inch deep. I think there is a lot of sort of surface support, but it doesn't really go all that deep. That the state administers the <br />death penalty hardly diminishes its brutality,... When the state says this or that human being is not worth saving, it cheapens the <br />rest of us ;, it brutalizes the rest of us; and we become a more violent society" <br />— Honorable James Exum Jr, former Chief Justice of the N.C. Supreme Court <br />"In the [23] years since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, the evidence is incontrovertible that the application of <br />the death penalty has been biased towards minorities. In the same period, it is also incontrovertible that the death penalty has <br />often been applied to defendants who were innocent. I do not believe that a penalty so final and flawed should continue. I ap- <br />plaud the American Bar Association for calling for a national moratorium on the death penalty." <br />— Honorable Melvin L. Watt, Member of Congress, Charlotte <br />"When you look at the fact that African - Americans make up a disproportionate share of our prison population, that they are <br />unfairly represented in our courts, that they are unfairly represented in penalties by death, where does it stop? African Americans <br />have been looking at the death penalty for a number of years, and we look at it basically as a legalized way of killing African <br />Americans.... Any time there's an innocent matt, an innocent woman, being put to death, that's something you can't correct. And <br />that happens. So where will the next time be that an innocent person will be put to death and all of a sudden we find out that he or <br />she shouldn't? How can we correct that wrong? We can't." --Skip Alston, President, State Conference of NAACP Branches <br />"Me death penalty is clearly discriminatory.... Numerous studies have documented this fact. If a suspect is poor or a member <br />of a minority group, the death penalty is much more likely to be imposed." —4tatement of Senior N.C. Religious Leaders <br />"Any legal system claiming to represent what is roost noble in a society fails when embracing and welcoming the cruelty of <br />planned death for a member of that society." — Clyde Edgerton, Author <br />"There's something here that's often lost when we look simply at the statistics. When we look at the large numbers of people <br />[on death row] and we see things are out of balance; when we look at the numbers of people of color on death row and when we <br />look at the numbers of people from small, rural counties who land on death row, we can se from a racial point of view, from a <br />beographical point of view, certainly from an income point of view--here are the disproportionate effects" <br />— Henderson Hill, Attorney, Charlotte <br />"Apparently we want to be able to execute minors in this country, and even though almost all of the rest of the world are <br />signing conventions that it's wrong, the United States is not one of those countries. It's a disgrace in my view that this country, <br />which is supposed to be the premier country in the world, does not recognize that it's immoral and wrong." <br />— Tom Loftin, Attorney, Durham <br />"We get one thing for the death penalty for our money. We get more rage and violence, more anger, and more killing. The <br />death penalty is an embarrassment. It is a failure. It is a waste of resources. It is a blight upon us as a civilization." <br />(FOR MORE INFO CONTACT PFADP (919) 933 -7547) — Wade Smith, Attorney, Raleigh <br />