Gov. Perdue Issues Pardon of Innocence for Wilmington 10
Source: Office of the Gov. Bev Perdue
Gov. Bev Perdue today signed a Pardon of Innocence for the Wilmington 10 and issued the following statement:
I have spent a great deal of time over the past seven months reviewing the pardon of innocence requests of the persons collectively known as the Wilmington Ten. This topic evokes strong opinions from many North Carolinians as it hearkens back to a very difficult time in our states past, a period of racial tensions and violence that represents a dark chapter in North Carolinas history. These cases generate a great deal of emotion from people who lived through these traumatic events.
In evaluating these petitions for clemency, it is important to separate fact from rumor and innuendo. I have decided to grant these pardons because the more facts I have learned about the Wilmington Ten, the more appalled I have become about the manner in which their convictions were obtained.
In 1980, a federal appeals court overturned the convictions in a written decision that highlighted the gross improprieties that occurred during the trial. The federal court determined as a matter of law that numerous instances of prosecutorial misconduct and other constitutional violations took place. Among other things, the court ruled that with regard to the testimony of the prosecutions key witness upon whose credibility the case depended entirely -- the conclusion is inescapable that [he] perjured himself and that this fact was bound to be known to the prosecutor . . . The court also declared that it was undisputed that key documents had repeatedly been withheld from defense lawyers. It also found numerous errors by the trial judge that had the effect of unconstitutionally prejudicing the defendants ability to receive a fair trial.
Since the trial ended, the prosecutions key witness and two supporting witnesses all independently recanted their testimony incriminating the defendants. Furthermore, last month, new evidence was made available to me in the form of handwritten notes from the prosecutor who picked the jury at trial. These notes show with disturbing clarity the dominant role that racism played in jury selection. The notes reveal that certain white jurors believed to be Ku Klux Klan members were described by the prosecutor as good and that at least one African American juror was noted to be an Uncle Tom type.
This conduct is disgraceful. It is utterly incompatible with basic notions of fairness and with every ideal that North Carolina holds dear. The legitimacy of our criminal justice system hinges on it operating in a fair and equitable manner with justice being dispensed based on innocence or guilt not based on race or other forms of prejudice. That did not happen here. Instead, these convictions were tainted by naked racism and represent an ugly stain on North Carolinas criminal justice system that cannot be allowed to stand any longer.
Justice demands that this stain finally be removed. The process in which this case was tried was fundamentally flawed. Therefore, as Governor, I am issuing these pardons of innocence to right this longstanding wrong.
Read more: http://www.governor.nc.gov/NewsItems/PressReleaseDetail.aspx?newsItemID=2709
yardwork
(61,622 posts)I just posted an OP about this but self-deleted because yours was posted one minute before mine.
Great news!
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)loyalkydem
(1,678 posts)cal04
(41,505 posts)Saturday we called for #Wilmington10 to be pardoned. Today, they were!
YES! North Carolina Gov. Perdue issues pardon for 'Wilmington 10,' convicted in 1971 fire-bombing case
Yes! @ProfHolloway it is the 140k signatures, letters, marchers, & commitment of people of NC that did this!
https://twitter.com/MHarrisPerry
Mira
(22,380 posts)byoung6
(47 posts)shireen
(8,333 posts)Only 7 are left. I hope they receive a huge cash settlement and sue the idiots who put them in jail.
Kelvin Mace
(17,469 posts)That is the end of her political career.
NC is now headed down the road to the hard right and soon we will roll back the calendar to the 1950s or more.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Perhaps this can be the moment the North Carolina Resistance is born.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)That's why I always leave room for the impossible to happen at any time. Never say never.