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North Carolinians want a fair and reliable criminal justice system, especially when the punishment is the ultimate one – the death penalty. Serious documented flaws in the state’s capital punishment system have prompted a broad cross-section of individuals, organizations and newspapers to support a two-year moratorium on executions while the system is reviewed. More than 1,000 businesses, congregations, civic groups and organizations, and more than 40,000 North Carolinians have signed moratorium petitions. The NC Senate passed legislation that provides for the two-year halt and review. That legislation is now before the NC House.

North Carolinians Support Moratorium on Executions by More than Two to One Margin

Sixty-three percent of North Carolinians support a temporary suspension of executions while the state’s capital punishment system is studied, according a major statewide poll conducted in April 2004 by Doble Research Associates, a non-partisan, national polling firm. Twenty-eight percent of those polled oppose a temporary halt. Support for the suspension is widespread among men and women, Democrats, Republicans and Independents, and death penalty supporters and opponents.

Prominent State Leaders Call for Temporary Halt of Executions

More than 150 prominent North Carolinians -- Republicans and Democrats, death penalty supporters and opponents -- have signed a letter to the state’s top political leaders calling for a temporary halt of executions while the system is studied. Among the signers are nine former NC Supreme Court Justices, former prosecutors, elected officials, religious leaders, business leaders, murder victims’ family members, and noted NC authors. They include:

James F. Goodmon - President and CEO of Capitol Broadcasting Company

Charles A. Sanders - former Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Glaxo, Inc.

L.M. “Bud” Baker - former Chair of the Board of Wachovia Corporation, former Chair of NCCBI

Dean E. Smith - Coach Emeritus of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill men’s basketball team

Herb Sendek - Head coach of North Carolina State University’s men’s basketball team

Honorable Rhoda B. Billings , former Chief Justice, NC Supreme Court, Professor of Law at Wake Forest Univ., Board Member, NC Commission on Indigent Defense Services

Honorable Thomas W. Ross - Executive Director, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, former North Carolina Superior Court Judge and former Director, NC Administrative Office of the Courts

Honorable Janice McKenzie Cole - former US Attorney, NC Eastern District, former NC District Court Judge, former Police Officer

William C. Friday - President Emeritus of the University of North Carolina System

John Hope Franklin - James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History

Local Governments and Newspapers Statewide Support Moratorium Legislation

The elected local governments of Winston-Salem, Charlotte, Davidson, Greensboro, Fayetteville, Asheville, Cary, Cofield, Dobbins Heights, Durham, Garysburg, Oak City, Creedmoor, Hillsborough, Norlina, Taylortown, Thomasville, Winfall, Parmele, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Roper, Jamesville, Plymouth, Dover, Columbia, Creswell, Lewiston Woodville,Greenevers, Aulander, Northwest, Bolton, Roxobel, and Princeville, as well as Chatham, Durham, Orange, Guilford, and Bertie counties have all passed moratorium resolutions.Every major newspaper in North Carolina and many smaller papers have endorsed a moratorium. Those include:

• Asheville Citizen-Times
• Burlington Times-News
• Carolinian (Raleigh)
• Carteret City New Times
• Chapel Hill News
• Charlotte Observer
• Chatham Record
• Chowan Herald
• Concord Independent Tribune
• Daily Courier (Forest City)
• Daily Dispatch (Henderson)
• Daily Herald (Roanoke Rapids)
• The Dispatch (Lexington)
• Fayetteville Observer
• Goldsboro News Argus
• Herald-Sun (Durham)
• Hickory Daily Record
• High Point Enterprise
• Independent Weekly
• Lake Gaston Gazette
• Lincolnton Times-News
• Mount Airy News
• News & Observer (Raleigh)
• News & Record (Greensboro)
• News Herald (Morganton)
• The Pilot, (Southern Pines)
• Record & Landmark (Statesville)
• Robesonian (Lumberton)
• Spring Hope Enterprise
• Stanley News and Press
• Transylvanian Times (Brevard)
• Tribune (Elkin)
• Washington Daily News
• Wilmington Morning Star
• Wilson Daily Times
• Winston-Salem Chronicle
• Winston-Salem Journal

North Carolina Juries Returning Fewer Death Sentences

In 1993, 33 people were sentenced to death in North Carolina; last year there were just six. Forsyth County District Attorney Tom Keith and others believe the decline is due in part to skepticism of the justice system by juries in the wake of news about wrongful convictions. (Winston-Salem Journal, 3/14/04; Wilmington Morning Star, 3/14/04)