Seth Edwards, pres­i­dent of the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys, said that he sup­port­ed a mora­to­ri­um on the exe­cu­tion of any death row inmates whose cas­es include evi­dence from the State Bureau of Investigation. “[W]e need to make sure the issues are resolved in the SBI crime lab,” Edwards said. ​“I just feel like the pub­lic right now is skep­ti­cal.” Last month, a gov­ern­ment audit showed that the lab had tam­pered with evi­dence and issued false reports in over 230 crim­i­nal con­vic­tions, includ­ing capital cases. 

The scan­dal at the SBI lab and recent stud­ies reveal­ing racial dis­par­i­ties in jury selec­tion and sen­tenc­ing in death penal­ty cas­es have raised con­cerns among oth­ers in the state regard­ing the reli­a­bil­i­ty of the jus­tice sys­tem in North Carolina. A group of sup­port­ers for Melvin Lee White, a death row inmate con­vict­ed before rev­e­la­tions about the crime lab began to appear, is ask­ing that he be giv­en a new tri­al or that at least his sen­tence be reduced to life. White has always main­tained his innocence.

(A. Blythe, ​“Put off some exe­cu­tions, DA agrees,” News and Observer, August 31, 2010). Read more New Voices. See Race. Read the press release from the sup­port­ers of Melvin White.

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