North Carolina House Speaker Jim Black has appointed 20 House members to a study commission that will examine how the death penalty is carried out in the state. The commission will also recommend possible capital punishment-related policy reforms for their colleagues to consider during their session next spring. The commission will be chaired by Representatives Joe Hackney of Chapel Hill and Beverly Earle of Charlotte. Members of the commission will consult with victims’ family members, law enforcement personnel, and other experts as they review a variety of issues, including access to adequate defense, judicial review, race, prosecutorial misconduct, and innocence.

“I’m a strong supporter of the death penalty, but we must examine our judicial system to ensure that the guilty are punished as they should be and the innocent are not,” said Speaker Black. Proponents of a state death penalty study have voiced concerns about the cases of Alan Gell and Darryl Hunt, two men who were wrongly convicted and later released from North Carolina’s death row (Gell) and prison (Hunt). Black established the committee even though a bill to establish a two-year moratorium on executions while a study was undertaken failed to reach the House floor this year. (Associated Press, October 29, 2005). See Innocence and Recent Legislative Developments.