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.

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