North Carolina Innocence Commission Frees Another Inmate, 38 Years Late

The same Commission that freed for­mer death row inmates Henry McCollum and Leon Brown in September exon­er­at­ed anoth­er man who had been con­vict­ed of mur­der, Willie Womble (l.). The North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission freed Womble on October 17, dis­miss­ing his 1976 first-degree mur­der con­vic­tion and life sen­tence. Womble had been con­vict­ed of act­ing as a look­out while anoth­er man, Joseph Perry, robbed a con­ve­nience store and killed the cashier. Both Perry and Womble received life sen­tences. Though Womble had always said he was inno­cent, he nev­er filed a motion to chal­lenge his con­vic­tion, per­haps because of his dimin­ished men­tal capac­i­ty (a dis­abil­i­ty also present in McCollum and Brown). In 2013, Perry wrote a let­ter to the Innocence Commission stat­ing that Womble was inno­cent. When Perry learned that his actu­al accom­plice had died, he decid­ed he could reveal Womble’s inno­cence with­out putting the oth­er man in prison. The Commission inves­ti­gat­ed Womble’s case and found that his con­fes­sion had been pos­si­bly coerced and writ­ten by a detec­tive work­ing on the case. Christine Mumma, exec­u­tive direc­tor of the N.C. Center on Actual Innocence, said, ​“In 2008, the leg­is­la­ture passed a law requir­ing the record­ing of inter­ro­ga­tions. This is anoth­er case show­ing how impor­tant that is.” Granville County District Attorney Sam Currin sup­port­ed Womble’s exon­er­a­tion, say­ing, ​“I apol­o­gized to Mr. Womble and to the fam­i­ly of Mr. Roy Bullock, who was the vic­tim. I just felt it was right. The sys­tem and the state of North Carolina failed them for 39 years.” Although not sen­tenced to death, Womble’s case shows the risks of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and the dif­fi­cul­ty in discovering innocence.

The N.C. Innocence Commission has freed or exon­er­at­ed sev­en pris­on­ers since it was estab­lished in 2006.

(T. McDonald, ​“After 38 years, judges exon­er­ate Durham man con­vict­ed of first-degree mur­der,” News & Observer, October 17, 2014). See Innocence and Intellectual Disability.