After a review of North Carolina’s death penal­ty, the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers has issued a series of 11 rec­om­men­da­tions that aim to address issues of fair­ness and accu­ra­cy in the state’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment statutes. In addi­tion to rec­om­men­da­tions address­ing hid­den evi­dence, mis­tak­en eye­wit­ness iden­ti­fi­ca­tions, dis­crim­i­na­tion, and unre­li­able con­fes­sions, the group urged North Carolina law­mak­ers to enact a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions while they con­sid­er imple­ment­ing reforms to make the sys­tem more reli­able. James Exum, for­mer Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, stat­ed, ​“The Academy’s analy­sis includes impor­tant ques­tions of legal pro­ce­dure and process. We should address them to insure that we are doing all we can not only to pre­vent an inno­cent per­son from being exe­cut­ed, but also to pro­tect the pub­lic by mak­ing sure that the right per­son is con­vict­ed and kept off our streets.” The Academy’s rec­om­men­da­tions come as North Carolina’s leg­is­la­ture pre­pares to con­sid­er impos­ing a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions, and just weeks after the exon­er­a­tion of two North Carolina men who had been wrong­ly con­vict­ed of mur­der, Alan Gell and Darryl Hunt. Hunt spent 18 years in prison, while Gell had spent many years on death row. (North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers Press Release, May 6, 2004) Read the Press Release and Recommendations. See also, Innocence.

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