North Carolina’s Attorney General has announced that the state will retry Alan Gell, whose death sen­tence was vacat­ed last year when a North Carolina judge ruled that pros­e­cu­tors with­held impor­tant evi­dence that might have exon­er­at­ed Gell at his 1998 tri­al. After acknowl­edg­ing that pros­e­cu­tors from his office vio­lat­ed court orders and the U.S. Constitution by not hand­ing over the evi­dence, Attorney General Ray Copper announced that the state will not seek the death penal­ty at Gell’s sec­ond tri­al. The accu­sa­tions that pros­e­cu­tors with­held evi­dence and cre­at­ed false tes­ti­mo­ny could lead to an inves­ti­ga­tion by the North Carolina Bar, which can sus­pend or revoke law licens­es for mis­con­duct. Among the evi­dence not revealed was a secret­ly taped 1995 tele­phone con­ver­sa­tion in which the pros­e­cu­tion’s star wit­ness said she ​“had to make up a sto­ry” about the mur­der. The state also with­held numer­ous state­ments of eye­wit­ness­es who said they saw the vic­tim alive after the only time Gell could have com­mit­ted the murder. 

(News & Observer, June 4, 2003). See Innocence.

Citation Guide