FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, November 30, 2001 CONTACT: Kenneth Rose, Esq., (919) 956- 9545;
Gerda Stein, (919) 789‑0401,
Center for Death Penalty Litigation (NC);
Richard Dieter - (202) 293‑6970,
Death Penalty Information Center

SHODDY REPRESENTATION, RACE BIAS NO BAR TO RECORD NUMBER OF EXECUTIONS IN NORTH CAROLINA

Rouse Case, Near End of the Line, to be Heard on Monday





Washington, DC — North Carolina has exe­cut­ed more peo­ple this year than in any year since the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed in 1976. Recent cas­es result­ing in exe­cu­tions were marred by alco­holic attor­neys, lawyers with no expe­ri­ence in cap­i­tal cas­es, and lawyers who missed crit­i­cal dead­lines for appeals. Another inmate, Kenneth Rouse, has all but exhaust­ed his appeals, despite compelling issues.

Although the state has adopt­ed new stan­dards for who can rep­re­sent defen­dants fac­ing the death penal­ty, these improve­ments do noth­ing for the 239 peo­ple cur­rent­ly on North Carolina’s death row, one of the largest in the country.

Last night, John Rose became the fifth per­son exe­cut­ed in North Carolina this year, despite the fact that nei­ther of his tri­al attor­neys had any expe­ri­ence defend­ing cap­i­tal cas­es. Earlier, Ronald Frye was exe­cut­ed even though he had been rep­re­sent­ed by a tri­al attor­ney who was deep in the throes of severe alcohol abuse.

On Monday, December 3, Kenneth Rouse’s case will be argued before the Fourth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond. His prospects are not good: his appel­late attor­neys missed their fil­ing date (by one day) and hence their issues were reject­ed by the ini­tial fed­er­al court. Now his fate lies with the Fourth Circuit which has not grant­ed relief in a death penal­ty case in almost a decade.

Yet Rouse’s case offers an egre­gious exam­ple of the injus­tice which has per­me­at­ed many of North Carolina’s cap­i­tal cas­es. Rouse is an African-American who faced tri­al before an all-white jury for the mur­der of a white woman. The pros­e­cu­tor dis­missed all of the peo­ple of col­or who were qual­i­fied for jury ser­vice. One of the jurors cho­sen to serve has admit­ted that he lied in order to be picked for the jury. He con­cealed the fact that his moth­er had been assault­ed and mur­dered and that the killer had been exe­cut­ed. After the tri­al, he admit­ted his racial bias against blacks, to whom he often referred as ​“nig­gers.”

Earlier in 2001, researchers at the University of North Carolina released a study of race and the death penal­ty. The study revealed that the odds of being sen­tenced to death increased by three and half times if you mur­dered a white vic­tim, as Rouse had done, as com­pared to the race of all other victims.

Executions have declined around the coun­try in 2001, but not in North Carolina. Sixty-two peo­ple have been exe­cut­ed nation­wide this year, com­pared with 85 in 2000 and 98 in 1999.


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