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| N.C. Supreme Court Hears Potentially Historic Death Row Appeal |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 04/16/2003 |
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A lawyer for a death row prisoner argued April 8 before the state Supreme Court that the indictment method used for more than 100 years in North Carolina violates the rights of murder defendants, an appeal that could affect all the state's condemned prisoners. The case stems from North Carolina's use of so-called ''short-form'' indictments, which do not list the 11 aggravating factors that prosecutors believe justify seeking the death penalty. Those include murder committed during an armed robbery and murder of a police officer. A lawyer for death row prisoner Henry Lee Hunt told justices on the reasons for seeking the death penalty should be included on the indictment. Steven Holley also said the factors must be voted on by the grand jury or the indictment is invalid. Bill Hart from the state Attorney General's office argued the court has held short-form indictments legal in the past, and that it is merely a procedural error if an element of the case is left out of an indictment. It was not clear when the court would issue a decision. Johnson Britt, head of the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys, said the case could have an enormous effect on North Carolina's death row, where each of the 202 inmates were convicted and sentenced based on short-form indictments. If the court rules in Hunt's favor, inmates could petition for resentencing. Hunt was convicted of two 1984 killings a murder-for-hire and the killing of a witness. The two aggravating factors in his case were murder for money and his conviction of a previous violent crime. Hunt came within 35 hours of being executed Jan. 22 before the court agreed to hear his appeal. |
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