Justice prevails with NC pardons
Published June 5, 2015
Editorial by Jacksonville Daily News, June 4, 2015.
When Gov. Pat McCrory on Thursday granted pardons of innocence for two brothers once on North Carolina’s death row for charges of rape and murder, it was hardly standard procedure. It’s an extraordinary step that leaves the formerly guilty parties eligible for compensation by the state. In this case, Henry McCollum and Leon Brown are likely to each receive $750,000 for 30 years spent in prison for a crime they did not commit.
Small price to pay by the state to correct such an unfathomable wrong.
McCrory took the action after nearly 10 months of investigation by the Office of Executive Clemency and confirmed the findings of the state’s Innocence Commission. New DNA evidence (Where have we heard that before?) persuaded a judge to order their release in September.
McCollum, now 51, and Brown, his half-brother, 47, were 19 and 15 when the 1983 rape and murder of 11-year-old Sabrina Buie of Red Springs occurred. Defense attorneys argued for years that the two not only had low IQs, but were frightened teenagers when confronted and interrogated by law enforcement, and coerced into confessing to a crime they didn’t do.
At the time of his release last year, McCollum was the longest-serving inmate on North Carolina’s Death Row. Brown also was sentenced to death for the crime, but he was later resentenced to life in prison. Their case became a cause for the N.C. Innocence Commission, which sought DNA testing of a cigarette butt found at the crime scene. It led to another man — a convicted murderer and rapist already in prison for a crime “eerily similar” to the murder of Sabrina Buie and committed just weeks after.
The new evidence not only convinced a judge but also the current district attorney of Robeson County, who elected not to retry the case. The man who originally prosecuted the case — the legendary Joe Freeman Britt — remained skeptical and urged McCrory to thoroughly study the facts before issuing a pardon.
McCrory said Thursday that he had done due diligence. “It’s the right thing to do,” he said.
The right thing, ironically, is still painful. The family of the victim once again must relive one of the worst moments of their lives in a case still without official closure. The man now linked to the crime will probably not face trial because he’s already in prison. Two men wrongly accused had three decades of freedom stolen, and the state faces a potential tab of $1.5 million in compensation for taking that valuable time.
The outcome did possibly save McCollum’s life. He likely avoided the death penalty because executions have been on hold in North Carolina since 2006 while the court system sorts out how lethal injections are carried out.
This case and others point to the continuing problem with the death penalty. The chance for a mistake is high. Since 1999, seven people have been exonerated after receiving death sentences in North Carolina, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Nationwide, more than 150 death row inmates have been exonerated.
