exoneration

Levon "Bo" Jones, recently released after serving over a decade for a murder he did not commit, held a press conference yesterday in Raleigh. Jones' attorneys spoke first. Ernest "Buddy" Conner told those gathered how the police failed to dust for fingerprints at the scene and eventually lost what little physical evidence they gathered. He also spoke of the State's star witness, Lovely Lorden, who unbeknownst to Jones' trial attorneys was a paid, professional snitch who changed her story several times before trial. Conner noted that this injustice could have been corrected years earlier had North Carolina state courts bothered to consider Jones' appeals.

Here are the top stories in criminal justice reform, taken from the Justice Newsladder.

For the second time in two months, an innocent man is being released from North Carolina's death row. Levon "Bo" Jones spent 13 years on death row after being convicted of the 1987 murder of Leamon Grady. Federal judge Terrence Boyle vacated Jones' conviction and death sentence in 2006 after finding that Jones' trial attorneys "utterly failed" to investigate the crime. (Read the Order here.) Duplin County District Attorney Dewey Hudson, who tried Jones in 1993, vowed to retry the case. This week Hudson was forced to admit that he has no evidence against Jones, and is expected to ask the court to release Jones today.

In 1994, Glen Edward Chapman was sentenced to death for the murders of Tenene Yvette Conley and Betty Jean Ramseur. Earlier this month he was released from prison - all charges dropped - but with nothing to show for the last 14 years besides the clothes on his back and a pocket full of spare change.

People of Faith Against the Death Penalty has set up a fund to help Mr. Chapman adjust to life in the free world. All donations are tax deductible.

Send checks and money orders to:

People of Faith Against the Death Penalty
110 W. Main St., Ste. 2G
Carrboro, NC 27510

Please be sure to note "For Edward Chapman" on your donation.