ROXOBEL, NC, April 12, 2005 -- Just up the road from the home of Alan Gell, exonerated from death row 14 months ago, another North Carolina town called on the NC General Assembly and governor to place an immediate halt on executions and begin a study of solutions to North Carolina's trouble-plagued death penalty system.
The town council of Roxobel tonight unanimously passed a resolution for a two-year suspension of executions, making it the 39th local government to call for an immediate moratorium on executions.
"I want to make it clear that I support the death penalty," said Council Member Manuel Joyner, who motioned in favor of the resolution. "But I do want to make sure that our death penalty is fair."
Council Member Carroll Hinton said, "I don't understand why we would wait on this" before seconding the motion.
Several members of the town council asked Jeremy Collins, who represented the NC Moratorium Now Campaign before the council, how the NC General Assembly's members could know about serious problems with the death penalty as it is administered and not do something about them.
Mayor Gary Johnson and Council Member H.C. Boschen also supported the resolution. Council Member Alton Parker was absent from the meeting.
Roxobel, population 263, is located in Bertie County, about 70 miles southwest of Portsmouth, Va. and 80 miles east of Raleigh.
Other NC local governments that have passed similar resolutions include: Asheville, Aulander, Bertie County, Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Chatham County, Cofield, Columbia, Creedmoor, Creswell, Davidson, Dobbins Heights, Dover, Durham, Durham County, Fayetteville, Garysburg, Greenevers, Greensboro, Guilford County, Hillsborough, Jamesville, Lewiston Woodville, Norlina, Northwest, Oak City, Orange County, Parmele, Plymouth, Princeville, Roper, Taylortown, Thomasville, Winfall, and Winston-Salem.
Also tonight, the Democratic Party of Orange County passed a similar resolution for a moratorium. More than 1,000 such resolutions have been passed in the state by churches, businesses, community groups, and political parties.
A bill for a suspension of executions and study is in the NC House Judiciary I Committee and is expected to be voted on in upcoming weeks.
The bill was signed by a bipartisan group of 39 representatives.
###
This press release provided by: The NC Moratorium Now group in Carrboro, NC.
Comments (0)