"A SPOKESWOMAN FOR PERDUE SAID FRIDAY THAT THE GOVERNOR WAS WAITING FOR THE RESULTS OF TESTS ON THE CLOTHING WORN BY TAYLOR THE NIGHT THAT THOMAS WAS KILLED. TAYLOR AGREED IN MARCH TO LET RALEIGH POLICE TEST THAT CLOTHING, SAYING HE WANTED NO DOUBT ABOUT HIS INNOCENCE. DNA RESULTS RELEASED FRIDAY SHOWED TAYLOR WAS INNOCENT, PERDUE SPOKESWOMAN CHRISSY PEARSON SAID. PEARSON SAID THE GOVERNOR WAITED UNTIL THE DNA RESULTS WERE RETURNED BECAUSE SHE DID NOT WANT ANY DOUBT CAST WHEN SHE GRANTED THE PARDON."
WRAL; Wikipedia informs us that, "WRAL-TV, virtual channel 5 (digital channel 48), is a television station in Raleigh, North Carolina. WRAL-TV has been the flagship station of Capitol Broadcasting Company since its inception, and is currently the CBS affiliate for the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill-Fayetteville area, known collectively as the Triangle."
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BACKGROUND: Seventeen years ago, Taylor was convicted of the September, 1991 murder of Raleigh prostitute Jacquetta Thomas, 26, whose body was found dumped on South Blount Street in Raleigh. Taylor, 47, said he spent the night of September 25, 1991 drinking and doing drugs with friends while he drove around southeast Raleigh to buy crack cocaine. Taylor said he believed police latched on to him for the murder because he and a friend drove along a dirt path off the same cul-de-sac where Thomas's body was found. Taylor and the friend smoked crack, but his SUV got stuck as they tried to drive away. They abandoned the SUV and walked to a nearby street to get a ride. Taylor testified they saw what they thought was a body but didn't report it to police. When Taylor returned in the morning to get the SUV, the police were already there. During several days of testimony, a parade of witnesses poked holes in the original evidence against Taylor. A SBI agent testified that while initial tests on some items from Taylor's sport utility vehicle were positive for blood, follow-up tests were negative. Those negative tests were not revealed to the jury that convicted Taylor. A dog training expert testified that the bloodhound that investigators said found the scent of the victim on Taylor's SUV was not trained in scent identification. A jailhouse snitch who said that Taylor confessed his involvement in Thomas's killing to him stood by his original testimony, but did admit that Taylor got the method of killing wrong. Johnny Beck, the man who was in Taylor's SUV on the night of the murder, testified neither he nor Taylor were involved in Thomas's death. Taylor had exhausted his appeals, but the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission reviewed the evidence against him last year and recommended the case to the three judge panel for further review. The commission is the only state-run agency in the country that investigates claims of innocence. Now the Commission has declared him innocent - the first time an inmate has been freed through the actions of the state's Innocence Inquiry Commission.
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"Raleigh, N.C. — Gov. Bev Perdue on Friday pardoned a man who was exonerated of a woman's murder in a groundbreaking innocence hearing in February", the story published earlier today begins.
"A special three-judge panel found Greg Taylor innocent of the murder of Jacquetta Thomas, whose beaten body was found at the end of a Raleigh cul-de-sac in 1991," the story continues.
"Taylor was arrested when he went to retrieve his Nissan Pathfinder from some nearby woods, where it was stuck.
He served more than 16 years in prison before the panel vacated his sentence.
A spokeswoman for Perdue said Friday that the governor was waiting for the results of tests on the clothing worn by Taylor the night that Thomas was killed. Taylor agreed in March to let Raleigh police test that clothing, saying he wanted no doubt about his innocence.
DNA results released Friday showed Taylor was innocent, Perdue spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson said. Pearson said the governor waited until the DNA results were returned because she did not want any doubt cast when she granted the pardon.
“Gregory Taylor was forced to pay a debt to society for a crime he did not commit. No amount of money can buy back those 17 years, but at least this pardon of innocence will clear his name and make him eligible to receive compensation for his unjust imprisonment,” Perdue said in a statement.
Taylor told WRAL News that he received the news of the pardon while traveling back to Raleigh from Charlotte. He said he was elated by the news.
"I would like to savor the moment for a little while," he said.
After three months of waiting to see if the governor would pardon him, Taylor admitted he was "beginning to worry a bit."
Because of the pardon, Taylor is eligible for $750,000 in compensation for his wrongful imprisonment.
Perdue signed the pardon this afternoon in New Bern.
The North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence reluctantly granted permission in March to test the Taylor's clothing Taylor.
Before 47-year-old Taylor was released from a life sentence, he said he repeatedly asked for the same kind of testing from prison to prove his innocence. His request was denied, however.
Taylor was the first exoneration resulting from the involvement of the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, the only state-run agency in the country dedicated to investigating claims of innocence."
The story can be found at:
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/7647384/
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
