"HE SERVED 6,149 DAYS - NEARLY 17 YEARS - IN PRISON BEFORE THREE JUDGES REVIEWED THE CASE THAT WAS BROUGHT BEFORE THE NORTH CAROLINA INNOCENCE INQUIRY COMMISSION, A COURT OF LAST RESORT FOR NORTH CAROLINA FELONS THAT INVERTS THE USUAL RULES. PROSECUTORS DON'T HAVE TO PROVE THAT THE CONVICTED DEFENDANT IS GUILTY; HIS DEFENSE ATTORNEYS HAVE TO FIND NEW EVIDENCE THAT DEMONSTRATES HIS INNOCENCE. TAYLOR'S WAS THE SECOND CASE THAT MADE IT ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE COMMISSION'S EXHAUSTIVE HOOPS IN ORDER TO GET A JUDICIAL RULING, AND HE WAS THE FIRST DEFENDANT TO BE DECLARED INNOCENT. HE IS WALKING AROUND FREE TODAY. BUT HE HAS NOT YET BEEN PARDONED NOR HAS HE RECEIVED ANY COMPENSATION FROM THE STATE.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Justice is messy," the Durham Herald-Sun editorial published on May 11, 2010, begins, under the heading, "Pardon should not be needed for compensation."
"Guilty people go free, innocent people go to jail, and the governor can grant pardons - but she doesn't usually make citizen's arrests," the editorial continues.
"Greg Taylor was convicted of the September 1991 murder of Jacquetta Thomas.
He served 6,149 days - nearly 17 years - in prison before three judges reviewed the case that was brought before the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, a court of last resort for North Carolina felons that inverts the usual rules. Prosecutors don't have to prove that the convicted defendant is guilty; his defense attorneys have to find new evidence that demonstrates his innocence.
Taylor's was the second case that made it all the way through the commission's exhaustive hoops in order to get a judicial ruling, and he was the first defendant to be declared innocent. He is walking around free today.
But he has not yet been pardoned nor has he received any compensation from the state.
In March, Taylor gave Raleigh investigators permission to further test his clothes for DNA, and Gov. Beverly Perdue is awaiting the outcome of those tests before she signs the pardon.
Perdue doesn't have to pardon Taylor. But until she does, he will not receive the $750,000 that the state owes him.
Perdue is getting plenty of licks for the delay. Taylor, a former drug addict who didn't call police when he found Thomas' body, isn't precisely a media darling, but he is the symbol of North Carolina's commitment to justice. It's easy to see Perdue as an authoritarian purse-clutcher who won't do the right thing.
But this problem started with the legislature, not the governor's office, and it's up to the legislature to fix it.
We don't require pardons for any other people who are exonerated in the court system - only the ones freed by the Innocence Inquiry commission. The legislature ought to tie the state's compensation for wrongful imprisonment to the commission's verdict, not a gubernatorial pardon."
The story can be found at:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/05/17/1440012/pardon-should-not-be-needed-for.html
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
