"The money comes out to about $5 an hour for the time Greg Taylor was behind bars for his conviction in the death of Jacquetta Thomas in 1991. A three-judge panel found him innocent earlier this year based on work by the N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission. It's the only state-run agency in the country dedicated to proving a convicted person's innocence."
REPORTER MARTHA WAGGONER; THE ASSOCIATED PRESS;
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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. — A North Carolina man who served almost 17 years in prison for murder before being found innocent has received $750,000 compensation from the state," the Associated Press story by reporter Martha Waggoner published earlier today begins, under the heading, "NC man found innocent of murder gets $750,000."
"The money comes out to about $5 an hour for the time Greg Taylor was behind bars for his conviction in the death of Jacquetta Thomas in 1991," the story continues.
"A three-judge panel found him innocent earlier this year based on work by the N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission. It's the only state-run agency in the country dedicated to proving a convicted person's innocence.
Gov. Beverly Perdue pardoned Taylor in May. Another state commission agreed Monday to the payment and Taylor received the check Tuesday.
Taylor says he wants to repay his family for the attorneys and investigators they hired in their efforts to prove his innocence."
The story can be found at:
http://www.google.com/hostednews
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;/ap/article/ALeqM5ginVyvyjHoUkMCDDWKgMWh9ujrVQD9GMD4QG1