News Update 05.28.08
North Carolina
In Wake County, jury selection has begun in the trial of Jakiem Wilson, who has admitted to killing his wife in 2007. His attorneys will argue that Wilson should be convicted of second-degree murder or manslaughter. If convicted of first-degree murder, Wilson will be sentenced either to death or to life without the possibility of parole.
Noting that three wrongly convicted black men have been released from North Carolina’s death row in the last six months, many are calling for the Senate to move the Racial Justice Act out of the committee where it’s been sitting since last year. The bill would allow defendants to present evidence in court to show that either the prosecutor’s decision to seek the death penalty or the jury’s decision to impose it was improperly based on race. See also.
Elsewhere
CNN has an update on Paul House, who remains on Tennessee’s death row despite multiple courts expressing doubt about his guilt. House, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and is confined to a wheelchair, has been in prison since 1986 for a murder another man has confessed to committing.
Kevin Green was executed last night in Virginia. Learn more about Green’s case here.
Posted by deathwatch 
