8 – Edwin Turner (MS)

15 – Robert Waterhouse (FL)

16 – Garry Allen (OK)

22 – Michael Webb (OH -stayed)

28 – Anthony Bartee (TX)

29 – George Rivas (TX)

29 – Robert Moormann (AZ)

• Executions: 0
• Persons removed from death row for other reasons: 3
• New death sentences: 3
• Capital trials not resulting in death: 11

In Detail

• Persons Removed from Death Row

> Isaac Stroud (Durham) – In February, Isaac Stroud was declared incompetent to be executed and re-sentenced to life.

> John Fleming (Northampton) – This fall, John Fleming died of natural causes at the age of 83.  Fleming was first sent to death row at the age of 70.

> David “Bo” Williams (Bertie) – David Williams died of natural causes at the age of 46.  He had been on death row since 1996.

• New Death Sentences

> Tony Summers (Guilford) – Tony Summers was convicted of stabbing Lavell Williams and assaulting her two children.

> Danny Hembree (Gaston) – Danny Hembree was convicted of smothering Heather Catterton.

> William Robinson (Stanly) – William Robinson was convicted of shooting Keith Crump and injuring another man.

• Capital Trials Not Resulting in Death

> Michael Mead (Gaston) – Michael Mead was found not guilty of killing his pregnant fiancée and setting her house on fire.  The defense presented evidence that Mead was 50 miles away when the crime occurred.

> Al Bellamy (Iredell/Gaston) – A mistrial was declared when it was revealed during the guilt-or-innocence phase of Al Bellamy’s trial that prosecutors failed to disclose over 1700 pages of evidence to the defense.  If the State elects to try Bellamy again, it will be prohibited from seeking the death penalty.

> Robert Stewart (Moore) – Robert Stewart was convicted of second-degree murder after opening fire in a nursing home and killing eight people.  The cumulative sentence was at least 141 years in prison.

> Brandon Gross (Buncombe) – Brandon Gross was convicted of second degree murder, robbery, and burglary for beating a man to death in his home.  He will serve at least 43 years in prison.

> Shelton Mills (Pitt) – Shelton Mills was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole after being convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend.

> Danny Thomas (Columbus) –Danny Thomas, previously convicted of murder in another county was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for four additional killings.

> Joshua Stepp (Wake) – Joshua Stepp was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the sexual assault and beating death of his ten month-old stepdaughter.

> Larry Robinson (Robeson) – Larry Robinson killed two men and injured a third in an ambush-style assault, and was sentenced to life without parole.

> Melba Slaydon (Randolph) – During jury selection, Melba Slaydon accepted a plea to life without parole in the killing of her husband.

> Dennis Mills (Alamance) – During jury selection, Dennis Mills accepted a plea to life without parole for shooting two men to death in their home.  Mills had previously been convicted of another homicide.

> James Richardson (Pitt) – After James Richardson was convicted of killing two men in a drive-by shooting, prosecutors dropped their request for the death penalty.

Larry Bonnell Shawn Robinson was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole by a Robeson County jury after less than 30 minutes of deliberation.  The same jury previously found Robinson guilty of one count of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree murder, and one count of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury for his role in a 2007 shooting that left two men dead and a third injured.

DW remains unable to find any information in the media about the Robeson County trial of Larry Bonnell Shawn Robinson.  DW notes that Mr. Robinson is not in the custody of the Department of Correction at this time.

No additional capital trials are scheduled in North Carolina for the remainder of this calendar year.

Since then, Republican lawmakers have been accused of ignoring undisputed evidence of racial bias in the administration of the death penalty and abusing the legislative system to sneak through legislation without public oversight.

Groups including the NC-NAACP have called on Governor Beverly Perdue to veto the bill, but there has been no word from her office as of this writing.  Under North Carolina law, Governor Perdue has 30 days to issue a veto.  The Governor has indicated that she will make her decision next week.

• We all deserve the truth

Defendants have alleged a pervasive pattern of racial discrimination, both in jury selection and in decisions about which cases deserve the death penalty.  It has been over a year since motions were filed presenting evidence to support these claims.  Since August of 2010, the ball has been in the State’s court, but prosecutors haven’t even attempted to prove that something other than race is involved.

Rather than confront the issue head on, prosecutors have tried to delay the courts.  After months of ill-founded constitutional challenges and even an attempt to prevent a black judge from presiding over the matter, the first real test of the Racial Justice Act was scheduled to begin next month.  Just in time, conservative lawmakers swooped in to repeal the Racial Justice Act.

Prosecutors and lawmakers have nothing to fear but the truth being heard.  If the claims made under the Racial Justice Act are frivolous, no court will hesitate to throw them out.  Prosecutors claim that the RJA has placed a moratorium on the death penalty, when the reality is that the only thing preventing these cases from moving forward is prosecutors’ sandbagging of the judicial process.

• The RJA is not a get out of jail free card

Prosecutors and conservative lawmakers have circulated the false rumor that a successful Racial Justice Act claim could result in death row inmates being immediately released from prison.  Never mind that the statute explicitly says that the only relief available is a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

It is constitutional for a death sentence to be converted to life without parole, even if the option of life without parole was not available at the time of the original trial.  This is exactly what happens when a death row inmate is granted clemency by the governor.  [For inmates sentenced prior to 1994, the jury did not have the option of life without the possibility of parole.]

Any inmate who meets the high bar of proving his claim under the Racial Justice Act will be re-sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.  He will be punished, for the rest of his life, for the acts he committed, and not for the acts or omissions of anyone else.  Just as justice has always intended.

Call Governor Perdue today and urge her to veto the repeal of the Racial Justice Act.  The numbers for her office are (800) 662-7952 and (919) 733-2391.  People of Faith Against the Death Penalty have a petition you can sign online, or you can e-mail the Governor yourself at this address

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