North Carolina: man exonerated after 17 years in jail

February 17, 2010: The North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission frees Gregory Taylor, 47, white, who was sentenced to life in 1993 for 1st degree homicide.

In an historic decision, a panel of judges outside of the state's court system unanimously voted to exonerate and release Gregory Taylor, a man who was imprisoned for nearly 17 years for first-degree murder.

In April 1993, Taylor was convicted of the 1991 murder of Jacquetta Thomas, 27, black, a prostitute found dead in Raleigh. Police arrested Taylor after finding his SUV about 100 yards from the crime scene, even though there was never any physical evidence linking Taylor to the victim.

Taylor became the first person in the state to be exonerated by the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, the only state-run agency in the United States with the power to overturn convictions based on claims of innocence. Earlier, the eight-member Commission had voted unanimously to send Taylor's case to the next level of review before the panel of three judges.

The judges voted unanimously to undo Taylor's 1993 conviction of murdering Thomas. Their decision exonerates Taylor and releases him from a term of life in prison. After the decision was read, Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby walked over to Taylor, shook his hand and apologized that he had been convicted. Taylor is the first person in North Carolina to be exonerated using a new process established to handle convicted people's claims of innocence.

Last September, the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission voted unanimously that Taylor's case warranted further review. The North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission is a state agency established in August 2006 by the General Assembly to investigate and evaluate post-conviction claims of factual innocence. The Commission only examines new evidence that was not considered at trial.

The Commission is made up of eight members selected by the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court and the Chief Judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals The members include a Superior Court Judge, a Prosecuting Attorney, a Defense Attorney, a Victim Advocate, a Member of the Public, a Sheriff, and two Discretionary members.

"It's unbelievable," Gregory Taylor, 47, said, encircled by family, friends and media. "I mean, you think all these years what this day would be like – 6,149 days, and finally the truth has prevailed."

Taylor had exhausted all avenues of appeals when the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission reviewed his case and decided in September that it merited a review before the special panel.

"I feel like I'm dreaming," Taylor's daughter, Kristen Puryear, 26, said.

"She was 9 years old when I went to prison," Taylor said, embracing her for one of the first times as a free man. "I missed her 10th birthday, I missed her 16th birthday. … I missed her marriage. I missed the birth of my grandson. Now all of that's returned."

"And I'm taking him home," Puryear said.

For six days, Taylor's attorneys argued there were never any physical links between Thomas and Taylor and that despite investigators' claim of blood on Taylor's Nissan Pathfinder, there was no evidence connecting the two.

They wrapped up Wednesday morning with closing arguments in which Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby said the evidence presented in support of Taylor wasn't logical, credible or believable. (Read more about the closing arguments.)

"I did not know what to expect," Willoughby said of the judges' decision. "I felt like it was our responsibility to present the evidence and to allow the three-judge panel to make their decision and do what they found the evidence showed."

In asking the judges to free Taylor, defense attorney Joseph Cheshire urged them to undo a wrong and to help assure the public that the judicial system is changing to help ensure it does not happen again.

"Out of tragedy and sadness can actually come a better world," Cheshire said. "Nothing makes our system better than the public acknowledgment that mistakes have been made."

'Innocence points out injustice'

Wednesday's ruling marks the first in the state's history in which a prisoner has been exonerated because of the involvement of the Innocence Commission – the only state-run agency in the country that investigates post-conviction claims of innocence.

Taylor's case is the second case in the commission's four-year history that has gone up for an evidentiary hearing where only new evidence is considered. As of January, the commission has reviewed 634 cases, 463 of which were rejected – the others are in various stages of review or have been closed.

At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Cheshire credited the agency and the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence for their attention to the case and for finding inconsistencies with evidence and testimony from Taylor's trial.

"This is one of those fantastic days," he said. "We should all look at this day as a positive day for the state of North Carolina. No innocent, wrongfully accused person should ever have to spend a day in prison."

Gov. Beverly Perdue described the commission as setting "a new standard of jurisprudence in America."

"I believe in this Innocence Commission, and I believe the ruling today shows bad things can happen, even in the finest of systems," she said.

Joining the likes of Dwayne Dail and Darryl Hunt – both men were wrongly convicted of separate crimes and each freed after spending 18 years in prison – Taylor said he hopes to do work to help other people in situations similar to his.

"This is not just about innocent people, this is about injustice," Taylor said. "Innocence points out injustice."

Source: WRAL News, Feb. 17, 2010