Location

Defendant(s)

Date of Alleged Crime

Ronald Cotton was convicted of raping Jennifer Thompson in 1985.  The crime occurred in Thompson's apartment in Burlington, NC.  The rape was almost identical to another rape committed immediately after Thompson's rape, but the other victim, Elizabeth Watson, had picked a different man out of a police lineup.  Cotton was also excluded as the source of blood found on the door through which Watson's assailant entered.  Later, the NC Supreme Court overturned Cotton's conviction because the trial judge refused to allow exculpatory evidence from the Watson rape. 

While serving time in Central Prison, Cotton happened to meet a new inmate, Bobby Poole, who closely resembled a composite drawing that Thompson had made of her assailant.  Poole also happened to be from Burlington and was serving time for rape.  Cotton confronted Poole about the Thompson and Watson rapes, but Poole denied he was the assailant.  However, another inmate soon reported that Poole had confessed to both rapes.  Both Cotton and Poole worked in the prison kitchen and looked so similar that people there were mistaking the two by calling Cotton, "Poole."

In 1987, Cotton was retried for raping Thompson and tried the first time for raping Watson.  Watson had belatedly decided that Cotton was her assailant.  At the retrial, the judge refused to allow evidence that an inmate had heard Poole confess to the rapes.  Poole's blood type matched the blood spot found in Watson's case, but when Poole was called as a witness, he denied both rapes.  Thompson also told the jury, “Bobby Poole didn't rape me. Ronald Cotton did.”

Cotton was convicted of both rapes, but in 1995, DNA tests showed that Poole had committed the Thompson rape.  The biological material preserved from the Watson rape was too degraded to test.  However, under questioning, Poole confessed to both rapes.  The NC Governor subsequently pardoned Cotton.  Cotton and Thompson have since become friends.  The two appeared on a 60 Minutes episode about the case and on a consecutive episode about the fallibility of eyewitness identification.  They also have jointly authored a book entitled Picking Cotton.  (60 Minutes) (Frontline) (CWC) (IP) (CBJ)  [3/09]

Gus Colin Langley was convicted of murdering Lonnie G. Russell during an Asheville gas station holdup.  Witnesses reported that the day before the murder they had seen a car with a New Jersey license plate at the gas station.  Five days later police located a car with a New Jersey plate in Wilmington, NC, 320 miles away.  It was driven by Langley, who, although a native of Wilmington, had worked as a house painter in Jersey City, NJ.  Police could not locate any other car with a New Jersey plate in the whole of North Carolina on the day of the murder.

Aside from his license plate, there was no physical evidence against Langley.  The prosecution's case relied on informant testimony.  Langley had alibi witnesses who could verify that his car could not have been in Asheville the day before the murder, and other witnesses who could verify that he was far from Asheville on the day of the murder.  Langley wrote letters to these witnesses, but the letters went unanswered.  Later investigation revealed that the witnesses never received his letters.  It seems doubtful that his jailers ever mailed them.  Langley's execution was stopped 25 minutes before its scheduled time because of a technicality in the judge's order.  Langley was cleared in 1936 after it was proven that he was 400 miles away from the location of the murder on the day it occurred.  (ISI)  [5/08]

Hamp Kendall and John Vickers were convicted of the murder of Lawrence Nelson, 25.  Nelson disappeared from his rooming house in Lenoir and was found dead 10 weeks later.  Kendall was Nelson's roommate and Vickers was Kendall's close friend.  Both men had not gone to work on the day that Nelson disappeared.  At trial, 15-year-old Omey Greer (aka Omah Grier) testified that the defendants had given her money to lure Nelson to a location in the mountains that was four to five miles from Lenoir.  After luring Nelson, Greer said she ran away, but heard a shot fired.

Following the convictions, police arrested Sam Green and his cousin Omey Greer for the murders.  Both were acquitted by a jury at trial.  In 1916 an investigation conducted by Governor Bickett found that despite his acquittal, Green had murdered Nelson and framed Kendall and Vickers.  The Governor issued an unconditional pardon to the two men.  Five years later, Green had a coffin built for himself.  When it was done, he confessed he had murdered Nelson and then committed suicide.

Three decades after his pardon, Kendall complained in a letter to the state governor that he was being slandered by Nelson's tombstone in Lenoir cemetery which stated Nelson "was murdered and robbed by Hamp Kendall and John Vickers on September 25, 1906."  The governor referred the matter to the Caldwell County board of commissioners, but they were unable to take action as state law made it a misdemeanor to molest a tombstone.  However, in 1949, as a favor to Kendall, the state general assembly passed a law making it illegal to erect or maintain a tombstone which charges anyone with a crime.  Nelson's tombstone was subsequently torn down.  (Google) (The Innocents)  [7/09]

Glen (aka Glenn) Edward Chapman was sentenced to death for the murders of Betty Jean Ramseur, 31, and Tenene Yvette Conley, 28.  The bodies of both victims were found in abandoned houses within two blocks of each other in southeast Hickory.  DNA tests showed that Conley, a prostitute, had had sex with Chapman within days of her death.  A report by a forensic scientist later showed that Conley likely died of a drug overdose, rather than by foul play.  Three witnesses told jurors Chapman confessed to killing or talked about killing Ramseur. But two of those witnesses have since recanted, saying they lied because they were afraid of police and prosecutors. The third witness said she believes Chapman was joking when he told her he had killed Ramseur.  "If anyone asked me at trial, I would have testified that police pressured me into testifying and that I did not believe Edward killed anyone."

In Nov. 2007, a judge overturned Chapman's convictions.  The judge found that:  (1) The lead investigator, Detective Dennis Rhoney, withheld information that a key witness in the Ramseur murder identified someone other than Chapman.  (2) Rhoney did not reveal that a jail inmate was overheard admitting that he killed Ramseur.  (3) Detectives never reported that witnesses said Conley was seen alive with someone who had a history of violence against her in the days after prosecutors said she died.  (4) Rhoney lied during his trial testimony against Chapman.  (5) Chapman was inadequately defended by his court-appointed attorneys.  Chapman's appeals attorneys had argued that his trial attorneys, Thomas Portwood and Robert Adams, failed to interview several critical witnesses and were "excessive users of alcohol."

Chapman's trial also featured juror misconduct.  According to affidavits signed by two jurors, the jury discussed whether Chapman killed a 13-year-old Shelby girl whose body was found the same summer as Ramseur's and Conley's.  Chapman was never charged in the girl's slaying, nor was that slaying discussed in the trial. Also, one juror, Irene Freeman, slept through essential testimony until the judge ordered her to wake up. In April 2008 the state dropped charges against Chapman and he was released.  (DW) (News & Observer) (Google)  [6/08]

Johnnie Beck, 18, used a hunting rifle to shoot twice into the chest of Jeffery Watts, 19, in the parking lot of a Whiteville Burger King.  Watts had just stabbed Johnnie's twin, Ronnie Beck, three times in the chest and once in the arm, just before turning on Johnnie and slicing off his left thumb.  Johnnie was charged with second-degree murder as the state argued that the second shot was premeditated murder, even though it was fired only one to two seconds after the first.  Watts happened to be a relative of state senator R.C. Soles.  There was a last minute change of judges before trial and the trial was marked by jury tampering.  The defense argued self-defense, but Beck was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to a minimum of 10 years imprisonment.

Beck was released in June 2006 after the charge was reduced to manslaughter and he was released with time served. Beck's father spent half-a-million dollars on lawyers and investigators before successfully having his son's murder conviction set-aside.  (Blue Line Radio)  [3/07]

(Federal Case)  Army Captain Jeffrey MacDonald was convicted of the murder of his wife Collette, 26, and the murders of two daughters, Kimberly, 5, and Kristen, 2.  According to MacDonald, he and his family were attacked by intruders to their home at 544 Castle Drive in Fort Bragg, a U.S. military base.  MacDonald survived with wounds including a collapsed lung.  MacDonald was acquitted of the murders at a Ft. Bragg Army hearing and probably would not have been tried again had he not angered the prosecution by criticizing them during interviews on national TV.  MacDonald's Army acquittal meant that he could not be court-martialed, but he could still be tried in federal court and he was.  Before his federal trial MacDonald invited author Joe McGinniss on his defense team to write a book and hopefully help to establish his factual innocence.  At that trial MacDonald was unfortunately convicted.

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Lee Wayne Hunt was convicted of the murders of Roland "Tadpole" Matthews Jr. and his wife, Lisa K. Matthews.  Both were shot execution-style, their throats slit, in their home on a dirt road near Fayetteville.  Prosecutors argued that the murders were punishment for an alleged theft of marijuana by Roland from Hunt's drug ring.  Hunt was an admitted marijuana dealer.  A codefendant, Jerry Dale Cashwell, was also convicted.

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Levon "Bo" Jones and Larry Lamb were convicted of the murder of Leamon Grady.  Jones was sentenced to death while Lamb was sentenced to life imprisonment.  A federal judge overturned Jones's conviction in 2006, declaring that the defense provided by Jones's initial defense attorneys was so poor that they missed critical evidence pointing to his innocence. The sole witness accusing Jones of the murder, Lovely Lorden, later admitted in an affidavit that she "was certain that Bo did not have anything to do with Mr. Grady's murder" and that she did not know what happened the night Grady was murdered.  Jones's first trial lawyer never bothered to gather the many conflicting statements of Lorden, let alone do the kind of investigation necessary in a first degree murder case. It is possible Lorden would have admitted the truth earlier had the case been investigated and had she been adequately cross-examined.  In May 2008, the prosecution dropped charges against Jones, just days before his scheduled retrial.  Jones was released the next day.

Jones's codefendant, Larry Lamb, was also convicted due to the testimony of Lorden.  Lamb has always maintained his innocence and had turned down a plea offer of a six-year sentence.  Lamb plans to ask the newly formed North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission to review his case.  (ACLU)  [5/08]

(Federal Case)  About an hour after a Greensboro, NC bank was robbed of $371,000 by two black males, Charles Walker was arrested at a mall parking lot 2 1/2 miles away from the bank for driving a U-Haul truck without a driver's license.  The next day police decided to charge him with the robbery.  No evidence linked Walker to the crime other than he being a black male.  Walker had rented the U-Haul truck with Emmanuel Brown's stolen driver's license.  Two weeks later police and FBI arrested Brown in Philadelphia, PA for the robbery and searched his home.  They found $67,365.85 and seized it on suspicion that it was part of the robbery money.  Brown, however, co-owned two nightclubs and a restaurant that took in large amounts of cash.

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Steve E. Snipes was convicted of the armed robbery of Thomas Superette, a convenience store near Sanford.  After the robbery, two of the store clerks identified the robber as Steve Snipes, a neighborhood man and regular customer of the store.  The robber wore a ski mask, and the clerks were not even sure of his race.  They said the robber sounded like Snipes would have sounded if he had tried to change his voice.  They also said the robber's clothing looked like clothes Snipes sometimes wore.

Police arrested Snipes shortly afterwards.  They did not recover the stolen bank bag, money, weapon, or a jacket like the one the robber was wearing 15 minutes earlier.  Snipes also had an alibi.  However the clerks' testimony was sufficient to convict.  Snipes' trial attorney, Andre Barrett, was subsequently disbarred after allegations of misappropriating $800,000 in client funds.  The trial prosecutor, Bill Huggins, was accused of trying to get his girlfriend to kill his wife. A plea bargain sent him to prison for obstruction of justice and embezzlement.

Since Snipes' imprisonment,  a witness had come forward who testified that another man, Terrance Wyatt, was the robber.  Wyatt was caught committing an identical robbery while Snipes was in prison.  In 2007, after Snipes served over 5 years of imprisonment, NC Governor Easley pardoned him.  (News & Observer) (AP)  [4/08]

Donald Edward Sweat was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.  He was sentenced to 93 to 121 months of imprisonment.  Sweat's alleged victim, John Hunter, was assaulted between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. near his mailbox at the intersection of Cletus Hall and Buchanan Farm Roads in Sanford, NC.  The assailant struck John several times in the face, breaking a cheekbone and his jawbone.  John's brother, Joe Hunter, had driven John to the mailbox and told the assailant to stop, but the assailant threatened to kill him if he did not get back in his car.  The assailant then threatened to kill John and slashed his arm with a knife, cutting the sleeve of his coat and requiring him to get nine stitches on his arm.  The assailant left the scene and the Hunters drove 1 1/2 miles to John's house where they called the police at 9:08 p.m.

Sweat lived with his aunt, Vonnie Hall, across a five acre lot from John Hunter's mailbox.  Between 8:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., Hall pulled into her driveway behind a car driven by Sweat's friend in which Sweat was a passenger.  She reprimanded Sweat and his friend because out on the road they had been driving closely behind her with their bright lights on.  According to Hall, Sweat “started acting crazy” and argued with his friend about having his high beams on.  Sweat went outside and Hall watched him walk down the road in a direction away from the intersection with the mailboxes. Sweat came back to the house and said, “I can't satisfy nobody.  I hurt everybody I see.”  He began giving his things to his aunt such as a watch and jewelry he was wearing and items in his pockets, including his wallet and a fold-up razor blade.  Hall stated he used the blade to cut dogs' ears.  Sweat went outside and began yelling, then asked his friend to take him to jail.  The two men left.  Magistrate Randy Carter testified that Sweat came to his office and stated that he “wanted to turn himself in, that he had hurt somebody, and he needed to be locked up.”  Carter called the Sheriff's office and police soon charged Sweat with assaulting John Hunter.

At trial, neither John Hunter nor Joe Hunter could not identify Sweat as the assailant they saw.  The only description they had given of the assailant was that he was a man or a boy.  Sweat's defense asked for a directed verdict of acquittal due to insufficient evidence, but it was refused.  On appeal in April 2009, the North Carolina Court of Appeals agreed with Sweat that the evidence was insufficient and reversed his conviction.  (State v. Sweat)  [7/09]

Henry Lee Hunt was convicted of the murders of Jackie Ray Ransom and Larry Jones.  Ransom had married Dorothy Locklear while she was still married to Rogers Locklear.  Dorothy and Rogers then hired A. R. Barnes to kill Ransom so Dorothy could collect on a $25,000 life insurance policy.  The policy paid a double indemnity for accidental death including homicide.  Barnes recruited his brother, Elwell Barnes to help in the murder.  Someone shot Ransom to death on Sept. 8, 1984 in the woods near a bar.  A week later, on Sept. 14, someone shot and killed a man named Larry Jones, apparently because Jones was telling police what he knew about the Ransom murder.  Jones was implicating Rogers Locklear in the murder, but made no mention of Hunt.  Jones was buried in a shallow grave.

A. R. Barnes confessed to the crimes.  Subsequently, he recanted and blamed Hunt, who had a criminal record and was in prison for a drug offense. Other witnesses also pointed to Hunt, although their initial statements conflicted with each other.  According to two reconstruction experts, witness Jerome Ratley's account of Jones's murder could not have happened the way that Ratley told the jury at Hunt's trial.  Prosecutors introduced a shovel into evidence that they said Hunt used to bury Jones, but they did not tell the jury that the soil on the shovel did not match the soil in which Jones had been buried.

Hunt consistently maintained his innocence and passed two lie detector tests regarding the murders.  While such tests do not prove Hunt's innocence, they raise doubt about his guilt.  Elwell Barnes signed an 1989 affidavit in which he wrote that Hunt "has been convicted for a crime that A. R. Barnes, Jerome Ratley, Roger Locklear and myself committed."  The prosecution withheld evidence and then "lost" field notes and other files that would have undermined the state's case.  In 2003, the state was refusing to allow lawyers to see the evidence that remained.  Hunt was executed by lethal injection on Sept. 13, 2003.  (Charlotte Observer) (Greensboro News & Record)  [5/08]

In 1988, Eddie Hatcher and a fellow American Indian took over The Robesonian newspaper offices in Lumberton and held 20 staff members hostage.  The pair demanded that the state governor commit to an independent investigation of allegations of crooked county government, unsolved murders and rampant drug trafficking in the area.  The pair released the hostages after then Gov. Jim Martin agreed.  A state task force later determined their allegations to be unfounded.  However, years later, a federal investigation had by 2006 led to the arrests of six sheriff deputies and two Lumberton police officers, with more arrests likely.  Deputies were living far beyond their means with profits from the drug trade flowing up Interstate 95.

Hatcher faced federal charges on the newspaper takeover, but by representing himself at trial convinced a jury to acquit him.  The state then filed charges on which he was convicted.  One condition of his parole was that he not enter Robeson County.  In 1998, following parole completion, Hatcher ignored the advice of friends and foes and returned to Robeson County.  He was a folk hero to some and became very active in local politics.  He even expressed possible intentions of running for a seat in the state legislature.

In 1999, Hatcher's friend, Brian McMillan was shot to death in Maxton.  Bullets from three different guns were found at the scene, implying more than one person committed the shooting.  Hatcher was arrested alone after the shooting and none of the recovered bullets were fired from his gun.  No one else was ever charged in the shooting.  McMillan's mother has even stated that she knows Hatcher did not kill her son.  At trial in 2000, the DA presented four criminals and an illiterate 20-year old as witnesses.  The witnesses convinced a jury to convict Hatcher of McMillan's murder.  Hatcher received a life without parole sentence.  He died in prison at age 51 in 2009.  (Screwed Central)  [2/07]

Charles Munsey was convicted of the murder of Shirley Weaver.  Weaver, 66, was killed during a robbery in her boyfriend's trailer near Wilkesboro.  She had been bludgeoned with a frying pan and a shotgun.  Munsey was convicted because of the testimony of Timothy Bryan Hall, a jailhouse informant.  Prior to trial, Munsey and his attorneys had seen Hall's name on a witness list, but had no idea who he was.  When Hall took the stand to testify, Munsey turned to his counsel and said, "I've never seen the man before."  Hall testified that he talked to Munsey in late 1993 in the yard at Central Prison.  According to Hall, Munsey was wearing an orange jumpsuit and sitting on a picnic table.  Munsey told him he surprised Weaver in the house.  She slapped him and he crushed her skull with a rifle butt.

Hall said he had no ulterior motive to testify against Munsey.  "I found God a few years ago, or a few months ago -- and I -- it's just the right thing to do. No matter, no matter what happens to me, I still feel like in my heart I've done the right thing."  Munsey's lawyers poked some holes in Hall's testimony; Central Prison had no orange jumpsuits or picnic tables.  However, they failed to win over the jury.

In 1997, Munsey's ex-brother-in-law, Oid Michael Hawkins, confessed to the murder.  He also said he had taken a pistol from Weaver's home and placed it in Munsey's home.  In 1998, a judge ordered Munsey's prosecutor, Randy Lyon, to turn over files he concealed from Munsey.  Six days later, after church services, Lyon went home and hanged himself.  His files showed that Hall had never been in Central Prison.  Despite the exonerating evidence, the new prosecutor, Tom Horner, fought to keep Munsey imprisoned.  Munsey won a new trial but died in prison before it could take place.  (News & Observer)  [5/08]