Easley signs bill establishing Innocence Commission

[citizen snips]

Gov. Mike Easley signed into law this morning the country’s first state panel to evaluate felons’ innocence claims.

The N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission will start reviewing such claims starting Nov. 1.

The commission’s proponents say it will address an inadequacy in the current criminal appeals process — a focus on determining whether a defendant received a fair trial, as opposed to evaluating their guilt or innocence. Several North Carolina inmates who were later exonerated for their crimes had to file as many as 11 appeals before they were freed.

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