Unique NC innocence panel’s first exoneration nearly doomed when staff overlooked key evidence
By Martha Waggoner, APWednesday, March 17, 2010
Landmark exoneration in NC almost never happened
RALEIGH, N.C. — The man who helped create a groundbreaking innocence commission in North Carolina says the handling of the state’s only exoneration shows the agency needs to make changes.
Former state Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr. tells The Associated Press he’s not happy that investigators for the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission overlooked key evidence in the case. That evidence eventually helped prove that Greg Taylor was not guilty of murdering a prostitute.
Taylor was freed last month after 16 years in prison. His case also has prompted a review of how the state runs its crime lab.
The commission is only state-run agency in the country dedicated to investigating claims of innocence. Executive director Kendra Montgomery-Blinn declined comment.
