Blog Written by Attorney Gary K. Shipman

On Monday, the president of the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys called for a moratorium on the execution of anyone on North Carolina’s death row whose cases include evidence from the SBI crime lab.  There is little doubt that the Governor of North Carolina should heed this call, and shut down the prospect of bringing further shame over any aspect of the criminal justice system in North Carolina that relied upon blood evidence from the now tainted SBI lab.

A recent audit disclosed what was an apparent routine practice of manipulating test results, or worse, withholding evidence that may have proven beneficial to a defendant at trial.  We now know that some innocent people were likely convicted and that accordingly, crime victims must face the prospect of a new trial or the realization that those that are truly guilty have not been held accountable.  When the embarrassment of a broken SBI lab are coupled with statistics that show racial disparities in jury selection and sentencing in death penalty cases, there can be little effective debate about the notion that no one should face the ultimate criminal penalty (death) until more credibility can be brought to the process of finding the truth.

While it is necessary to halt further executions while all of this is investigated, it is likewise necessary to insure that all those involved in the obstruction of justice in the SBI likewise be held accountable.  It is so vitally important that a strong message be sent that the search for justice cannot be manufactured or manipulated, and that all those who would seek to stray from that notion must be punished