Fitzsimon File

Governor Beverly Perdue is reportedly frustrated at her record low approval ratings in the polls. That was confirmed Thursday morning in her teleconference with reporters from China, where she is heading a state delegation on an economic development mission.

Perdue was asked about the scheduled release next week of 20 inmates convicted of violent crimes in the early 1970s and sentenced to life in prison. The Court of Appeals recently ruled that the law at the time defined life as 80 years and under that interpretation and another change in sentencing laws in early 1980s, the prisoners who have earned time off their sentence for good behavior are eligible for release since they have served at least 30 years.

Perdue's response to the question about the inmates was to say that she was considering defying the courts and refusing to allow the prisoners to be released, jokingly asking if people would visit her in jail and reporting that one person promised to bring her cookies.

Maybe somebody should bring her a copy of the court's ruling, along with a copy of the law and the state constitution.

The inmates committed terrible crimes, including murder, and it is understandable that their release makes people nervous.  But they were tried, convicted, and sentenced in North Carolina courts by North Carolina judges and juries according to North Carolina law.

Perdue can disagree all she wants to with the law at the time and it has been changed since to make sure life in prison means life in prison, but the law was clear then and the inmates served the sentenced they received.

Perdue is not only pandering in her comments about defying the courts, she is inflaming public opinion and feeding the media frenzy that makes any rational discussion of the situation possible.

U.S. Attorney George Holding weighed in too, calling the planned release an outrage and saying he was trying to find a way to charge the inmates with federal crimes to keep them behind bars.  Law enforcement groups and victims right organizations are also speaking out, supporting Perdue's efforts to find some way to keep the inmates in prison.

And not to be out pandered, legislators are jumping to the fray. House Minority Leader Paul Stam and Rep. Nelson Dollar hand delivered a letter to Attorney General Roy Cooper and Secretary of Correction Alvin Keller Wednesday asking them not "voluntarily release these violent felons," and that a thorough legal review makes that clear.

The N.C. Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals ruling and it's probably a safe bet that the justices reviewed the law before agreeing that the inmates have served their time and must be released. 

And as the Wilmington Star-News points out, Republicans hold a 4-3 majority on the Supreme Court and the three judges on the Court of Appeals panel that heard the case are all Republicans.

This isn't a partisan issue and shouldn't be. Politicians can't simply ignore court decisions.

And the state can't tell an inmate who has served his time that he has to serve more because of public opinion and politicians worried about appearing soft on crime.  Not as long as there is a constitution, a document that Perdue and her fellow panders ought to look over once in a while.

 Email This Post  Print This Post

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 2:39 pm and is filed under Fitzsimon File. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.