Who We’ve Helped
Brandon Jones and Leroy Spruill – Freedom, but no Justice
On December 18, 1993, notorious drug dealer Frank Swain was found murdered in his Washington County, North Carolina home. Almost one year later, on December 13, 1994 Brandon Jones and Leroy Spruill were arrested for his murder.
Mark Carver, conviction overturned after 8 years
Mark Carver was convicted on March 21, 2011 for the murder of UNC-Charlotte student Irina Yarmolenko and sentenced to life in prison. The victim’s body was found on an embankment of the Catawba River a hundred yards from the spot where Mr. Carver and his cousin, Neal Cassada, had been fishing. Although there was no clear evidence of guilt, both men were charged with Ms. Yarmolenko’s murder. Mr. Cassada died as a result of pre-existing heart problems the day before his trial.
Ghost of the Innocent Man, a book about Willie Grimes’ Exoneration
Ghost of the Innocent Man, by Benjamin Rachlin, chronicles Willie Grimes’ exoneration and the establishment of the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission. It was just named one of Amazon’s Best Books of August 2017.
Joseph Abbitt
In 1995, a Forsyth County jury convicted Joseph Abbitt of the 1991 first-degree rape, first-degree burglary, and first-degree kidnapping of two young sisters from Winston-Salem. His conviction was based on the eyewitness identification of the two victims, but the circumstances of the crimes against them called into question the reliability of the identification.
Dwayne Dail Exonerated After 18 Years
2007 – In 1989, 20 year-old Dwayne Dail was sentenced to two life sentences plus 18 years for the rape of a 12 year-old girl in Goldsboro, NC. The prosecution’s case relied heavily on two pieces of “evidence”: 1) the victim’s cross-racial identification of Dwayne as her rapist made six weeks after the rape and 2) a lab analyst’s testimony that hairs found at the crime scene were “microscopically consistent” with Dwayne’s.
Greg Taylor: In Pursuit of Justice
On September 26, 1991, Greg Taylor got his Nissan Pathfinder stuck in mud approximately 100 yards from a cul-de-sac where a young woman named Jacquetta Thomas was found brutally murdered early the next morning. In April 1993, despite the lack of any evidence linking Greg to the victim, Greg was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Willie Grimes: Free At Last
In 1987, an African-American male forced his way into the home of an elderly woman in Hickory, North Carolina. The intruder warned that he had a knife in his pocket and he would cut her if she did not cooperate. He proceeded to rape her twice before leaving out her back door. On his way out the door, he went through her fruit bowl and took a few pieces with him.
Larry Lamb: A Free Man
In the early morning hours of February 28, 1987, Mr. Leamon Grady was found dead in his Mount Olive, North Carolina residence from a single gunshot wound to the chest. No murder weapon was ever found.
Joseph Sledge Exonerated after 37 Years
Three judges agreed to exonerate Joseph Sledge in a 1976 double murder after a special session of superior court in Whiteville, N.C. on Friday, January 23, Sledge, 70, has been proclaiming his innocence for more than three decades.
Edward McInnis – 27 years served for a crime he did not commit
On February 23, 1988, a man broke into the home of an 81 year old woman in Laurinburg, North Carolina and raped her, stealing money from her purse before leaving through the back door. The woman was stabbed in the left shoulder by a letter opener and suffered abrasions to her face. She described the attack in detail to the police, but she had only seen the perpetrator briefly by the light of a pen light he carried. The perpetrator covered her head with a comforter before raping her.
Johnny Small, arrested at 15, exonerated 28 years later
On July 13, 1988, Pamela Dreher was shot and killed in the fish store she owned in Wilmington, North Carolina. At 5:38 p.m., Ms. Dreher was seen alive by her last known customer. The “no sale” button, used to open the cash register without having made a sale, was pushed at 5:46 p.m. and 5:49 p.m., which is likely when the cash register was opened by Ms. Dreher for the perpetrator or opened by the perpetrator, as it was found open and empty. Ms. Dreher’s purse and jewelry were left untouched.
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