MISCARRIAGES OF JUSTICE
IN POTENTIALLY CAPITAL CASES (1987)
by Hugo Adam Bedau and Michael L. Radelet

Excerpt from Appendix A: Catalogue of Defendants

DOVE, FRANK, FRED DOVE, AND GEORGE WILLIAMS (all black). 1922. North Carolina. All three were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. A fourth defendant, on the morning of his execution, stated that these three men had nothing to do with the crime, although his perjured testimony, apparently coerced, was the basis for their conviction. In 1923, after petition from the trial judge, among others, Governor Morrison commuted the sentences of death to life imprisonment. In 1928, after petition by the prosecutor, some of the arresting officers, and some of the original jurors, the men received an “absolute” pardon from Governor McLean.1

Footnote

1. See generally NORTH CAROLINA BD. OF CHARITIES AND PUB. WELFARE, SPECIAL BULLETIN NO. 10: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN NORTH CAROLINA 45-49 (1929).