Western North Carolina
Victims of the State

17 Cases

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Ronald Cotton was convicted of raping Jennifer Thompson in 1985. The crime occurred in Thompson's apartment in Burlington, NC. The rape was almost identical to another rape committed immediately after Thompson's rape, but the other victim, Elizabeth Watson, had picked a different man out of a police lineup. Cotton was also excluded as the source of blood found on the door through which Watson's assailant entered. Later, the NC Supreme Court overturned Cotton's conviction because the trial judge refused to allow exculpatory evidence from the Watson rape.

While serving time in Central Prison, Cotton happened to meet a new inmate, Bobby Poole, who closely resembled a composite drawing that Thompson had made of her assailant. Poole also happened to be from Burlington and was serving time for rape. Cotton confronted Poole about the Thompson and Watson rapes, but Poole denied he was the assailant. However, another inmate soon reported that Poole had confessed to both rapes. Both Cotton and Poole worked in the prison kitchen and looked so similar that people there were mistaking the two by calling Cotton, “Poole.”

In 1987, Cotton was retried for raping Thompson and tried the first time for raping Watson. Watson had belatedly decided that Cotton was her assailant. At the retrial, the judge refused to allow evidence that an inmate had heard Poole confess to the rapes. Poole's blood type matched the blood spot found in Watson's case, but when Poole was called as a witness, he denied both rapes. Thompson also told the jury, “Bobby Poole didn't rape me. Ronald Cotton did.”

Cotton was convicted of both rapes, but in 1995, DNA tests showed that Poole had committed the Thompson rape. The biological material preserved from the Watson rape was too degraded to test. However, under questioning, Poole confessed to both rapes. The NC Governor subsequently pardoned Cotton. Cotton and Thompson have since become friends. The two appeared on a 60 Minutes episode about the case and on a consecutive episode about the fallibility of eyewitness identification. They also have jointly authored a book entitled Picking Cotton.  (60 Minutes) (Frontline) (CWC) (IP) (CBJ)  [3/09]

Gus Colin Langley was convicted of murdering Lonnie G. Russell during an Asheville gas station holdup. Witnesses reported that the day before the murder they had seen a car with a New Jersey license plate at the gas station. Five days later police located a car with a New Jersey plate in Wilmington, NC, 320 miles away. It was driven by Langley, who, although a native of Wilmington, had worked as a house painter in Jersey City, NJ. Police could not locate any other car with a New Jersey plate in the whole of North Carolina on the day of the murder.

Aside from his license plate, there was no physical evidence against Langley. The prosecution's case relied on informant testimony. Langley had alibi witnesses who could verify that his car could not have been in Asheville the day before the murder, and other witnesses who could verify that he was far from Asheville on the day of the murder. Langley wrote letters to these witnesses, but the letters went unanswered. Later investigation revealed that the witnesses never received his letters. It seems doubtful that his jailers ever mailed them. Langley's execution was stopped 25 minutes before its scheduled time because of a technicality in the judge's order. Langley was cleared in 1936 after it was proven that he was hundreds of miles away from the location of the murder on the day it occurred.  (The Innocents) (ISI)  [5/08]

Hamp Kendall and John Vickers were convicted of the murder of Lawrence Nelson, 25. Nelson disappeared from his rooming house in Lenoir and was found dead 10 weeks later. Kendall was Nelson's roommate and Vickers was Kendall's close friend. Both men had not gone to work on the day that Nelson disappeared. At trial, 15-year-old Omey Greer (aka Omah Grier) testified that the defendants had given her money to lure Nelson to a location in the mountains that was four to five miles from Lenoir. After luring Nelson, Greer said she ran away, but heard a shot fired.

Following the convictions, police arrested Sam Green and his cousin Omey Greer for the murders. Both were acquitted by a jury at trial. In 1916 an investigation conducted by Governor Bickett found that despite his acquittal, Green had murdered Nelson and framed Kendall and Vickers. The Governor issued an unconditional pardon to the two men. Five years later, Green had a coffin built for himself. When it was done, he confessed he had murdered Nelson and then committed suicide.

Three decades after his pardon, Kendall complained in a letter to the state governor that he was being slandered by Nelson's tombstone in Lenoir cemetery which stated Nelson was “murdered and robbed by Hamp Kendall and John Vickers on September 25, 1906.” The governor referred the matter to the Caldwell County board of commissioners, but they were unable to take action as state law made it a misdemeanor to molest a tombstone. However, in 1949, as a favor to Kendall, the state general assembly passed a law making it illegal to erect or maintain a tombstone which charges anyone with a crime. Nelson's tombstone was subsequently torn down.  (Archives) (The Innocents)  [7/09]

Glen (aka Glenn) Edward Chapman was sentenced to death for the murders of Betty Jean Ramseur, 31, and Tenene Yvette Conley, 28. The bodies of both victims were found in abandoned houses within two blocks of each other in southeast Hickory. DNA tests showed that Conley, a prostitute, had had sex with Chapman within days of her death. A report by a forensic scientist later showed that Conley likely died of a drug overdose, rather than by foul play. Three witnesses told jurors Chapman confessed to killing or talked about killing Ramseur. But two of those witnesses have since recanted, saying they lied because they were afraid of police and prosecutors. The third witness said she believes Chapman was joking when he told her he had killed Ramseur. “If anyone asked me at trial, I would have testified that police pressured me into testifying and that I did not believe Edward killed anyone.”

In Nov. 2007, a judge overturned Chapman's convictions. The judge found that: (1) The lead investigator, Detective Dennis Rhoney, withheld information that a key witness in the Ramseur murder identified someone other than Chapman. (2) Rhoney did not reveal that a jail inmate was overheard admitting that he killed Ramseur. (3) Detectives never reported that witnesses said Conley was seen alive with someone who had a history of violence against her in the days after prosecutors said she died. (4) Rhoney lied during his trial testimony against Chapman. (5) Chapman was inadequately defended by his court-appointed attorneys. Chapman's appeals attorneys had argued that his trial attorneys, Thomas Portwood and Robert Adams, failed to interview several critical witnesses and were “excessive users of alcohol.”

Chapman's trial also featured juror misconduct. According to affidavits signed by two jurors, the jury discussed whether Chapman killed a 13-year-old Shelby girl whose body was found the same summer as Ramseur's and Conley's. Chapman was never charged in the girl's slaying, nor was that slaying discussed in the trial. Also, one juror, Irene Freeman, slept through essential testimony until the judge ordered her to wake up. In April 2008 the state dropped charges against Chapman and he was released.  (DW) (News & Observer) (Archives)  [6/08]

Darryl Hunt was twice convicted of murdering 25-year-old Deborah Sykes, first in 1985, then again or retrial in 1990. A DNA test in 1994 excluded him as the murderer, but the prosecutor refused to take any action towards Hunt's release, claiming the test did not exclude him as having some role in the murder. In 2003, Willard E. Brown confessed to being solely responsible for the murder, and Hunt was released on bond two days later. In 2004, Hunt's conviction was vacated and he was awarded $358,545 from the state compensation fund. In 2007, he was awarded an additional $1.65 million by the city of Winston-Salem.  (IP)

“Joseph Lamont Abbitt was wrongly convicted on June 22, 1995, of two counts of first-degree rape, one count of first-degree burglary and two counts of first-degree kidnapping in the 1991 sexual assaults of a 16-year-old girl and her 13-year-old sister in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Abbitt was convicted based on the eyewitness testimony of the two girls, and he was sentenced to life in prison. In 2009 DNA testing unavailable at the time of his trial excluded him as the girls' assailant. Abbitt filed a motion for a new trial based on the new forensic evidence. On September 2, 2009 Abbitt's conviction was vacated by a Forsyth Superior Court judge and he was released later that day. Arrested in 1991, Abbitt was jailed four years awaiting trial, and spent another 14 year in prison, for a total of 18 years of incarceration. Abbitt was the seventh convicted man in North Carolina exonerated by DNA evidence.” – FJDB

Alfred Milton Rivera was convicted of murdering drug dealers Michael A. Nicholson and James E. Smith. He was sentenced to death. The N.C. Supreme Court overturned his conviction because jurors had not been allowed to hear testimony that others who pleaded guilty to the murders may have framed Rivera. Rivera was acquitted at retrial in 1999.  (DPIC) (Appeal)  [9/05]

(Federal Case)  About an hour after a Greensboro, NC bank was robbed of $371,000 by two black males, Charles Walker was arrested at a mall parking lot 2 1/2 miles away from the bank for driving a U-Haul truck without a driver's license. The next day police decided to charge him with the robbery. No evidence linked Walker to the crime other than he being a black male. Walker had rented the U-Haul truck with Emmanuel Brown's stolen driver's license. Two weeks later police and FBI arrested Brown in Philadelphia, PA for the robbery and searched his home. They found $67,365.85 and seized it on suspicion that it was part of the robbery money. Brown, however, co-owned two nightclubs and a restaurant that took in large amounts of cash.

The FBI also charged two others, Susan Parker and Neil Harewood as participants in the robbery. Prior to Brown's trial, Walker agreed to plead guilty and testify against Brown in return for a no-jail time sentence. Harewood also agreed to plead guilty and testify against Brown in exchange for a five-year sentence. Walker and Harewood claimed to have robbed the bank and that the robbery was masterminded by Brown, who was with them in Greensboro, but did not accompany them to the bank. It is not clear that Walker and Harewood even robbed the bank. Given their generous plea deals, there presumably was no physical evidence that they did. Parker was a former bank employee, who allegedly provided inside information. She had once traveled to Philadelphia where she had a family reunion at one of Brown's nightclubs. She was acquitted.

Brown had two alibi witnesses who testified and presented documentation that he was in Philadelphia on the day of the robbery. George Jackson, the owner of Jackson Auto Body Repair in Philadelphia testified that Brown picked up his car at Jackson's shop between 11 a.m. and noon. This was about the time of the 11:30 a.m. robbery in Greensboro. In addition, a physical therapist working for Cynwyd Medical Center in Philadelphia testified that Brown arrived for a regular therapy appointment at 6:10 p.m. Since the distance between the Greensboro bank and medical center was 468 miles, Brown would have had to travel at a speed averaging over 70 miles an hour to make his appointment. Brown was convicted of masterminding the robbery and sentenced to 27 1/2 years in prison.  (Justice: Denied)  [2/07]

William Mason Wellman, a black man, was convicted of the rape of Cora Sowers, a 67-year-old white woman. Wellman was sentenced to death. After he was strapped into the electric chair, N.C. Governor Broughton halted his execution, as word came that another man confessed to the crime. It was later established that Wellman was at work in Virginia, 350 miles away, at the time of the crime and had signed a payroll receipt on the day of the murder. He was granted a full pardon and released.  (Archives)  [4/08]

Steve E. Snipes was convicted of the armed robbery of Thomas Superette, a convenience store near Sanford. After the robbery, two of the store clerks identified the robber as Steve Snipes, a neighborhood man and regular customer of the store. The robber wore a ski mask, and the clerks were not even sure of his race. They said the robber sounded like Snipes would have sounded if he had tried to change his voice. They also said the robber's clothing looked like clothes Snipes sometimes wore.

Police arrested Snipes shortly afterwards. They did not recover the stolen bank bag, money, weapon, or a jacket like the one the robber was wearing 15 minutes earlier. Snipes also had an alibi. However the clerks' testimony was sufficient to convict. Snipes' trial attorney, Andre Barrett, was subsequently disbarred after allegations of misappropriating $800,000 in client funds. The trial prosecutor, Bill Huggins, was accused of trying to get his girlfriend to kill his wife. A plea bargain sent him to prison for obstruction of justice and embezzlement.

Since Snipes' imprisonment, a witness had come forward who testified that another man, Terrance Wyatt, was the robber. Wyatt was caught committing an identical robbery while Snipes was in prison. In 2007, after Snipes served over 5 years of imprisonment, NC Governor Easley pardoned him.  (News & Observer) (AP)  [4/08]

Donald Edward Sweat was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. He was sentenced to 93 to 121 months of imprisonment. Sweat's alleged victim, John Hunter, was assaulted between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. near his mailbox at the intersection of Cletus Hall and Buchanan Farm Roads in Sanford, NC. The assailant struck John several times in the face, breaking a cheekbone and his jawbone. John's brother, Joe Hunter, had driven John to the mailbox and told the assailant to stop, but the assailant threatened to kill him if he did not get back in his car. The assailant then threatened to kill John and slashed his arm with a knife, cutting the sleeve of his coat and requiring him to get nine stitches on his arm. The assailant left the scene and the Hunters drove 1 1/2 miles to John's house where they called the police at 9:08 p.m.

Sweat lived with his aunt, Vonnie Hall, across a five acre lot from John Hunter's mailbox. Between 8:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., Hall pulled into her driveway behind a car driven by Sweat's friend in which Sweat was a passenger. She reprimanded Sweat and his friend because out on the road they had been driving closely behind her with their bright lights on. According to Hall, Sweat “started acting crazy” and argued with his friend about having his high beams on. Sweat went outside and Hall watched him walk down the road in a direction away from the intersection with the mailboxes. Sweat came back to the house and said, “I can't satisfy nobody. I hurt everybody I see.” He began giving his things to his aunt such as a watch and jewelry he was wearing and items in his pockets, including his wallet and a fold-up razor blade. Hall stated he used the blade to cut dogs' ears. Sweat went outside and began yelling, then asked his friend to take him to jail. The two men left. Magistrate Randy Carter testified that Sweat came to his office and stated that he “wanted to turn himself in, that he had hurt somebody, and he needed to be locked up.” Carter called the Sheriff's office and police soon charged Sweat with assaulting John Hunter.

At trial, neither John Hunter nor Joe Hunter could not identify Sweat as the assailant they saw. The only description they had given of the assailant was that he was a man or a boy. Sweat's defense asked for a directed verdict of acquittal due to insufficient evidence, but it was refused. On appeal in April 2009, the North Carolina Court of Appeals agreed with Sweat that the evidence was insufficient and reversed his conviction.  (State v. Sweat)  [7/09]

On January 31, 1942, Blanche N. Jennings, a married white woman in Charlotte, NC, accused John Wesley Benton, a 33-year-old black man, of raping her. In an agreement precluding a death sentence, Benton pled no contest to a reduced charge of assault with intent to commit rape. He was sentenced to 15 years at hard labor. In 1943, Governor Broughton granted Benton a full pardon. The basis of the pardon is unknown because neither Benton's pardon application nor the pardon itself exists in state archives, and there were no contemporary accounts in the local press. In 1947, North Carolina Council of State awarded Benton $715.30 for the seven months he spent behind bars. Benton lived in Charlotte until his death in 1984.  (CWC)  [4/09]

Samuel A. Poole was convicted of breaking into and entering the home of Tennie A. Maness with intent to commit rape. Poole was given a mandatory death sentence. The victim lived alone in a four room brick house on Rt. 1 in Robbins, NC. Key evidence against Poole was that a button found in the victim's home seemed to match a button missing from a shirt that was found in Poole's home. In addition, Poole owned the type of gun the victim claimed she saw, and he was in the general vicinity on the day of the incident. These three items of evidence made up the entirety of the state's case.  On appeal in 1974, the NC Supreme Court ruled that the evidence was insufficient to sustain a conviction and acquitted Poole of all charges.  (State v. Poole)  [7/05]

Jerry Lee Hamilton was sentenced to death for the murder of Joy Jones Goebel. Soon after the murder, Hamilton's nephew, Johnnie Ray Knight, confessed to murdering Goebel and led police to the location of her body in a wooded area. Knight later fingered Hamilton and said Hamilton had killed Goebel with Knight's knife after both he and Hamilton had sex with her. Post-conviction DNA tests showed that the semen in Goebel belonged only to Knight. At trial Knight testified that he was receiving no deals for his testimony, but a letter hidden by the prosecution later surfaced in which Knight wrote to a Sheriff's Dept. captain and invited him to “come talk to me and maybe we can work out a deal.” Because of the letter, Hamilton's conviction was overturned in 2003 and he faces a possible retrial.  (Raleigh News-Observer)  [12/05]

James Bernard Parker was accused of molesting 19 children and convicted of molesting four boys, ages 5 to 12. The alleged assaults purportedly occurred near the Icemorlee Street Apartments in Monroe. Few children initially told their parents. The stories came out only when school counselors began asking questions. Parker was sentenced to 3 life terms plus 60 years. No physical evidence linked him to the alleged crimes and he was charged even though children told stories of being tied to trees and fed poisoned ice cream. They also gave a wide range of descriptions of their attacker. In 2002, an investigation begun by a UNC journalism student brought forth 15 reported victims and witnesses who said the crimes never happened or that Parker was not the attacker. The only three boys who testified against Parker have since signed affidavits saying Parker did not commit the crimes. In 2004, Parker, who maintains his innocence, was coerced into pleading guilty to reduced sex crime charges in exchange for release from imprisonment.  (Article)

Johnathan Gregory Hoffman (aka Jonathan) was sentenced to death for the robbery and murder of jewelry store owner Danny Cook. Cook was shot to death during a robbery of his Marshville store by an assailant wearing a ski mask and carrying a sawed-off shotgun. At trial, the state’s star witness, Johnell Porter, testified that Hoffman made a a jailhouse confession to him. The prosecution hid evidence that Porter was receiving significant concessions for his testimony. Because of this withheld evidence Hoffman was granted a new trial in 2004. In 2006 Porter recanted his testimony and admitted it was false. In 2007 all charges against Hoffman were dropped.  (AE) (DW) (Appeals)  [10/09]

Charles Munsey was convicted of the murder of Shirley Weaver. Weaver, 66, was killed during a robbery in her boyfriend's trailer near Wilkesboro. She had been bludgeoned with a frying pan and a shotgun. Munsey was convicted because of the testimony of Timothy Bryan Hall, a jailhouse informant. Prior to trial, Munsey and his attorneys had seen Hall's name on a witness list, but had no idea who he was. When Hall took the stand to testify, Munsey turned to his counsel and said, “I've never seen the man before.” Hall testified that he talked to Munsey in late 1993 in the yard at Central Prison. According to Hall, Munsey was wearing an orange jumpsuit and sitting on a picnic table. Munsey told him he surprised Weaver in the house. She slapped him and he crushed her skull with a rifle butt.

Hall said he had no ulterior motive to testify against Munsey. “I found God a few years ago, or a few months ago – and I – it's just the right thing to do. No matter, no matter what happens to me, I still feel like in my heart I've done the right thing.” Munsey's lawyers poked some holes in Hall's testimony; Central Prison had no orange jumpsuits or picnic tables. However, they failed to win over the jury.

In 1997, Munsey's ex-brother-in-law, Oid Michael Hawkins, confessed to the murder. He also said he had taken a pistol from Weaver's home and placed it in Munsey's home. In 1998, a judge ordered Munsey's prosecutor, Randy Lyon, to turn over files he concealed from Munsey. Six days later, after church services, Lyon went home and hanged himself. His files showed that Hall had never been in Central Prison. Despite the exonerating evidence, the new prosecutor, Tom Horner, fought to keep Munsey imprisoned. Munsey won a new trial but died in prison before it could take place.  (News & Observer)  [5/08]