Reposted from a blog post at The NC Gun Blog. This is an interview with the North Raleigh Man who dared to think on his own and study the traffic problems near his house rather than blindly accept The State DOT’s word. For his reward, the NC DOT has asked that an investigation be opened into whether he has been “practicing engineering without a license.”
I read a news story on The Daily Caller about John Grisham speaking at Wake Forest Univeristy’s Law School. As part of the research he did for his Book, The Innocent Man, he discovered what he calls the innocence movement, which works to help people who have been wrongly convicted. He was visiting Wake Forest University because the Law School has an Innocence and Justice Clinic.
He noted that the North Carolina General Assembly has established The North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission to investigate innocence claims.
At first this seemed like an extrajudicial process and I wasn’t too thrilled about it. But they base their inquiries only on new evidence that has come to light after the trial and conviction. You can read the full statute that created the commission here. But the gist of the process is that the commission has authority to gather evidence, hold hearings and other sorts of procedures to evaluate the new evidence. And if the commission believe there is sufficient evidence to support the claims of innocence, they refer the case to a panel of three Superior Court judges. If all three judges agree, they have the power to dismiss the charges.
Technology is always advancing and forensic science is always advancing. And let’s face it, sometimes not all of the facts come out until it is too late. So there’s always a chance that new exculpatory evidence can come out after the fact. So I think it’s great that there is a commission like this and a judicial process to go with it.
Could this process be abused. Of course. Just like any other government process or agency. But it’s better to have this Commission than to not have it.
