Thread: 20 violent NC inmates going free under 1970s law

20 violent NC inmates going free under 1970s law

By MIKE BAKER, The Associated Press
4:51 p.m. October 15, 2009

RALEIGH, N.C. — A cadre of murderers and rapists, several of whom victimized young girls, will be set free from North Carolina prisons this month after state courts agreed that a decades-old law defined life sentences as only 80 years long.

Dozens more inmates could be released in the coming months unless the state can figure out a legal recourse to keep them behind bars, officials said Thursday. Gov. Beverly Perdue called them "dangerous criminals" who have repeatedly been denied parole.

"I'm appalled that the state of North Carolina is being forced to release prisoners who have committed the most heinous of crimes, without any review of their cases," Perdue said in a statement.

One of the 20 inmates set for release, Bobby Bowden, had argued that a law adopted in 1974 clearly defined life sentences as just 80 years. The 60-year-old convicted murderer believed that the statute, combined with good conduct credits, means his life sentence is now complete.

The Court of Appeals sided with Bowden last year. North Carolina's Supreme Court rejected an appeal from the state earlier this month after a lawyer from the attorney general's office had argued that the 80-year figure was ambiguous and likely meant to determine when somebody would be eligible for parole.

Justices on the high court balked at that argument, and an attorney for Bowden called it "legal gymnastics." The statute, which was in place for several years in the 1970s, says: "A sentence of life imprisonment shall be considered as a sentence of imprisonment for a term of 80 years in the state's prison."

A governor's list of prisoners set for freedom describes a range of gruesome crimes: John Montgomery, 58, was sent to prison in 1973 for raping a 15-year old girl while on escape from Guilford Correctional Center.

Faye Brown, 56, was convicted on a first-degree murder charge for the 1975 killing of a state trooper during a bank robbery. Steven Wilson, 52, went to prison in 1978 for abducting and raping a 9-year-old girl.

All but one of the inmates have been convicted of murder or rape. The 20th, 57-year-old Charles Lynch, was convicted of two counts of second-degree burglary and assault with intent to commit rape.

Thomas Bennett, executive director of the North Carolina Victim Assistance Network, said the plan to release the prisoners is dangerous.

"This is terrible. This is a disaster," he said. "This is another example of victims not receiving consideration in the way the system works."

The governor's office believes the state is forced to release the inmates on the 29th because of a standard response time of 20 days following a Supreme Court decision. Correction officials are in the process of notifying victims and local district attorneys about the development.

Edgecombe County Sheriff James Knight, president of the North Carolina Sheriffs' Association, said communities will need to be careful.

"The law enforcement in the jurisdictions where they're being put back out need to have a watchful eye out," he said. "We hope (the inmates) are reformed, but we have to be on the lookout. You just don't know."

Bowden was convicted in 1975 of two Cumberland County killings and initially sentenced to death. The Supreme Court later took him off death row, sending the case back for Bowden to get concurrent life sentences.

He has been denied parole every year since 1987.

Corrections officials have worried that the case could eventually affect some 120 inmates sentenced when the law was in place.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/ ... dex=183403

Good behavior credit should be rewarded with a filet mignon, not release.

There seem to be a lot of these early release programs going on all over the country. Here's one in Colorado: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_13568468

Also there is going to be a big one in Chicago soon.

NC inmates being freed have 256 prison infractions

By MIKE BAKER, The Associated Press
9:25 a.m. October 16, 2009

RALEIGH, N.C. — The violent North Carolina criminals set to be freed later this month because of a court ruling and good conduct credits have racked up more than 250 infractions in prison for offenses such as fighting, weapon possession and theft.

Department of Correction records reviewed Friday by The Associated Press show the violations go as far back as the 1970s but also appear as recently as 2008, raising questions about whether the prisoners are reformed. Each one of the 20 inmates has at least two infractions, and combined they have a total of 256.

They have repeatedly been denied parole.

The inmates are scheduled to be released Oct. 29 after state courts sided with one of the inmates, double murderer Bobby Bowden, that a 1970s law defined a life sentence as only 80 years. The state's Fair Sentencing Act in 1981 included a retroactive provision essentially cutting all those sentences in half, and good behavior and other credits have shortened the sentences to the point that they are now complete.

Bowden had argued before the Court of Appeals in 2008 that he had accumulated 210 days of good conduct credit, 753 days of meritorious credit, and 1,537 days of gain time credit. But the 60-year-old has also racked up 17 infractions in prison, including two for weapon possession, one for damaging property and several for disobeying orders.

Others have equally long rapsheets: William Baggett, a 60-year-old convicted of a 1976 murder in Sampson County, got a fighting infraction last year – his fifth fighting offense while behind bars. Kenneth Mathis, a 55-year-old who went to prison in 1976 after forcing a woman into the woods and raping her, has had three sex infractions in prison. He was accused in 2005 of assaulting an inmate with the intent to commit a sexual act.

State officials believe dozens more inmates convicted three decades ago could soon be eligible for release because of credits and the 80-year law that was in place for several years in the 1970s.

Jim Woodall, the district attorney in Orange County and president of the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys, said many in the courts system believe that criminals become less active as they grow older. But he warned that nobody can be sure whether these inmates are ready to lead normal lives.

"A person who has been in prison for a violent crime, and has gotten infractions throughout their time incarcerated, that's the best predictor for their future activity," he said.

North Carolina inmates sentenced before structured sentencing came into effect in 1994 can rapidly knock time off their prison terms. Good conduct credit automatically reduces sentences by one day for every day inmates serve with good behavior and without an infraction. Gain time credit goes to inmates who participate in work or program activities. Prisoners can also get meritorious credit for working under special conditions, such as overtime.

Infractions can remove some of those credits.

Woodall said a person sent to prison for 10 years before structured sentencing frequently completed the term in just a couple of years. The new laws lead to shorter sentences in the courtroom but less opportunity for inmates to accrue credits, something he supports.

Seven of the inmates set for release were once on death row. All but one of them have been convicted of murder or rape, including several who targeted young girls.

"Any of these convicts could be a danger to any man, woman and child in North Carolina," said Thomas Bennett, executive director of the North Carolina Victim Assistance Network. "We have no assurance that these people have learned anything and changed."

North Carolina's Supreme Court rejected an appeal from the state earlier this month after a lawyer from the Attorney General's office argued that the 80-year law was ambiguous and likely was supposed to determine when somebody would be eligible for parole. The 1970s statute says: "A sentence of life imprisonment shall be considered as a sentence of imprisonment for a term of 80 years in the state's prison."

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/ ... dex=183869