A death row inmate singled out by Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory has responded.

At a recent debate, the Charlotte mayor said that the moratorium on the death penalty should be lifted, noting that the convicted killer of two Queen City police officers was still on death row.

"Listen, this is personal to me," McCrory said. "Two young police officers that were shot by one man with their gun, and this man has still not been dealt with even though a jury of his peers convicted him ... There's no reason we should have the moratorium right now."

At the debate, McCrory did not name the killer, Alden J. Harden, but he did name the police officers, Andy Nobles and John Burnette. Harden was sentenced to death in August of 1994 for the killings, which took place the previous October.

Contacted by Dome at Central Prison in Raleigh, he said in a handwritten letter that Charlotte police have killed "many unarmed young black men" in recent years.

"I am being dealt with," he wrote. "The moratorium is set to help make sure that more people like you and my so called peers don't take it 'personal' as well, but rather look at the law. Because everyone has a right to fight for themselves under the law."

He wrote that "there's every reason" to have a moratorium.

The full text of McCrory's remarks and Harden's response after the jump.

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Pat McCrory said a man convicted of killing two young Charlotte police officers in 1993 should have been put to death by now.

At a debate on WTVD in Durham tonight, the Republican gubernatorial candidate noted that Alden Harden was convicted of killing Andy Nobles and John Burnette, but he remains on death row.

"This man still has not been dealt with," he said.

After the debate, McCrory told reporters that he had become good friends with Trish Norket, the mother of one of the police officers, and was working with her to overturn the state's moratorium on the death penalty.

McCrory was on the City Council when the shootings occurred and when Harden was sentenced a year later.