Only one person was added to North Carolina's death row in 2008.

That's the lowest number of death sentences in the state in any year since 1977, when a U.S. Supreme Court decision allowed capital punishment to be reinstated. 

It's not an anomaly. Over the past decade, death sentences in North Carolina have steadily declined as a result of new laws and a broader reconsideration of the issue.

"Juries are increasingly returning fewer and fewer death sentences," said Jeremy Collins, the director of the N.C. Coalition for a Moratorium. "If you make a mistake in a life case, you do have the opportunity to right the wrong. And we do have a history of making mistakes here in North Carolina, specifically related to the death penalty." 

Executions are on hold in the state due to legal challenges, while three people who were on death row have been exonerated in the past two years. 

During the mid 1990s, more than 20 people a year were sentenced to death row. (WS-J) 

Doug Clark said Gov. Mike Easley's exit interview was an example of why his administration has had problems.

In a post on his Off the Record blog, the Greensboro News-Record columnist said that a recent series on probation was not a "hatchet job" just because it told the public about an ongoing problem. 

"Sorry for not being nice about this, governor, but that is a legitimate news story," he writes. "It's a matter of public interest when violent criminals who ought to be locked up are allowed to run loose endangering innocent people."

Clark also criticized Easley's remark that the real solution is to restart capital punishment.

Yeah, that's it. Execute them.

Just one problem: Probationers are NOT convicted murderers. People who are convicted of capital crimes and sentenced to death are NOT put on probation.

It's just an inconvenient legal necessity to hold the death penalty until AFTER one is convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to die.

But nice try, governor.

A Superior Court judge has ordered a Halifax County man off death row.

Judge John R. Jolly Jr. found that Clinton Cebert Smith is mentally retarded and therefore not capable of understanding his actions. A jury found a decade ago that Smith laced cherry Kool-Aid with a pesticide, leading to the death of his six-year-old daughter.

Smith is the 14th person removed from the state's death row for mental retardation, according to the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. A change in state law in 2001 prohibited the state from executing mentally disabled people.

The following year, the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed executing those with mental retardation.

Smith's lawyers say the ruling is another sign of his innocence in a case they say has been twisted by hidden evidence, misleading testimony and inadequate representation. They are now hoping appelate judges will award him a new trial. (N&O) 

The N.C. Supreme Court dove into the two-year stalemate in executions today by asking attorneys representing the state Department of Correction and the N.C. Medical Board to define what the state legislature meant in requiring that a doctor be present.

The debate over that word has created a de facto moratorium on executions in North Carolina. The correction department executes inmates on death row and is seeking to have a doctor take part in order to make sure the lethal injection is properly administered, Dan Kane reports.

That, the department contends, ensures that there has been no violation of Constitutional law against cruel and unusual punishment.

But the medical board contends that lawmakers only required doctors to attend to certify that an inmate was executed. Taking part in that execution, by monitoring an inmate's vital signs as correction officials want, would violate a doctor's basic mission to preserve life, the board has determined.

Several justices on the court peppered the attorneys with questions during the hour-long hearing.

More after the jump.

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The N.C. Supreme Court will hear legal arguments today about capital punishment.

The case could break a two-year stalemate on executions in North Carolina or extend a de facto moratorium caused when docotrs refused to participate.

Under state law, a doctor must be on hand during an execution by lethal injection, but the N.C. Medical Board has prohibited doctors from taking part.

In March of 2007, the state Department of Correction filed a lawsuit, and state Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens sided with correction officials. The medical board has appealed.

A spokeswoman for Attorney General Roy Cooper, which is representing corrections officials, said the state Supreme Court could settle the matter. She said there is no federal question for U.S. courts to pursue.

The last execution took place on Aug. 18, 2006. (N&O) 

Death penalty foes are pushing for a law to allow defendants to argue their sentences were racially biased.

But to get the bill approved, they may have to accept a move to allow executions after a yearlong delay.

Legislators hope to end the session by Friday, and capital punishment is one of a handful of issues they will debate in the remaining days.

"There's a lot of mischief that comes out the last few weeks," said lobbyist Andy Dedmon.

Senate Democrats are considering passing a measure aimed at addressing racial bias in death penalty cases. The House already approved a bill that would allow murder defendants to use statistical evidence to suggest race was a factor.

But Senate Republicans may attach a measure to the bill to allow executions to resume. (N&O) 

Richard Moore took a strong stance for capital punishment.

In response to a question on the James Johnson case at today's debate, Moore cited his time as a federal prosecutor, saying that he believes it is necessary for some crimes.

"I do believe in capital punishment," he said. "I do believe that there is biblical evil that lives among us and for some crimes you give up the right to be here on the Earth with the rest of us."

However, Moore added, he does not think the system is currently being implemented fairly and he wants to make sure it is reformed.

Bob Orr said that he supports the death penalty in "limited circumstances," while Beverly Perdue said she supports capital punishment and the de facto moratorium currently in place.

The candidates were speaking in the sanctuary of the Historic Union Baptist Church.

Dan Besse wants in on the spat in the lieutenant governor's race.

The Winston-Salem City councilman e-mailed his positions on abortion, affirmative action, capital punishment and the environment to reporters today.

He noted that two of his opponents—unnamed, but they are state Sen. Walter Dalton and Hampton Dellinger—have "engaged in a rhetorical battle over their positions." He says this makes it a good time to present his opinions.

"I emphasize experience not just because of how valuable it is to an elected official in translating stated positions into effective action," he writes. "I believe that candidates' records tell you what they genuinely believe in, far more than what they say during the heat of a campaign."

To summarize, Besse says he has worked as a consultant to Planned Parenthood, established minority business goals for city contractors, called for a moratorium on executions and served on the N.C. Environmental Management Commission.

A Superior Court judge ruled that the N.C. Medical Board does not have the right to discipline doctors who participate in executions.

In a six-page ruling, Judge Donald Stephens said the state's obligation to have a doctor present to give advice trumps the board's authority to ensure doctors are acting ethically, Titan Barksdale reports.

The board had said the doctors could be disciplined because executions violate their oath to preserve life. That decision led to a de facto moratorium that legislators declined to intervene in.

The N.C. Department of Correction and the medical board are adversaries in a lawsuit over the board's ethics policy that Stephens ruled on.

It's not clear at this point whether the ruling means executions can start up. But it was the first definitive word from a judge on the complex legal matters that put executions at a standstill for most of this year.