Scott Thomas, a district attorney and former state senator from Craven County, has been named chairman of the Governor's Crime Commission.

Thomas will head a 11-member advisory committee that recommends policy on fighting crime and administers federal criminal justice and juvenile justice grants, Rob Christensen reports.

"The Governor's Crime Commission will be an active voice in my administration, advising me on the best ways to prevent, deter and fight crime," Gov. Beverly Perdue said in making the appointment.

Thomas, 42, whose father was also a state senator, had been considered a top candidate for Perdue’s secretary of crime control and public safety.

Other new members of the commission include Richard Shaffer, a district attorney for Cleveland and Lincoln counties; James Wilson Pierce, executive director of Kids Making It, in Wilmington; Rodney Monroe, the Charlotte police chief; Superior Court Judge Carl Fox of Orange County; and Jennifer Roberts, chair of the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners.

A coalition of advocates for the mentally ill and a state Superior Court judge spoke in favor today of legislation that would exclude the severely mentally ill from the death penalty.

Draft legislation introduced at a joint legislative committee today would allow a judge to determine that a defendant suffered from severe mental illness at the time of the killing. The defendant would still face a murder trial, but the worst punishment would be life without parole, Dan Kane reports.

Advocates of the legislation say it would only apply to those with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, or from severe brain injuries. Those whose criminal acts were the result of drug or alcohol abuse would not be eligible.

"We're talking about individuals whose distortion of thinking is so severe that it's difficult for us to imagine," said James Ellis, a University of New Mexico law professor who successfully argued to the U.S. Supreme Court several years ago that the mentally retarded should not be executed.

More after the jump.

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