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Innocence Inquiry Commission
A perspective from Rep. Robert Reives
Included among countless other pages in the State Senate’s budget proposal last week was a provision that would cut all funding from North Carolina’s Innocence Inquiry Commission. This budget passed the very same week that the Commission exonerated Clarence Roberts, a man who a three-judge panel determined was wrongfully convicted of second-degree murder. He had served in prison for eight years.
During these debates about spending plans, we often hear legislators say that budgets are moral documents. They reveal to us where our priorities lie as lawmakers. Cutting out the Innocence Inquiry Commission is a stark display of how those priorities are misguided this year.
The North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission is the first and only of its kind in the nation. A number of wrongful convictions around the turn of the century led conservative Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake to establish a group to find solutions. One of the recommendations was to create the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, which was established a few years later by the General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Easley. This program is emblematic of the public policy accomplishments our state is renowned for when we put partisanship aside for the greater good of our citizens.
As a former prosecutor and a current defense attorney, I can attest to the value that this institution provides for North Carolinians. The last thing that anyone working in the criminal justice system wants is for someone to be wrongfully convicted. It flies in the face of our expectations as Americans that everyone should get a fair shake, particularly when people’s lives are on the line. That is why gutting the Innocence Inquiry Commission is a bridge too far for me.
In the scheme of our state budget, the commission barely makes a dent in our bottom line. WRAL reckons the annual budget of $1.6 million accounts for 0.005% of the state budget. That is a lot of money to you or me, but in the pursuit of justice for the wrongfully convicted, I believe it is entirely justified. There are far more appropriate places to trim the fat when it comes to state spending.
Critics may point to the fact that there are other nonprofits doing similar work and that North Carolina is the only state with such a commission in place. Neither justifies scrapping what we have, and what has been a successful model.
First, there are nonprofits doing great work in this space, and I hope they continue. But the commission is unique in its ability to subpoena witnesses, conduct DNA testing and more. It has the legal authority to go further than a typical nonprofit doing similar work.
Second, the uniqueness of the North Carolina model here is an argument in favor of keeping the commission, not removing it. For the state that was First in Flight, we should take pride in finding homegrown solutions to our problems. Bipartisan leaders two decades ago understood that too many North Carolinians were being wrongfully convicted of crimes. Instead of shrugging at the lack of programs nationwide that address this issue, we came together to forge a creative consensus. We created a North Carolina solution that met our needs.
As the state budget process works its way over to the House of Representatives, I am hopeful that my colleagues appreciate the important work this commission has done and continues to do for our state. It is a distinctive feature of North Carolina’s justice system that sets us apart and continues to make us a beacon of the South.
“Viewpoints” on Chapelboro is a recurring series of community-submitted opinion columns. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work or reporting of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com.
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