Henry McCollum listening to evidence of his innocence. Photo by Jenny Warburg / Courtesy of North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
Wednesday marks the 237th day that Governor Pat McCrory has refused to grant a pardon of innocence to Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, the two Robeson County men who both spent 31 years in prison for a rape and murder they did not commit.
The two men, both mentally disabled and struggling to pay their bills, need the pardon from McCrory to be eligible for financial compensation from the state for the years they were wrongly incarcerated. McCrory received the petition September 11 of last year.
NC Policy Watch Courts and Law Reporter Sharon McCloskey explains the case and explores the possible reasons for the absurd delay in justice for McCollum and Brown in an in-depth story on NC Policy Watch today.
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