TO THE EDITOR:
Illinois Gov. George Ryan never claimed to be a moral crusader, and he did not have a particularly illustrious political career, but because of one of his last acts before leaving office he will undoubtedly enter the annals of history.
Ryan showed common sense, plain and simple, by commuting the sentences of 156 death row inmates and pardoning four of them. He is not a staunch opponent of the death penalty, but what makes him so extraordinary is that he did what so many politicians who want to look "tough on crime" and citizens who advocate the continuation of the death penalty as it exists in our society cannot bring themselves to do -- recognize that the system is broken and unjust as it exists. If the way in which a law is exercised includes the suppression of evidence, if it is classist and racist in every regard, how can anyone who truly believes in the principles of this country ever begin to support it?
In North Carolina the government is again ready to execute a man, and it just so happens that Henry Lee Hunt likely is innocent. Hunt is a Native American from Robeson County who is scheduled to die for the 1984 murders of Jackie Ranson and Larry Jones on Jan. 24. His trial was tainted from the start; Hunt's co-conspirator acquitted him of guilt, almost everyone who testified for the prosecution had reasons to cast blame on Hunt, and in some cases the testimony against him was completely false. The State Bureau of Investigation and the Lumberton Police Department destroyed case records, prosecutors withheld crucial information, no physical evidence exists that links Hunt to the crime, and finally Hunt's lawyers did not share evidence that showed his innocence.
Help us rally for justice at the Governor's Mansion in Raleigh this Saturday at 1 p.m. Campaign to End the Death Penalty is providing rides from the Campus Y at 12:15 p.m. to the Governor's Mansion. Help us convince Gov. Mike Easley to serve justice by granting Hunt clemency. This state can't murder another innocent man.
