There's a serious problem with North Carolina's legal system when we find that the star witness in a death-penalty case "had to make up a story," to satisfy the police.
As outrageous as it might sound, prosecutors had these words on tape in the case of Alan Gell, who was found guilty and sentenced to death in 1998 for a murder he didn't commit.
The state's illegal actions might be the tip of the iceberg of prosecutor abuse in North Carolina or they might be an isolated incident - we have no way of telling. But North Carolina must prevent egregious errors such as this one from slipping between the cracks.
For now, leave any debate about the merits of capital punishment aside.
It's obvious that a moratorium on the death penalty is necessary. A moratorium would allow for study of the system, itself, to ensure that innocent men such as Gell don't ever face the only irreversible form of punishment the government has at its disposal.
Gell was awarded a new trial when Superior Court Judge Cy A. Grant Sr. faulted prosecutors for withholding evidence that he said could have been used to prove Gell's innocence at his trial. On Feb. 18, 2004, Alan Gell was acquitted in the case.
Gell is not the only innocent North Carolina has put behind bars in recent years. And the careless disregard for justice demonstrated by the prosecution in his case indicates appalling ineptitude on the part of the state.
Since 1973, more than 100 people in 25 states have been released from death row based on evidence of their innocence. This evidence suggests that the current system is flawed.
In the Gell case and others like it, North Carolina has betrayed the solemn pledge made by the government to its citizens. Since death is the ultimate end -- a punishment that cannot be undone - North Carolina must move mountains to protect those in Gell's position. Nine years in prison was bad enough - imagine if Gell's sentence had gone unquestioned.