On Trial for their Lives

Death penalty prosecutions threaten the innocent in N.C.

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Causes of Wrongful Prosecution
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Find wrongful prosecutions by county.

All of the following cases are wrongful capital prosecutions carried out in North Carolina since 1989. They are instances in which the state prosecuted a person for a death penalty eligible murder, despite not having enough evidence to prove the defendant even committed the crime. Unlike the exonerees tracked by the National Registry of Exonerations, these defendants eventually had their charges dismissed or were acquitted by juries — but most spent years in jail and many lost homes, jobs, relationships, and their financial and emotional stability.

Austin Tyler Borghere

Date of Arrest: 04/02/2005
Harnett County
Race: White
Causes of Wrongful Prosecution:
Self Defense
Names of Victim(s): David Barefoot

Type of Case: Acquittal at Trial
Date of Acquittal/Dismissal: 03/30/2007
Days in Jail: 728


Anthony Vidal Burris

Date of Arrest: 06/13/1997
Gaston County
Race: Black
Causes of Wrongful Prosecution:
Self Defense, Tunnel Vision, Unreliable Witness Testimony
Names of Victim(s): Angela Shantea Mitchell

Type of Case: Acquittal at Trial
Date of Acquittal/Dismissal: 10/04/1999
Days in Jail: 844
Time deliberated by jury: 3.5 hrs


Michael David Dowd

Date of Arrest: 11/25/1998
Chatham County
Race: White
Causes of Wrongful Prosecution:
Self Defense, Tunnel Vision
Names of Victim(s): Lee Otis Baldwin, Joe Daron Glover

Type of Case: Acquittal at Trial
Date of Acquittal/Dismissal: 05/24/2000
Days in Jail: 547


Dolan Locklear

Date of Arrest: 05/04/1999
Robeson County
Race: Native American
Causes of Wrongful Prosecution:
Self Defense, Tunnel Vision
Names of Victim(s): George Locklear

Type of Case: Acquittal at Trial
Date of Acquittal/Dismissal: 03/19/2003
Days in Jail: 1416
Time deliberated by jury: 2 hrs


About this Project
 
The Wrongful Capital Prosecutions database is a project of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. It is the only database in the United States that tracks the cases of people who are charged with capital murder but never convicted. Based in Durham, North Carolina, CDPL represents death-sentenced men and women in North Carolina and works to end the death penalty. Learn more about CDPL’s work.

Learn More
 
• Learn more about the North Carolina death penalty at NCDeathPenalty.org.
• Read stories from North Carolina’s death row.