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.

Chris Gordon Brooks

Date of Arrest: 12/14/1994
Cleveland County
Race: White
Causes of Wrongful Prosecution:
State Misconduct, Unreliable Witness Testimony
Names of Victim(s): Judy McMurray

Type of Case: Dismissal before Trial
Date of Acquittal/Dismissal: 05/22/1996
Days in Jail: 526


Floyd Brown

Date of Arrest: 07/16/1993
Anson County
Race: Black
Causes of Wrongful Prosecution:
False Confession, State Misconduct
Names of Victim(s): Katherine Lynch

Type of Case: Dismissal before Trial
Date of Acquittal/Dismissal: 10/08/2007
Days in Jail: 5198


John Tyler Collins

Date of Arrest: 12/29/2001
Buncombe County
Race: White
Causes of Wrongful Prosecution:
State Misconduct, Unreliable Witness Testimony
Names of Victim(s): Mary Elizabeth Judd

Type of Case: Dismissal before Trial
Date of Acquittal/Dismissal: 07/09/2003
Days in Jail: 558


Derek Morris Colson

Date of Arrest: 03/23/2006
Catawba County
Race: Black
Causes of Wrongful Prosecution:
State Misconduct
Names of Victim(s): Betsy Dickens, Beverly Linebarger, Cynthia Lail

Type of Case: Dismissal before Trial
Date of Acquittal/Dismissal: 09/15/2009
Days in Jail: 1064
Received Bond


Filiberto Reyes Gaytan

Date of Arrest: 07/16/2008
Richmond County
Race: Hispanic
Causes of Wrongful Prosecution:
State Misconduct, Unreliable Witness Testimony
Names of Victim(s): Jose Gonzales

Type of Case: Dismissal before Trial
Date of Acquittal/Dismissal: 03/20/2009
Days in Jail: 248


David Wayne Hammack

Date of Arrest: 12/29/2001
Buncombe County
Race: White
Causes of Wrongful Prosecution:
State Misconduct, Unreliable Witness Testimony
Names of Victim(s): Mary Elizabeth Judd

Type of Case: Dismissal before Trial
Date of Acquittal/Dismissal: 09/28/2003
Days in Jail: 639


Lorenza Brazhnav Knight

Date of Arrest: 04/26/1999
Pitt County
Race: Black
Causes of Wrongful Prosecution:
State Misconduct
Names of Victim(s): Jae Michael Kirby

Type of Case: Dismissal before Trial
Date of Acquittal/Dismissal: 12/28/2005
Days in Jail: 100
Received Bond


Johnny Dale Miller

Date of Arrest: 07/19/2004
Gaston County
Race: White
Causes of Wrongful Prosecution:
State Misconduct, Unreliable Witness Testimony
Names of Victim(s): Jerry Barnette

Type of Case: Dismissal before Trial
Date of Acquittal/Dismissal: 12/29/2006
Days in Jail: 894


Marron Fredrick Murchison

Date of Arrest: 09/08/2004
Union County
Race: Black
Causes of Wrongful Prosecution:
State Misconduct
Names of Victim(s): John Henry Stafford

Type of Case: Dismissal before Trial
Date of Acquittal/Dismissal: 06/30/2008
Days in Jail: 14
Received Bond


Quatrell Damar Nicholson

Date of Arrest: 10/22/2009
Scotland County
Race: Black
Causes of Wrongful Prosecution:
State Misconduct
Names of Victim(s): Chris McKoy

Type of Case: Dismissal before Trial
Date of Acquittal/Dismissal: 01/21/2014
Days in Jail: 1553


Mario Alberto Peralta

Date of Arrest: 01/30/1998
Chatham County
Race: Other
Causes of Wrongful Prosecution:
State Misconduct
Names of Victim(s): Manuel Garcia

Type of Case: Acquittal at Trial
Date of Acquittal/Dismissal: 03/24/1999
Days in Jail: 419
Time deliberated by jury: 4.5hrs


Beut Thongphounphim

Date of Arrest: 01/31/1995
Guilford County
Race: Other
Causes of Wrongful Prosecution:
False Confession, State Misconduct
Names of Victim(s): Keith McClintock

Type of Case: Dismissal before Trial
Date of Acquittal/Dismissal: 02/26/1997
Days in Jail: 501
Received Bond


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.