After nearly 14 years on death row for murder, Glen Chapman is now a free man. Now those on both sides of the death penalty issue say Chapman's case proves their point.
RALEIGH -- A former death row inmate is now free and his release is raising questions about the death penalty in North Carolina.
After nearly 14 years on death row for murder, Glen Chapman is now a free man, and some say his case is proof that the justice system needs revision, while others say the fact that he is now free shows the system is working.
"The day is finally here, the day is finally here,” Chapman said.
He was released Wednesday after the Catawba County District Attorney’s Office dismissed murder charges against him after a judge determined that investigators withheld evidence in the case.
Chapman is now the seventh innocent death row prisoner in North Carolina to be released since 1973.
Glen Chapman
"It's happened with enough frequency that you have to question if something is wrong with the system,” said Thomas Maher, who works at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. But he added that the judicial system has dramatically improved since 2001.
"What we would like to see is someone to say we need to examine these cases [before 2001],” said Maher.
North Carolina's last execution took place in August of 2006. Executions been halted in the state since then. A judge imposed a moratorium while officials examine the drugs used for lethal injection. A group of legislators, however, wants a permanent stop.
"What I'd like to see is a suspension of all executions while we look at the system more thoroughly,” explained state Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-District 23. In 2003, she sponsored a bill to initiate a moratorium on the death penalty.
But some state lawmakers say the system isn't broken at all.
"In the last 10 years, we've provided maybe a dozen new procedural guidelines to make sure innocent people aren't executed,” said state Rep. Paul Stam, R-Wake.
Meanwhile, state Rep. Nelson Dollar, R-Wake, said regardless of what happens, it is time for the General Assembly to stop stalling and act.
“We need to have an actual decision made and have a full debate,” he said.
Lawmakers have specific ideas about what they'd like to see happen in the upcoming May session.
"I hope the House, we'll see we're destroying the lives of innocent people,” Kinnaird said.
"Hopefully we'll get back to executing murderers,” Stam said.
The deputy whose testimony helped convict Chapman now works for the Burke County Sheriff's Office, and according to the Raleigh News & Observer, he has been suspended.
The SBI is looking into possible perjury.