Two men who pled guilty to second-degree murder charges will be arguing their case once again. The men were charged with the murder of a 51-year-old Fairview man in his home in 2000 and are now saying that they are innocent.
The two men who were convicted and their criminal defense lawyers will argue that their fear of the death penalty led them to wrongly plead guilty to the second-degree murder charges. The men have also said that they listened to the pressure of family and their lawyers at the time of the original trial, but that they were actually innocent of the crime.
The prosecutor, however, isn’t buying their story. Buncombe County prosecutor says that their pleas were legitimately entered and that they acknowledged their guilt in the second-degree murder case.
The innocence case is being tried before a three-judge panel in Asheville. The hearing may last up to one week before the judge’s will come to an agreement on the outcome of the case.
Source: Houston Chronicle “NC judges to hear innocence cases from 2 men,” 9/12/2011