Nothing speaks louder than the blind eye of politicians who care little to nothing about men and woman needing financial assistance after being exonerated after years of incarcerated.
NC Governor McCrory takes all the credit for using his pardon powers yet ignores two mens’ need for pardoning before they can receive compensation. They have been waiting for 6 years.
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McCollum and Brown, you’ll recall, are the half brothers who were found innocent last year of crimes for which they were imprisoned for more than 30 years. In other words, they didn’t commit a terrible crime and then later get their lives together; they were wrongfully and horrifically railroaded into prison and served decades for crimes they didn’t commit. McCollum was sentenced to death!
Meanwhile, tomorrow marks the six-month anniversary of the pardon requests the men submitted — a period during which the men have received no compensation for the terrible injustice inflicted upon them by the state of North Carolina. As Raleigh’s News & Observer reported last month:
“The men, who are half-brothers and who are intellectually disabled, were each given $45 in cash when they left prison in September – the sum total of help they have received from the state. They live in Fayetteville with their sister, who struggles to pay the rent and keep the light and water bills paid. They have depended on the kindness of supporters for all their money.
A Superior Court judge declared them innocent in September. North Carolina law authorizes payment of $50,000 a year, up to a maximum of $750,000, to incarcerated individuals later proven innocent. But the brothers first need to obtain a pardon of innocence from the governor.”
