(X-posted from Kleinschmidt2005)

Last week Judge Stephens finally pulled the brake on the runaway train that is NC's execution procedures. He pulled so hard the train jumped track and barrelled right into the living room of the members of the Council of State. Now the good folks over at the NC Coalition for a Moratorium are giving you a way to help the Honorable Council Members figure out how to solve this predicament. I learned about their efforts when this email came into my inbox a few minutes ago....

Dear Friends,

Last Thursday, when Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens imposed a temporary ban on executions, he effectively put NC back at the forefront of the national moratorium movement! The situation that has unfolded goes like this:

BURGAW – The ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation (ACLU-NC) applauded a state court decision that declared North Carolina’s 201-year-old ban on cohabitation to be unconstitutional. State Superior Court Judge Benjamin Alford issued the ruling yesterday afternoon in a lawsuit filed last year by the ACLU-NC on behalf of Debora Hobbs, an unmarried woman who lost her job as a 9-1-1 dispatcher with the Pender County Sheriff’s Office simply because she chose to live with her unmarried boyfriend in violation of a 201-year-old state law that makes it a criminal offense for partners of the opposite sex to live together out of wedlock.

I've posted the ACLU-NC Legal Foundation's full press release here.

Jerry Conner has responded to the Governor's letter setting a time for Mr. Conner's clemency hearing.

"Mr. Conner will not petition for clemency, nor will we appear on his behalf at a clemency hearing until a DNA test is conducted and the results are returned. We trust that as Governor you share our interest in ensuring access to all available information in order to make a fair and informed decision about clemency."