![\"130102Perdue\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/130102Perdue.jpg\")
Surely, for the six surviving defendants, the pardon represents far too little justice, far too long delayed. But so many of Perdue\u2019s words apply poignantly to a more recent \u201cdark chapter in North Carolina\u2019s history\u201d \u2013 the prosecution of the Edenton Seven:<\/p>\n
\u201cI have decided to grant these pardons because the more facts I have learned… the more appalled I have become about the manner in which their convictions were obtained….<\/p>\n
\u201cThis conduct (of prosecutor Jay Stroud) is disgraceful. It is utterly incompatible with basic notions of fairness and with every ideal that North Carolina holds dear. The legitimacy of our criminal justice system hinges on it operating in a fair and equitable manner…. That did not happen here. Instead, these convictions… represent an ugly stain on North Carolina\u2019s criminal justice system….<\/p>\n
\u201cJustice demands that this stain finally be removed. The process in which this case was tried was fundamentally flawed….\u201d<\/p>\n
As\u00a0noted previously<\/a>, state government has continued to withhold exoneration from the Little Rascals defendants. In addition to\u00a0these reasons<\/a>\u00a0that the Edenton Seven haven\u2019t matched the Wilmington 10 in capturing the public eye, there is this notable difference in the two cases:<\/p>\n No one involved in prosecuting the Wilmington 10 remains in office, and the current Pender County district attorney has accepted Perdue\u2019s decision without complaint. But two decades after prosecuting the Edenton Seven, Bill Hart and Nancy Lamb remain on the job, no doubt ready to beat down any hint of exoneration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jan. 2, 2013 What a bittersweet moment, reading Gov. Bev Perdue\u2019s statement announcing her pardon of innocence for the Wilmington 10. Surely, for the six surviving defendants, the pardon represents far too little justice, far too long delayed. But so many of Perdue\u2019s words apply poignantly to a more recent \u201cdark chapter in North Carolina\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2481,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions\/2481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}