DUPLIN COUNTY — A Mount Olive family is at odds over leaving a killer behind bars. Most relatives hope Governor Jim Hunt does not grant clemency to the inmate, but not the inmate's son.

Shane Goodson has forgiven his father for a terrible crime. Eight years ago, Elwood Goodson shot and killed his wife, Shane's mother, Fay Goodson.

"Well, when I was growing up, when I was younger, we didn't spend a whole lot of time together," he says. "It was right before all this happened, probably a year or two before this happened, that me and my mama and my daddy both had gotten a good relationship."

After seven years in prison, the convicted man is asking Governor Hunt for clemency, 12 years before he is eligible for parole. Fay Goodson's mother wants that request denied.

"He needs to keep him there and let him pull his time," she says. "My daughter's going to be dead forever. His family can see him occasionally, but we can only visit her grave."

Today, Shane Goodson has his own family he wants his father to meet.

"When I lost my mama, I thought that was the worst thing that could happen. But, it took me a year later, when they put daddy in jail, to realize that that was the worst [thing] that could happen to me, because I lost my mama and my daddy both," he says. "I think daddy's changed a whole lot after that happened. I know he loved my mama to death, and if there was anything he could do to change what happened, he would."

Goodson's new wife supports his efforts to see his father again, but she says she is not sure if their "new" relationship can work.