Eve Carson opposed death penalty, parents say

Hillsborough, N.C. — Eve Carson's parents say their daughter did not support the death penalty – and neither do they.

But Orange County prosecutor Jim Woodall says that despite their beliefs, they support his decision to seek the death penalty against one of the two suspects charged in her death.

"I am aware of their position, and I respect it immensely," Woodall said. "They've also said they support me and what I feel I need to do to prosecute this case."

The district attorney announced in August that he plans to seek the death penalty against Demario James Atwater, 22, who is charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping in connection with Carson's death.

Police found the 22-year-old University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill senior dead in the middle of a residential street near the UNC campus while responding to gunshots in the early-morning hours of March 5.

Investigators believe Atwater and another man, Laurence Alvin Lovette Jr, 17, kidnapped Carson and forced her to withdraw $1,400 from ATMs before shooting her five times, including once in the head.

Atwater also faces federal carjacking charges, which could also allow federal authorities to seek a death sentence.

Lovette can't be executed if he is convicted in Carson's death. A 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling prohibits anyone who was under the age of 18 at the time of a crime to be executed.

No one has been sentenced to death in Orange County since North Carolina reinstated the death penalty in 1977. The last person executed for a crime there was in 1948.

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What you say about incarcerated murderers being a threat is IMO overrated. You have any examples? How often do escapes occur in general? I say the real problem is people who murder after a long list of other offenses. And I never said punishment, or in particular capital punishment, has no deterrent effect at all. There may well be some; but when these stories come up there are always hordes of people who go on about how the death penalty will somehow scare people into not murdering. I think that's a fantasy. At most, it will have a marginal effect.

mondosinistro
October 30, 2008 4:16 p.m.

Mondosinistro and marshalp,

You haven’t acknowledged the dangers that murderer represent despite being convicted or incarcerated but not executed. Un-executed premeditated murderers still cause harm to other offenders and themselves. Unexecuted premeditated murderers escape, threaten the families of their victims and inflict additional costs.

If your claim is that executions do not deter you’d be wrong (not even one?). Even your most specious studies merely don’t find proof of deterrence (or ignore it?)… they don’t prove that executions don’t deter… and there are plenty of studies that prove a deterrent effect

wayneuber
October 29, 2008 9:26 p.m.

Well said, Marshalp. For the most part those who look to the DP to deter crime are kidding themselves. Even punishment in general doesn't seem to cut through to the criminal mind. We can lock up those who commit crimes, and then at least they won't be ought menacing innocent people. We can bust up gangs and criminal conspiracies. Sometimes we can even stop crimes in progress. Those things work, not a threat of some extreme measure that rarely gets applied, and takes a long time to happen (and it really has to be that way--let's be a little realistic here).

Yes, there's already a shockingly large portion of the population behind bars, and things need to be done to keep at-risk potential criminals from going down the wrong road. But until there are more successes in that, for the time being jail time seems the next best thing.

mondosinistro
October 29, 2008 10:51 a.m.

I find it so odd that the right is the side generally in favor of capital punishment. I guess its the social conservative side of the party. I dont trust the government, or even my fellow man, enough to give them the power of life and death if I were accused of a crime. Especially now that I see time and time again people exonerated from death row by DNA testing. I think life in prison should be made a bit more limiting and painful for those accused of crimes like these, and that is punishment enough for me.

Atnor
October 29, 2008 9:50 a.m.

The jury will have a chance to include the Carson family's wishes in their decision process. It should be up to a jury to decide if Eve’s memory and interests of public safety are best served with an execution.

Lawful executions are not murder. Those that can’t distinguish the difference between the two are being intellectually deceitful.

wayneuber
October 29, 2008 9:46 a.m.