Sister apologizes for death row inmate's newspaper rant

Raleigh, N.C. — The sister of a death row inmate is apologizing for a letter her brother recently wrote to his hometown newspaper in which he boasted of being "a gentleman of leisure" who spends his days in prison napping, watching TV and eating three meals a day.

"I'm so sorry for any hurt or anger that was caused by my brother, Danny Hembree's letter to the Gaston Gazette," Kathy Hembree Ledbetter said in a statement Thursday. "He is a very depressed man, and in his hopelessness, he lashed out."

The statement and an accompanying letter to Ledbetter from her brother were released by the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, a nonprofit group that provides legal representation to death row inmates.

Hembree, 50, who is imprisoned at Central Prison in Raleigh, was convicted last year in the 2009 death of 17-year-old Heather Catterton, one of three women he is accused of killing.

In the two-page handwritten letter to the newspaper, he wrote, in part: "Kill me if you can, suckers. Ha! Ha! Ha!" He also wrote that it's unlikely he will be executed within the next 20 years.

"The state of North Carolina has sentenced me to death, but it's not real," he wrote.

Ledbetter said her brother suffers severe mental illness and a severe emotional state that was brought out at his trial.

"He is not happy, he is not comfortable and he is not well," Ledbetter said. "He is being punished for his crimes, and he is in a bad place."

A letter Hembree wrote to her paints a picture of a different man, she said. In it, he writes:

"I want this stuff to be over for good, once and for all. I try to put on a nonchalant attitude for you guys, but it is overwhelming and depressing to look at these walls and electric doors and bright lights 24/7 and digest the fact that I'm never going to leave here until they murder me or I just die. … I know I promised you that I would fight this, but I'm almost fought out."

Ledbetter went on to say in her statement: "I feel deeply for the families who have been affected by his actions, actions that were motivated by mental illness."

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Latest Comments

"There certainly was lots of executions in the old testament, but the new testament takes a very different tact. " - bill0

While God does seem to change a bit after having the kid, the biblical changes are in regards to salvation. The New Testament most certainly supports capital punishment as much as the Old. Jesus didn't have a problem with it. Paul didn't have a problem with it, even saying if he has done something worthy of the DEATH PENALTY, so be it.

"It is the most influential book concerning morality as far as our country goes though." - bill0

It seems to influence the politics of morality more than morality itself. Something people quote, but not necessarily live by.

Lightfoot3
January 27, 2012 3:25 p.m.

Why would a newspaper publish this letter? He is a CONVICTED murderer. He should not be given the right to free speech, as he should have lost that when he committed murder.

Barbie Q
January 27, 2012 3:09 p.m.

This totally disgust me! The Gaston Gazette should not have publicized this, they should have ripped the letter up and thrown it away! They gave this animal exactly what he wanted, publicity and traumatizing the victims families. The newpapers owner and publisher should be ashamed of themselves!!

ncflynhi
January 27, 2012 2:55 p.m.

"Incorrect. I suggest you read it again. Punishment by DEATH is very much biblical, and for some things much less than killing an innocent.""

I've read the bible numerous times, but I'm not some sort of fanatic. There certainly was lots of executions in the old testament, but the new testament takes a very different tact.

And if you knew me at all, you certainly wouldn't think I take the bible as fact. It is the most influential book concerning morality as far as our country goes though.

bill0
January 27, 2012 2:25 p.m.

RE: ""In a biblical sense, definitely murder." - bill0

Incorrect. I suggest you read it again. Punishment by DEATH is very much biblical, and for some things much less than killing an innocent."

And therein lies the many problems with take The Bible as fact.