Hunt Denies Clemency In Brown Case, Execution Proceeds

With tears in her eyes, his daughter spoke after the execution. "My father was an innocent man," she said. "He was punished for a crime he did not commit."

Brown was scheduled to die for stabbing Shelly Chalflinch and her nine-year-old daughter over a hundred times in 1980.

The victim's family was also given a chance to speak. They said all the evidence pointed toward Brown, including a ring belonging to Brown found in the victim's body.

"Justice was served tonight," one relative said. "My only regret is we cannot bring him back to life so we can execute him again."

Brown had a lot of heavy hitters believing his pleas of innocence, including former prosecutors and law professors who studied his case.

But the one man who did not believe him, and who could have spared his life, was Governor Hunt.

"I have given careful and deliberate consideration to all of the facts in the case of David Junior Brown," Hunt said late Thursday. "In almost two decades of appeals and judicial review, the courts consistently have upheld the verdict in this case."

"I, too, have throughly reviewed this case, and I find no reason to grant clemency," Hunt said.

Brown was the fourth prisoner executed this year and the first person put to death in North Carolina since the death penalty was reinstated who has claimed his innocence.