Gregory Taylor asks governor for pardon
A man freed from prison last month after serving nearly 18 years on a first-degree murder conviction filed paperwork Friday afternoon asking North Carolina's governor for a pardon.
A three-judge panel vacated Gregory Taylor's life sentence on Feb. 17 after finding that there was clear and convincing new evidence that proved he is innocent in the September 1991 stabbing and beating death of Jacquetta Thomas.
A pardon from Gov. Beverly Perdue would mean that Taylor could apply for compensation from the state Industrial Commission for $50,000 a year, up to $750,000.
Taylor is the first person freed from prison because of the involvement of the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, a state agency established in 2006 to investigate and evaluate post-conviction claims of factual innocence.
