It's been one full day since two wrongfully imprisoned North Carolina men were released after decades in prison. Henry Lee McCollum was the state's longest serving death row inmate. McCollum and his half-brother Leon Brown were arrested for rape and murder in 1983 when they were 19 and 15 years old, respectively. Both men are intellectually disabled, and were convicted of the crime. But 30 years later, DNA evidence proved both were innocent.
Two Triad men know the feeling. Darryl Hunt served 18 years in prison before DNA evidence led to his release in 2004. And Joseph Abbitt spent 14 years in prison before his 2009 release. Hunt was with McCollum and Brown at their release yesterday, and he spoke with Frank Mickens on WFMY News 2 at 6:00 pm to talk about the things they may be experiencing.
But getting DNA processed by the state crime lab isn't a quick process like you see on tv. You might remember, in May, we shared a story from our news partners at WRAL, talking about the backlog. The state lab director said the problem was due to a lack of manpower. But the the delays, are years long.
2 Wants to Know wanted to see if the state made any changes in the recently passed budget to help the state crime lab's funding problem.
And the answer is YES, sort of. The NC Department of Justice, which oversees the state Crime Lab, said the General Assembly made these changes.
- Included funding for 10 additional DNA scientists/staff
- But they did not provide funding for more competitive salaries (which was what the lab director said they needed in the May interview)
- Included capital bond financing to build an expanded Western Regional Crime Lab.
- But legislators reduced the Crime Lab's toxicology outsourcing budget by 66%, or $500,000. That means they don't have as much money to outsource toxicology tests to reduce their caseload.
Greensboro Police took steps to fix the backlog themselves. They signed a $125,000 contract with Lab Corp in Burlington to process their DNA tests. That's funded entirely by drug seizure money.
