Summary of the Case of Michael Sexton
An Alert from People of Faith Against the Death Penalty

Michael Sexton was executed 11/9/00

Twenty six hours after the November Election Day, the people of North Carolina are scheduled to execute Michael Earl Sexton, an African-American. Michael is scheduled for execution at 2 a.m., Thursday, November 9, 2000 at Central Prison in Raleigh.

It is difficult to overstate how shocking, brazen and ruthless the timing of this execution is. The powers that be in North Carolina have withheld scheduling executions all year, throughout the election campaign season (a time when the administration of the death penalty is coming under increasing public criticism) and have now scheduled an execution for within hours after voters walk out of the voting booths in November.

Governor Hunt's press release

Gov. Hunt Denies Clemency in Sexton Case

RALEIGH -- Gov. Jim Hunt has denied clemency in the death sentence of Michael Earl Sexton, who is scheduled for execution at 2 a.m. on Nov. 9.

Sexton is on death row for the Aug. 8, 1990 first-degree kidnapping, first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense, common-law robbery and first-degree murder of Kimberly Crews. A jury found that Sexton kidnapped Mrs. Crews, a wife and mother who worked as a child sexual-abuse counselor at Wake Medical Center in Raleigh, from the parking lot of the hospital. Sexton raped her and strangled the victim with her own pantyhose. Expert testimony introduced at the trial indicated that Mrs. Crews may have lost consciousness within six to 10 seconds, yet probably was continually strangled by Sexton for at least three to four minutes.

Hunt gave careful consideration to all of the facts surrounding the case. On Nov. 1, he spent several hours hearing from those involved in the case, including family members of the victim, prosecutors, law-enforcement officials and crime-scene investigators, Sexton's attorneys, and concerned citizens opposed to the death penalty. Hunt also reviewed court transcripts from the trial, judicial opinions, files from the Department of Correction, a video from Sexton depicting the defendant's upbringing, photographs of the crime scene, psychological evaluations of Sexton, and information from recent news articles and studies about capital punishment in North Carolina and the nation.

"I have made an exhaustive review of the facts of this case, and I am absolutely certain that there is no question here concerning the guilt of the convicted individual, or of his mental capacity," Hunt said. "I also am confident that Mr. Sexton had the benefit of two excellent attorneys, had a fair trial, and received the due process to which he is entitled."

"In my constitutional review of death penalty cases, the ultimate standard I have always applied is the fundamental fairness of the judicial proceedings, and I am satisfied in that regard. I also believe that the punishment in this case is entirely proportional to the heinous nature of the crime.
Mr. Sexton acted with premeditation in ending the life of a woman who had done nothing to deserve her fate, and who had devoted her life to helping others in need, especially children who had been abused and mistreated. I therefore find no reason to grant clemency in this case, and must disagree with those who have argued in favor of delaying justice in this matter."

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Now is the time for the abolition movement and those who support a moratorium on executions to show Attorney General Mike Easley, the Democratic nominee for governor, and Gov. Jim Hunt that they are ignoring a growing body of evidence that the death penalty in North Carolina is awash with racial and class bias. More and more North Carolinians are learning how deeply flawed our death penalty system is. Condemned by a jury of 11 whites, Michael Sexton's case is an example of such flaws.

In North Carolina, black defendants who kill whites are three times as more likely to face execution, according to a Charlotte Observer study (9/13/00). During the past decade, "just 40 percent of all murder victims in the Carolinas were white, but in cases of inmates now on death row, nearly 70 percent of the murder victims were white."   The Observer concludes in an editorial that "minority defendants start out with an intolerable and indefensible disadvantage compared to white defendants" (9/13/00).

A N.C. Legislative Study Commission is studying racial disparities in the application of the death penalty in North Carolina. The Commission has heard extensive testimony about the use of racial slurs and racial stereotypes by participants in capital trials. The Commission will likely issue a report by the end of the year. In the face of the questions now being raised in the legislature and in by the public about racial disparities in the application of the death penalty, the timing of Michael Sexton's execution date is shocking.

Questions of Fairness and Racial Bias Mandate Stay of Execution

Michael was 23 at the time of the crime, the rape-murder of Kimberly Crews, a white social worker at Wake Medical Center, in August 1990. The record in this case shows that racial bias tainted this death penalty prosecution. In addition, Michael Sexton's nightmarish childhood, as documented by juvenile social services records, show that he cannot be among the "worst of the worst" for which the death penalty is reserved.

Michael grew up a ward of Central Orphanage and the Wake County Department of Social Services. His father died when Michael was five. As a child, Michael was abused and abandoned by an alcoholic mother and a series of his mother's violent boyfriends. One of his mother's boyfriends sexually assaulted Michael's younger sister, giving her syphillis at the age of nine.  Another boyfriend beat Michael with an iron poker.  While trying to escape the beating, Michael overturned a pot of boiling water and scalded his leg. When Michael was 14, his mother told the family court that she did not want the children.  Michael's sister and brother were placed in foster homes and Michael was sent to training school because DSS could not find a foster home for him.  A year later, Michael was admitted to Central Orphanage. After DSS removed him from his mother's home, Michael did not see his mother or his siblings for a number of years.  A DSS social worker recommended that Michael be placed in the Willie M program but he was rejected because he was "not violent enough."  Less than a decade later, Michael committed the capital offense.

Michael was sentenced to death by a jury composed of 11 whites and one African-American. The State exercised four consecutive peremptory strikes to remove all but one of the African-Americans called for jury service. Asked to give reasons for excluding such a disproportionate number of African-American jurors, the prosecutor stated that one juror did not maintain eye contact and "was not forthcoming."  The prosecutor objected to another juror because of "the way he was dressed."  The prosecutor further noted that this juror wore an earring and concluded that he was "not mature" despite the fact that this juror was married, a father of two, and had lived at the same address for a number of years.  The prosecutor faulted a third juror because she had poor eye contact. This juror had been a witness to an accident that resulted in a lawsuit. Based on this fact, the prosecutor excluded this juror because she was "litigious."  The prosecutor also expressed concern that because the juror's husband worked at a hospital the juror would "identify" with the defendant who also worked at a hospital. The victim worked at a hospital too but the prosecutor did not explain why the juror would identify with the defendant rather than the victim.