By Gavin Off and Ames Alexander
The Charlotte Observer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - North Carolina’s legislative leaders have asked the state to restart executions following the brutal killings of four workers at Pasquotank Correctional Institution in October.
On Wednesday, Pasquotank County’s District Attorney said he would seek the death penalty against the four inmates who have been charged in the attacks.
North Carolina is one of 32 states with the death penalty, but due to legal challenges, no executions have been carried out since 2006. Currently, 143 inmates are on death row.
In a news release issued Friday, Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore, both Republicans, called on Gov. Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein to resume executions.
“In light of the prosecutor’s decision to pursue the death penalty, Governor Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein need to make certain, should a jury sentence these men to death, that those sentences are carried out,” Moore said in a statement.
Said Berger: “No matter what they say, Cooper’s and Stein’s indifference and failure to fight the moratorium endangers the lives of prison employees in close proximity to hardened murderers with nothing left to lose, who see no possibility they will face execution for killing again.”
Asked for comment, a spokeswoman for Cooper said: “Legal challenges halted capital punishment in North Carolina and only the courts can restart it. Capital punishment remains the law of the state and Governor Cooper has a long history of upholding it.”
A spokeswoman for Stein said: “The Attorney General will uphold the law in North Carolina.” She did not elaborate.
According to a prison disciplinary report, the Pasquotank inmates attacked two employees in the prison’s sewing plant Oct. 12 before making their way to a loading dock area where they attacked two more employees.
A prison worker who called 911 said the inmates used scissors and hammers in the attacks.
Prison employees Veronica Darden, Justin Smith, Geoffrey Howe and Wendy Shannon died from their injuries.
Inmates Wisezah Buckman, Mikel Brady, Seth Frazier and Jonathan Monk have been charged with first-degree murder. Authorities say all tried to escape from the prison but were captured before scaling Pasquotank’s perimeter fence.
The Pasquotank employees weren’t the only prison workers to be killed on the job this year. In April, Sgt. Meggan Callahan was killed while working at Bertie Correctional Institution.
Inmate Craig Wissink was charged with her murder.
©2017 The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)