Judge: Free NC inmates from ‘life’ sentences

RALEIGH — A North Carolina judge has ruled that two inmates should be set free from the “life” sentences they received in the 1970s.

Superior Court Judge Ripley Rand ruled Monday in the cases of convicted murderers Alford Jones and Faye Brown. He said the Department of Correction is wrongly interpreting its regulations on sentence-reduction credits.

Attorneys for Jones and Brown had argued they had received years of sentence-reduction credits while behind bars. They contended the credits, combined with a 1970s law that defined their “life” sentences as only 80 years long, mean their prison terms are complete.

A spokesman for the state Department of Correction said officials were reviewing the ruling.

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