Convicted murderer says he was pressured to plead guilty

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – A man who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder says he did so because of pressure from his attorneys, family members and prosecutors and not because he killed the man.

In a deposition videotaped earlier this month, Kenneth Kagonyera says he felt all alone after his attorney threatened to leave the case. He says his mother, grandmother and aunt also urged him to plead guilty to the September 2000 murder of Walter Bowman of Fairview, who was shot during a home invasion.

But he says he didn’t kill Bowman and wasn’t at the house the night Bowman was killed.

The videotape was played Thursday at a hearing of the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission. The commission is holding a two-day hearing to consider the case of both Kagonyera and Robert Wilcoxsin III, who also pleaded guilty.

Two other men also were convicted in the case.

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