NC lawyers petition state’s high court on inmates

RALEIGH, N.C. — The state attorney general’s office is petitioning the North Carolina Supreme Court to block the release of two convicted murderers.

Lawyers filed a request Friday for the state’s high court to hear arguments. It came a day after the state appeals court rejected a request to keep Alford Jones and Faye Brown behind bars. The appeals court order is set to go into effect at 5 p.m., allowing the inmates to then go free.

State courts previously sided with the inmates in determining their life sentences were actually defined in the 1970s as 80-years long. The inmates also contend sentence-reduction credits means their terms are now complete. The state disagrees and says the prisoners should not receive any sentence-reduction credits for good behavior.

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