Sammy Perkins - Chronology of Events

8/24/2004 - Execution date reset for Sammy Crystal Perkins

RALEIGH - Correction Secretary Theodis Beck has set Oct. 8, 2004 as the execution date for inmate Sammy Crystal Perkins. The execution is scheduled for 2:00 a.m. at Central Prison in Raleigh.

On December 15, 1993, Perkins was sentenced to death in Pitt County Superior Court for the April 18, 1992 murder of 7-year-old Lashenna “Jo Jo” Moore. His execution had been scheduled for May 21, 2004 but was stayed by U.S. District Court Judge Terence Boyle on May 10.

Central Prison Warden Marvin Polk will explain the execution procedures during a media tour scheduled for Monday, Oct. 4 at 10:00 a.m. Interested media representatives should arrive at Central Prison’s visitor center promptly at 10:00 a.m. on the tour date. The session will last approximately one hour.

The media tour will be the only opportunity to photograph the execution chamber and deathwatch area before the execution. Journalists who plan to attend the tour should contact the Department of Correction Public Affairs Office at (919) 716-3700 by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 1.

5/10/2004 - U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle issues a stay of execution.

4/7/2004 - Correction Secretary Theodis Beck sets an execution date of May 21, 2004 for Sammy Perkins.

12/15/1993 - Sammy Perkins sentenced to death in Pitt County Superior Court for the murder of 7-year-old Lashenna "JoJo" Moore.

ProDeathPenalty.Com

The state set an Oct. 8 execution date for Sammy Perkins. Perkins was convicted of killing 7-year-old Lashenna Moore. Perkins was dating the little girl's grandmother. Authorities say Perkins raped and killed Moore in the grandmother's home in 1992. Perkins was scheduled to die by lethal injection earlier this year, but a U.S. District Court Judge stayed the execution because of a legal challenge.

On December 15, 1993, Perkins was sentenced to death in Pitt County Superior Court for the April 18, 1992 murder of 7-year-old Lashenna “Jo Jo” Moore, who died April 19, 1992. Perkins, who was sentenced to death Dec. 15, 1993, was convicted of raping JoJo, then smothering her with a pillow in her bed in a Greenville public housing project. Her school picture showed a pretty girl with pigtails and a gap-toothed smile. Her teacher said she was a child with a great laugh, the kind you wanted to take home.

On April 18, 1992 Perkins was living with his mother in Greenville. After visiting with his family and drinking several beers, Perkins went to the home of a woman he had been dating for two months and had known for ten or eleven years. She lived in the house with her two children and four grandchildren, one of whom was JoJo. The woman shared a room with two of her grandchildren, a three-year-old boy and JoJo, who slept together on a daybed. After leaving the woman's home for a short time, Perkins returned and drank more beer and smoked crack cocaine.

At approximately 3:00 am on April 19, Perkins entered the woman’s bedroom, where she and her two grandchildren were sleeping. Perkins watched a pornographic video and then tried to have sex with the woman, who was surprised that he was in the room. She discovered a large butcher knife under her pillow, and Perkins explained that he had used it to open a can of beer. She ordered Perkins out of the house. As she walked him to the door, the young boy rose from his bed and claimed that Perkins had bitten his finger. After Perkins left, he called the woman twice to insist that he had not bitten the boy. The woman then went to sleep; when she awoke at around 9:00 am, she observed that the boy’s finger was swollen. At approximately 11:30 am, while the family was preparing to go to church for Easter services, the woman discovered that JoJo was dead. The evidence tended to show that sometime early that morning, Perkins had mounted the victim, held a pillow over her face, and had sex with her. The medical examiner determined that JoJo died of suffocation and estimated that her mouth and nose were covered for a period of between three to seven minutes before she became unconscious.

Perkins testified that on the night and morning in question, he had been drinking and smoking crack cocaine. He stated that JoJo awoke while he was having sex with her grandmother. He put a pillow over her face so that she would not see them. He said that he administered CPR, which he thought was successful in resuscitating her. He then went to the kitchen for a beer, used a knife to open the can, and placed the knife by the grandmother’s bed. Sometime in the morning, he took the boy to the bathroom. The boy stuck his finger in Perkins’s mouth, and Perkins bit it. He said the woman threw him out of the house after discovering the knife and the biting incident. Perkins, who was in a wheelchair by the time of trial, explained that he suffers from a debilitative muscular disease called myasthenia gravis which precluded him from having sexual intercourse in any position where he would have to support himself with his arms. On cross examination Perkins admitted that he had a prior conviction for attempted rape in 1981 and was released from prison in 1986. He also had prior convictions for possession with intent to sell and deliver heroin and cocaine in 1988 and 1989.

In May of 2004, a federal judge has ordered a halt to plans to execute Perkins while the U.S. Supreme Court considered a case that challenged the constitutionality of lethal injection for some inmates. Another inmate contended that his collapsed veins would require prison officials to cut deep into his flesh to insert the needle, constituting cruel and unusual punishment. During clemency hearings for the previous execution date, Perkins' attorneys asked Gov. Mike Easley to spare the killer's life because jurors improperly discussed the case before deliberations began. Perkins also suffered from bipolar disorder at the time of the April 1992 slaying of Lashenna in Greenville, the lawyers said. Authorities said Perkins sexually assaulted the girl, who was his girlfriend's granddaughter, and smothered her with a pillow. He was sent to death row the following year. Lawyers for Perkins said two court officials in Perkins' trial told a judge that members of the jury had decided Perkins was guilty before beginning deliberations. When jurors were questioned individually, they denied that.

Clark Everett, Pitt County's district attorney, and retired investigator Ricky Best both asked Easley to allow the execution. "It's a horrible, horrible crime. This was a young girl, 7 years old, brutally raped and murdered in her own bed," Everett said. "If there was ever a case for the death penalty, this is it."

UPDATE: Lawyers for the state attorney general's office have appealed a federal judge's order that stops the execution of a man sentenced to death for the 1992 murder and rape of a seven-year-old girl in Pitt County. The order by U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle on Friday said the execution should be stopped while attorneys for Sammy Perkins and other death row inmates pursue a lawsuit over the legality of the state's lethal injection method. Perkins is scheduled to be executed at 2 a.m. Friday at Central Prison in Raleigh. Attorneys for Perkins also have asked Governor Mike Easley to hear more arguments for clemency in Perkins case. A hearing was held earlier this year before Perkins received another stay of execution. The governor's office says Easley has reviewed supplement materials but won't have another meeting with lawyers. The defense attorneys say Perkins' trial was marred by jury discussions of the case before the jury was told to decide the case. And the lawyers say Perkins' mental illness wasn't fully presented to the jury because of poor testimony by a defense expert.

Raleigh News & Observer

"North Carolina executes man for raping, smothering child," by Estes Thompson. (AP October 8, 2004)

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A man convicted of the 1992 rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl was executed by the state of North Carolina early Friday as his brother and niece and the uncle of the young victim watched. Sammy Crystal Perkins, 51, was injected with a lethal dose of chemicals after the U.S. Supreme Court issued two orders Thursday to clear the way. He was declared dead at 2:14 a.m.

By a 5-4 vote, justices turned down a request by defense lawyers to leave a stay in place so Perkins could contest the state's lethal injection execution method. The court also unanimously rejected a defense request to reverse state court rulings against Perkins on the issue of whether improper evidence was allowed during his trial in Pitt County Superior Court.

"I would like to say I love my mother, all my brothers and sisters and all my children. I'll see ya'll on the other side," Perkins said in his last statement before he was wheeled into the execution chamber.

Police officers and prosecutors sat in the witness room along with the victim's uncle and Perkins' relatives and defense lawyers. He spent the day visiting with his mother and other relatives. Late in the day, he asked for a last meal of fried chicken, sweet potato pie, French fries and a Coke.

Defense lawyers had argued that Perkins took responsibility for raping and smothering Lashenna "Jo Jo" Moore, his girlfriend's granddaughter in Pitt County. But they said his substance abuse and mental illness, including bipolar disorder, meant he should have received a life sentence. An appeal to Gov. Mike Easley for clemency, in which defense lawyers also said Perkins' trial was faulty because the jury discussed the case too early, was rejected hours before the execution after the high court rejected legal appeals. The lawyers also said Perkins' mental illness wasn't fully presented to the jury because of poor testimony by a defense expert.

Perkins' execution had been stayed by a federal judge who last week said he should be allowed to participate in a lawsuit that challenged the method of execution by injection. A physician said in an affidavit filed with Boyle's court that an autopsy of a previously executed inmate showed low amounts of an anesthetic in his blood and that "it is most likely that the execution was torture."

Perkins' execution was the first by the state since January. Attorney General Roy Cooper effectively put executions on hold last spring, while the U.S. Supreme Court decided an Alabama case challenging a form of lethal injection sometimes used by the state as cruel and unusual punishment. The high court cleared the way for the Alabama execution in late May, after which a spokeswoman for Cooper said the state would resume efforts to carry out lethal injections. The state Department of Correction says it has changed its protocol for executions since the last execution to give more of the anesthetic as the death unfolds. But Central Prison Warden Marvin Polk said he has never seen signs of suffering in 19 executions he has attended.

ABC TV-11

"Perkins Execution Case Works Through Two Court Systems," by Estes Thompson. (AP)

(10/06/04 - RALEIGH) — Lawyers involved in this week's execution of a man who raped and killed a child were in two courts Wednesday, arguing both about whether the execution method is flawed and whether the prisoner should get a new trial.

In a federal appeals court, prosecutors asked a judge to overturn a lower court's order to stop the execution. The judge refused, leaving the stay in place while the state appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. And in state court, a judge denied a defense request for a new trial for Sammy Crystal Perkins, 51. He was sentenced in 1993 for the rape and murder of a 7-year-old Pitt County girl, Lashenna "Jo Jo" Moore, who was the granddaughter of his girlfriend. Shortly after the state judge ruled, the defense appealed to the North Carolina Supreme Court, which quickly denied a request for a hearing and a stay of execution.

The rapid legal action means Perkins' fate will probably come down to an execution eve decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. Perkins is scheduled to be put to death at 2 a.m. Friday. He was moved Wednesday afternoon from death row to the isolated death watch area near the death chamber.

In state court, Pitt County Superior Court Judge Wilton R. Duke rejected the defense claim that Perkins was convicted on illegal hearsay evidence. Duke said a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limits the use of evidence not directly from a witness didn't apply because the ruling came down after Perkins' state trial. The evidence in question came from a police officer who said the victim's 3-year-old brother said he saw Perkins in the girl's bed and that Perkins, known as "Sea Dog," had bitten the boy. Duke also admonished the defense, saying the Supreme Court case was decided nearly seven months ago, "yet the defendant has waited until less than 72 hours prior to his scheduled execution to file" his latest appeal.

In the federal case, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a stay -- a judge's order stopping an execution -- should remain in effect. U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle issued the stay last week after lawyers said Perkins should be allowed to pursue a lawsuit over the legality of the state's lethal injection method. Perkins was among death row inmates who filed a petition in January seeking to prevent the state from carrying out or scheduling their executions, saying lethal injection constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. One of the other inmates has been executed and another sent to prison for life because he was mentally retarded.

Attorneys for Perkins also asked Gov. Mike Easley to hear more arguments for clemency. A clemency hearing was held earlier this year. The governor's office said Easley has reviewed supplementary materials but won't have another meeting. Defense lawyers said clemency would be proper because Perkins' trial was marred by jury discussions of the case before formal deliberations began. The lawyers also said Perkins' mental illness wasn't fully presented to the jury because of poor testimony by a defense expert.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Sammy Perkins - North Carolina Oct 8, 2:00 AM

Sammy Perkins has been executed. Our thoughts and sympathies are with the family and loved ones of Mr. Perkins as well as Lashenna Moore.

The state of North Carolina is scheduled to execute Sammy Perkins, a black man, Oct 8 for the 1992 rape and murder of seven year-old Lashenna Moore in Pitt County. Perkins, who suffers from bipolar disorder, was using alcohol, heroin, and crack cocaine at the time, and has a long history of substance abuse and mental illness.

Perkins was first scheduled to be executed on May 21. The execution was halted when District Court Judge Terrence Boyle issued a stay pending the Supreme Court ruling on a case challenging the constitutionality of lethal injection.

Pekins has a family history of mental illness. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1997, and a prison psychiatrist noted symptoms of long-term use of anti-psychotic medication. However, for most of Perkins’ life, his economic status prevented him from obtaining psychiatric help. In 1975 Perkins was arrested for “walking around without his clothes on,” according to his mother. Left untreated, bi-polar disorder is a debilitating mental illness, with extreme mood swings, depression, and manic highs. As he self-medicated his moods and depression with cocaine, heroine, and alcohol, the condition worsened.

Supporters of Perkins maintain that this crucially potential mitigating evidence of profound mental illness was not presented at trial. Perkins’ early bizarre behavior was not investigated by either of his two trial lawyers and there was no expert to explain to the jury how it affected Perkins’ ability to make decisions or how it affected his reaction to alcohol and cocaine.

Had recent guidelines for appointing attorneys in capital cases applied in Perkins’ case, he would have been assigned a lawyer with enough experience to spot this important issue. At the time of Perkins’ trial and review, judges had the discretion to limit or refuse completely to fund expert witnesses. Perkins’ request for experts was not given appropriate attention. Supporters of Perkins also maintain the outcome of the sentencing hearing would be drastically different if the case was tried today under recently imposed guidelines for North Carolina, which restrict trial judges ability to limit expert witnesses.

Forensic psychiatrist Billy Royal testified that Perkins’ mental illness in combination with his consumption of both prescribed and illicit drugs and alcohol impaired his ability to distinguish right from wrong, make plans, or premeditate his actions.

The execution of those with mental illness has become an international human rights issue. Human Rights Watch reports that there are 10 times as many men and women in prison as in mental hospitals. Reports estimate that 10 percent of death row inmates are mentally ill, though some maintain that the number is much higher. When mental illness manifests itself violently, the general population should be protected. However, the answer is not to further victimize those who suffer with the “ultimate punishment” of death.

There are also serious allegations of jury misconduct. Court official Tammy Beachum reported that she was informed that the jury had decided on Perkins’s guilt before the trial was completed; and furthermore had determined that death was appropriate. Premature jury deliberation undermines a defendant’s right to due process and is grounds for a mistrial. The court ruled that Perkins’ case was unaffected by this misconduct.

Perkins is a mentally ill man who did not receive a fair trial, and is arguably ineligible for a capital murder conviction. While this is a horrifying crime, the infliction of more violence is not the answer. North Carolina has the option of life without parole, which is the only humane alternative in this case. To perpetuate the cycle of violence, to create more victims, and uphold murder as an option for justice will never bring healing.

Please contact Gov. Easley and urge him to stop the execution of Sammy Perkins letting him know that you do not support the execution of the mentally ill!

Amnesty International

"USA: Death penalty / Legal concern." (27 September 2004)

USA (North Carolina) Sammy Crystal Perkins (m), black, aged 50

Sammy Perkins is scheduled to be executed in North Carolina on 8 October 2004. He was sentenced to death for the murder of a seven-year-old girl, LaSheena Renae "JoJo" Moore, in 1992.

At the trial, the state presented evidence that Sammy Perkins had sexually assaulted JoJo Moore and smothered her to death during the early hours of 19 April 1992. JoJo Moore was the grandchild of a woman whom Sammy Perkins had known for several years and whom he had been dating for a few weeks. Sammy Perkins testified that on the night and morning in question he had been drinking and smoking crack cocaine. He said that the child had woken up while he was having sex with her grandmother and that he had covered her face with a pillow so that she would not see them. The jury found Sammy Perkins guilty of capital murder and sentenced him to death.

During the trial, before all the evidence had been presented, the judge was told that one of the jurors had said to her baby-sitter that the jurors had already decided that Sammy Perkins was guilty and all but one of them had decided that he should be executed. The jury had not yet heard all the evidence; the judge questioned them about this conversation, and they denied that they had already reached a verdict. The judge found that the contents of the conversation between the juror and her baby-sitter could not be ascertained, and refused to declare a mistrial or to dismiss the juror in question. The appeal courts have not allowed a full hearing on this issue.

According to Sammy Perkins’s clemency lawyers, the trial jurors were not presented with the full picture of the man they sentenced to death. Several of his family suffered from bipolar disorder (manic depressive illness), and he had begun showing signs of this serious mental illness from his late teens. Being from a poor family he was unable to get appropriate treatment, and used cocaine, heroin and alcohol to alleviate his symptoms. He was also on prescription drugs for myasthenia gravis, a disease that causes muscle weakness. Although his trial lawyers presented evidence of this disease, they had not investigated his bipolar condition, and the jury did not hear expert evidence about this illness and its effects on the defendant. Sammy Perkins’s current lawyers are challenging the lethal injection process in North Carolina, on the grounds that it violates the constitutional prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The lethal injection process involves three chemicals: sodium thiopental (a short-acting anaesthetic), pancuronium bromide (which paralyzes the muscles, but does not affect the brain or nerves) and potassium chloride, which causes death by cardiac arrest. A person injected with pancuronium bromide alone remains conscious but cannot move or speak. Legal challenges have been made against its use in executions in various states on the grounds that if the anaesthetic fails, the pancuronium bromide may throw a "chemical veil" over the reality of lethal injections by masking the suffering caused by the potassium chloride. In a challenge in Tennessee, a woman testified that she had undergone surgery during which the anaesthetic had failed. She testified that she was able to hear, perceive and feel everything that went on during her surgery, but was unable to move or speak because of an injection of pancuronium bromide. She has described the experience as "worse than death". The use of pancuronium bromide for pet euthanasia is not acceptable under American Veterinary Medical Association guidelines, and its use for this purpose has been banned in several states.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, regardless of the gravity of the crime, the guilt or innocence of the condemned, or the method used to kill the prisoner. The death penalty is an affront to human dignity and a symptom of a culture of violence, and consumes resources that could otherwise be used towards constructive strategies to combat violent crime and to offer assistance to its victims and their families. In addition, the capital justice system in the USA is marked by arbitrariness, discrimination and error.

The United Nations Safeguards Guaranteeing Protection of the Rights of Those Facing the Death Penalty require that capital defendants receive "adequate legal assistance at all stages of the proceedings". The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions has said that in capital cases, all mitigating evidence must be taken into account. In repeated resolutions in recent years, the UN Commission on Human Rights has called on all states that still have the death penalty not to use it against anyone suffering from a mental disorder.

Today, a clear majority of countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. In contrast to this, there have been 929 executions in the USA since it resumed judicial killing in 1977. There have been 44 executions this year.

People of Faith Against the Death Penalty

"North Carolina Set to Execute a Mentally Ill Man."

Sammy Perkins is scheduled to be executed Oct. 8, 2004, for the death of Jo-Jo Moore. Moore's death was a terrible tragedy and Sammy Perkins should be punished for it. But vital evidence that could have made the difference in life over death never made it to the jury. The ways capital lawyers are qualified, trained and assisted have changed dramatically since Perkin's trial. Today, the case would have a different outcome. Further, jurors decided Perkins' death before they heard all of the evidence. Without clemency, Sammy Perkins will suffer a torturous, painful death.

The jury never heard the full story of Sammy's mental disorder.

A family history of extreme psychiatric problems left its mark on Sammy Perkins. Several family members suffered from mental illnesses. In his late teens and early 20s, the time when bi-polar disorders are often discovered, Perkins was found ranting in public, sometimes completely naked. From a poor family, he was not able to get psychiatric help, treatment or medication. Bi-polar disorder, left untreated, is a debilitating mental illness, with wild mood swings, depression and manic highs during which the person can be out of touch with reality. As he self-medicated his moods and depression with cocaine, heroin and alcohol, the condition worsened. Myasthenia Gravis claimed Perkins as well. This autoimmune disease causes muscular weakness. Prescription Prednisone, given to Perkins to abate the symptoms, causes euphoria, hyperactivity and is highly addictive.

The jury never heard about Sammy Perkins' break with reality, about his bi-polar condition. Perkins had two trial lawyers, one of whom was still a relative newcomer to capital trials. Perkins' early bizarre behavior was not investigated by either lawyer. No expert explained to the jury how it affected Perkins' ability to make decisions, how it affected his reaction to alcohol and cocaine. Bi-polar disorder cannot be controlled if the person does not know they have it and are not on the right medication. Perkins did not know about his condition until it was too late.

Had recent guidelines for appointing attorneys in capital cases applied in Perkins' case, he would have been assigned a lawyer with enough experience to spot this important issue. At the time of Perkins' trial and review, judges had discretion to limit or refuse completely to fund expert witnesses. A judge hamstrung Perkins' request for experts. Recent changes don't leave those kinds of decisions up to the trial judge. The outcome of the sentencing hearing would be drastically different if the case was tried today, with the new guidelines.

The jurors decided Sammy's case before they heard the evidence.

Before all of the evidence was presented, one of the jurors told a disinterested third person that she was voting for death and there were others who agreed with her. The courts have not allowed a full hearing on the juror's conduct and so Perkins is stuck with a verdict that was handed down by a prejudiced jury. To allow this execution to go ahead with a jury that pre-judged Perkins without even listening to all of the evidence is fundamentally unfair. To disregard this flaw makes a mockery of the phrase "trial by a fair and impartial jury."

Lethal injection is a cruel, unusual and inhumane procedure.

The citizens of North Carolina decided long ago that executions be carried out humanely and therefore eliminated all methods of execution other than lethal injection. Unfortunately, the procedure currently used is seriously flawed. The statutory method of execution – using a short-acting barbiturate followed by a paralytic agent – has been outlawed for use in euthanizing dogs in many states.

The short-acting barbiturate is supposed to anesthetize the inmate, but it is hard to administer correctly and it wears off quickly. The paralytic agent will then paralyze all of Perkins' muscles, essentially causing him to suffocate to death. North Carolina adds a third toxic chemical to the mix, potassium chloride, in order to hasten death. However, if the anesthesia is not administered properly, the paralytic agent will make it impossible for Perkins to express his suffering as the chemical causes an excruciatingly painful death, burning its way through his veins to induce cardiac arrest.

Toxicology reports done after three North Carolina executions show that the inmate did not have sufficient anesthesia in his system to deaden the pain and undoubtedly experienced excruciating pain while he died. After the last such execution, the state simply stopped performing toxicology tests. The brutal procedure that Sammy Perkins will endure is nothing short of torture, not a humane procedure envisioned by the citizens of this State.

The above information was prepared by Sammy Perkins' legal defense team.

Charlotte News and Observer

"Opinion: He didn't do it." (Setember 30, 2004)

I am the oldest daughter of Sammy Perkins, scheduled to be executed at Central Prison on Oct. 8. [Perkins was convicted of the 1992 rape and murder in Greenville of 7-year-old Lashenna "Jo Jo" Moore.]

North Carolina is about to kill an innocent man. There was no DNA testing done, nor any samples of any kind that matched and would link my father to that horrific crime. My father was convicted before he even went to trial based on his past convictions. My father may have committed other crimes in his life, but what he is about to be killed for he did not do. Sammy Perkins is a good man and he is loved. If my father is killed they not only will be killing an innocent man but a son, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, cousin, friend and overall wonderful person.

Kilita Redmond, Brooklyn, N.Y.

WRAL-TV

"Moore County Family Still Feels Pain Years After Child's Murder; Sammy Perkins Sentenced To Die For Leeshena Moore's Murder." (August 27, 2004)

MOORE COUNTY, N.C. -- Leeshena "JoJo" Moore was just 7 years old when she was raped and murdered in her grandmother's home. Twelve years later, her family is still in pain. "She was the star in our family," said Roderick Moore, Leeshena's uncle. "We sit around and conversate about her and what could have been."

Sammy Perkins, the boyfriend of Leeshena's grandmother, was convicted of Moore's murder in 1993. A jury sentenced him to death. In May 2004, a federal judge put that sentence on hold when Perkins challenged whether the state's form of execution, lethal injection, is cruel and unusual punishment. "It's not fair because my baby didn't get a second chance. You know I never believed in capital punishment until this happened," said Theia Moore, Leeshena's grandmother.

After a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a similar case this summer, Perkins' execution is now set for October. Roderick Moore said the process has been an emotional drain on his family. "It is very important to some people in our family that he gets what's coming to him," he said. "There is some relief because if it happened to us, it could happen to anyone else, someone else's family."

Roderick Moore said while it has been tough, time and faith helped erase the hate he once felt for Perkins. "I've learned how to forgive the man for doing what he did to our family," he said. "I don't understand it and I'll never understand it, but I forgave him for it already."

Perkins' execution is now set for Oct. 8. Moore's family does not plan to attend.

North Carolina Coalition for a Moratorium

October 3, 2004: The Charlotte Observer ANNA GRIFFIN "Debate on death penalty escalates; Pending executions, election, moratorium raise issues," by Anna Griffin. (Raliegh Bureau of the Charlotte Observer October 3, 2004)

The timing certainly is interesting. After nine months without an execution, North Carolina is scheduled to kill two convicted murderers in October, just in time for Gov. Mike Easley and Attorney General Roy Cooper to reaffirm their commitment to law, order and all sorts of other conservative-for-a-Democrat principles.

Barring intervention from the courts or the governor, who can reduce death sentences to life imprisonment, the state will execute Sammy Perkins early Friday and Charles Roache on Oct. 22. The timing has death penalty opponents enraged, and not just because Election Day looms.

When the N.C. General Assembly convenes in January, it likely will consider stopping state executions for two years so lawmakers can study potential reforms in the way the state investigates and prosecutes potential death penalty cases. The Senate approved the moratorium in 2003; supporters said they had the votes in the N.C. House this year, but Republican Co-Speaker Richard Morgan refused to bring the bill up for a vote. "Let's just say that this all seems more about saving face and executing people for political gain than seeking justice and fairness," said Stephen Dear, executive director of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, a Carrboro-based group working to abolish capital punishment.

The governor isn't involved in setting execution dates; his role is to decide whether to grant last-minute clemency. The attorney general oversees the team of state prosecutors who fight death row inmate appeals and lets the Department of Correction know when those appeals are exhausted. This year has represented an unusual reprieve for the state's inmates, the longest since Easley and Cooper took office in Jan. 2001 . The state's only execution so far this year was on Jan. 9. That gap, and its end, can be explained by more than politics, or at least, more than legislative politics.

For much of this year, the state courts were holding off on handling death penalty appeals while the U.S. Supreme Court considered an appeal by an Alabama inmate who challenged the injection execution method. The court said the Alabaman could pursue his case, but opened only a narrow door to such challenges. "The system has been backlogged," said Keith Acree, spokesman for the Department of Correction. Now the backlog is about to clear, and state leaders face a conflict: Scheduling executions at the same time more people are calling for a temporary halt to them.

The push for a moratorium in North Carolina echoes a national debate over capital punishment. Recent studies have shown that black people and poor people are more likely to receive a death sentence than affluent whites convicted of similar crimes. Thirty-three death row inmates nationwide have been exonerated since 2000, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. More than 124 city and county governments across the country have called for a death penalty moratorium. That list includes more than 31 communities in North Carolina, including Charlotte. The movement to take a break from executions to study the system has gained momentum with a recent spate of cases in which prosecutorial misconduct and mistakes helped convict people who turned out to be innocent.

The most embarrassing and prominent case in the Carolinas involved Alan Gell, a Bertie County man whose original death penalty conviction was overturned because prosecutors withheld evidence that could have exonerated him -- after he'd spent six years on death row. Cooper, the Democratic attorney general, opted to re-try Gell. A jury found Gell not guilty earlier this year, and since his release from prison he has become an active death penalty opponent, lobbying at the General Assembly and speaking across the state to civic and church groups.

Beyond Perkins and Roache, at least four other death row inmates could exhaust their appeals and receive execution dates before the General Assembly returns to work early next year. "I just don't understand how they can go ahead killing people when there's a very real chance the legislature will pass the moratorium next year," Gell said recently. "That just doesn't make any sense to me at all."

Easley and Cooper have opposed a moratorium in the past. So have their Republican challengers, gubernatorial candidate Patrick Ballantine and attorney general candidate Joe Knott. Easley, a former district attorney and attorney general whose office originally prosecuted Gell, has said he does not believe North Carolina needs a halt in executions, although he was less direct in a recent interview. "There are so many different mutations of this moratorium idea that it would be hard for me to give an answer that I feel comfortable with right now," he said. "The one thing I do feel strongly about is that those who say they want a death penalty moratorium so they can study the death penalty ought to get to the business of studying it. They've been asking for a moratorium for something like six years now, and if they want to show good faith and build support, they need to start studying something."

Ballantine says there's no reason to stop executions, yet has earned points with death penalty opponents, most of them Democrats, for saying that he believes the system needs to be studied. Abolitionists are angry with Easley for refusing to meet with them. Easley says there's no reason for him to sit down with anti-death penalty advocates such as Dear and legislators who oppose capital punishment every time another execution rolls around: He knows where they stand, he says, and they know where he stands.

Scheduled to Die

SAMMY CRYSTAL PERKINS, 51

Sentenced to death for the 1992 murder of 7-year-old Lashenna "Jo Jo" Moore, his girlfriend's granddaughter. Perkins' lawyers say their client deserves clemency -- essentially the altering of his sentence from death to life in prison -- because jurors did not hear complete details of his mental illness. His lawyers also allege juror misconduct, saying at least one juror decided on death before hearing all the evidence. He is scheduled to die at 2 a.m. Friday.

State v. Perkins, 481 S.E.2d 25 (N.C. 1997) (Direct Appeal).

Defendant was convicted for the murder and rape of the seven-year-old grandchild of a woman whom defendant dated and the Superior Court, Pitt County, Sumner, J., sentenced defendant to death. Defendant appealed. The Supreme Court, Parker, J., held that: (1) prospective jurors' responses to death-qualification questions justified decisions on challenges for cause; (2) no outside influence was exerted on jury; (3) overwhelming evidence that defendant smothered victim while raping her rendered any evidentiary errors harmless; (4) defendant opened door to prior accusations that defendant raped defense witness' daughter; (5) challenged closing arguments during capital sentencing proceeding did not violate due process; and (6) death sentence was neither disproportionate nor excessive. No error. Webb, J., dissented and filed opinion in which Frye, J., joined.

PARKER, Justice.
Defendant Sammy Crystal Perkins was tried capitally on indictments charging him with first-degree murder and first-degree rape. The jury found defendant guilty as charged. Following a capital sentencing proceeding, the jury recommended a sentence of death; and the trial court entered judgment accordingly. The trial court also imposed a consecutive sentence of life imprisonment for first-degree rape. For the reasons discussed herein, we conclude that the jury selection, guilt-innocence phase, and capital sentencing proceeding of defendant's trial were free from prejudicial error and that the death sentence is not disproportionate.

The State presented evidence tending to show that during the early morning hours on 19 April 1992, defendant sexually assaulted seven-year-old LaSheena Renae "JoJo" Moore and smothered her to death. On 18 April 1992 defendant was living with his mother in Greenville. After visiting with his family and drinking several beers, defendant went to the home of Theia Esther Moore, a woman he had been dating for two months and had known for ten or eleven years. Moore lived in the house with her two children and four grandchildren, one of whom was the victim. Moore shared a room with two of her grandchildren, three-year-old Michael "Champ" Moore and the victim, who slept together on a daybed.

After leaving the Moore house for a short time, defendant returned and drank more beer and smoked crack cocaine. At approximately 3:00 a.m. on 19 April, defendant entered Moore's bedroom, where she and her two grandchildren were present. Defendant watched a pornographic video and then tried to have sex with Moore, who was surprised that he was in the room. Moore discovered a large butcher knife under her pillow, and defendant explained that he had used it to open a can of beer.

Moore ordered defendant out of the house. As she walked him to the door, Champ rose from his bed and claimed that defendant had bitten his finger. After defendant left, he called Moore twice to insist that he had not bitten Champ. Moore then went to sleep; when she awoke at around 9:00 a.m., she observed that Champ's finger was swollen. At approximately 11:30 a.m., while the family was preparing to go to church for Easter services, Moore discovered that JoJo was dead.

The evidence tended to show that sometime early that morning, defendant had mounted the victim, held a pillow over her face, and had sex with her. The medical examiner determined that the victim died of suffocation and estimated that the victim's mouth and nose were covered for a period of between three to seven minutes before she became unconscious.

Defendant testified that on the night and morning in question, he had been drinking and smoking crack cocaine. He stated that JoJo awoke while he was having sex with Moore. He put a pillow over her face so that she would not see them. He said that he administered CPR, which he thought was successful in resuscitating her. He then went to the kitchen for a beer, used a knife to open the can, and placed the knife by Moore's bed. Sometime in the morning, he took Champ to the bathroom. Champ stuck his finger in defendant's mouth, and defendant bit it. He said Moore threw him out of the house after discovering the knife and the biting incident.

Defendant, who was in a wheelchair by the time of trial, explained that he suffers from a debilitative muscular disease called myasthenia gravis. His disability precluded him from having sexual intercourse in any position where he would have to support himself with his arms. On cross-examination defendant admitted that he had a prior conviction for attempted rape in 1981 and was released from prison in 1986. He also had prior convictions for possession with intent to sell and deliver heroin and cocaine in 1988 and 1989.

The jury found defendant guilty of first-degree rape and guilty of first-degree murder under the theories of premeditation and deliberation and felony murder. The jury found all three submitted aggravating circumstances: (i) that defendant had been previously convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of use of violence; (ii) that the murder was committed by defendant while defendant was engaged in the commission of or an attempt to commit first-degree rape; and (iii) that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel. The jury also found one statutory and five nonstatutory mitigating circumstances. The jury found that the mitigating circumstances did not outweigh the aggravating circumstances and that the aggravating circumstances were sufficiently substantial to call for the imposition of the death penalty. The jury recommended the death penalty.

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In the present case defendant was found guilty on the bases of both the felony murder rule and premeditation and deliberation; defendant had been dating the victim's grandmother for two months at the time of the killing; the seven-year-old victim and her little brother lived with their grandmother, slept in their grandmother's bedroom, and knew defendant; the murder occurred during the commission of a rape; and the jury found the especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel aggravating circumstance. After comparing this case to similar cases in the pool used for proportionality review, we conclude that defendant's death sentence is not excessive or disproportionate.

We hold that defendant received a fair trial and capital sentencing hearing free from prejudicial error. Comparing defendant's case to similar cases in which the death penalty was imposed and considering both the crime and defendant, we cannot hold as a matter of law that the death penalty was disproportionate or excessive. NO ERROR.

Perkins v. Lee, 72 Fed. Appx. 4 (4th Cir. 2003) (Federal Habeas).

Defendant convicted of capital murder and rape, affirmed at 345 N.C. 254, 481 S.E.2d 25, petitioned for writ of habeas corpus. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, James C. Fox, Senior District Judge, dismissed, and defendant appealed. The Court of Appeals, Traxler, Circuit Judge, held that: (1) claim challenging counsel's presentation of expert mental health evidence was procedurally barred; (2) finding of no juror misconduct was supported by the evidence; and (3) conclusion that there was no error in excusing a juror for cause was not an unreasonable application of clearly established Federal law or based on an unreasonable determination of the facts. Affirmed.

TRAXLER, Circuit Judge.
Sammy Crystal Perkins was convicted by a North Carolina jury for the capital murder and rape of LaSheena Renae "JoJo" Moore. Perkins was sentenced to death for the capital murder conviction and to life imprisonment for the rape conviction. After unsuccessfully appealing his convictions in state court on direct review and in state habeas proceedings, Perkins filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in federal district court. See 28 U.S.C.A. § 2254 (West 1994 & Supp.2003) The district court dismissed the petition and Perkins sought an appeal in this court. Because at least one judge of the panel concluded that Perkins had "made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right," 28 U.S.C.A. § 2253(c)(2) (West Supp.2003), with respect to each of his claims, we granted a certificate of appealability, see 28 U.S.C.A. § 2253(c)(3) (West Supp.2003). We now affirm.

On April 19, 1992, at approximately 3:00 a.m., petitioner Perkins raped seven-year-old JoJo Moore in her bed while he smothered her to death with a pillow. The North Carolina Supreme Court described the specific facts surrounding JoJo's murder as follows:

On 18 April 1992 [Perkins] was living with his mother in Greenville. After visiting with his family and drinking several beers, [Perkins] went to the home of Theia Esther Moore, a woman he had been dating for two months and had known for ten or eleven years. Moore lived in the house with her two children and four grandchildren, one of whom was the victim. Moore shared a room with two of her grandchildren, three-year-old Michael "Champ" Moore and the victim, who slept together on a daybed.

After leaving the Moore house for a short time, [Perkins] returned and drank more beer and smoked crack cocaine. At approximately 3:00 a.m. on 19 April, [Perkins] entered Moore's bedroom, where she and her two grandchildren were present. [Perkins] watched a pornographic video and then tried to have sex with Moore, who was surprised that he was in the room. Moore discovered a large butcher knife under her pillow, and [Perkins] explained that he had used it to open a can of beer. Moore ordered [Perkins] out of the house. As she walked him to the door, Champ rose from his bed and claimed that [Perkins] had bitten his finger. After [Perkins] left, he called Moore twice to insist that he had not bitten Champ. Moore then went to sleep; when she awoke at around 9:00 a.m., she observed that Champ's finger was swollen. At approximately 11:30 a.m., while the family was preparing to go to church for Easter services, Moore discovered that JoJo was dead.

The evidence tended to show that sometime early that morning, [Perkins] had mounted the victim, held a pillow over her face, and had sex with her. The medical examiner determined that the victim died of suffocation and estimated that the victim's mouth and nose were covered for a period of between three to seven minutes before she became unconscious.

[Perkins] testified that on the night and morning in question, he had been drinking and smoking crack cocaine. He stated that JoJo awoke while he was having sex with Moore. He put a pillow over her face so that she would not see them. He said that he administered CPR, which he thought was successful in resuscitating her. He then went to the kitchen for a beer, used a knife to open the can, and placed the knife by Moore's bed. Sometime in the morning, he took Champ to the bathroom. Champ stuck his finger in [Perkins's] mouth, and [Perkins] bit it. He said Moore threw him out of the house after discovering the knife and the biting incident.

[Perkins], who was in a wheelchair by the time of trial, explained that he suffers from a debilitative muscular disease called myasthenia gravis [which] precluded him from having sexual intercourse in any position where he would have to support himself with his arms. On crossexamination [Perkins] admitted that he had a prior conviction for attempted rape in 1981 and was released from prison in 1986. He also had prior convictions for possession with intent to sell and deliver heroin and cocaine in 1988 and 1989. State v. Perkins, 345 N.C. 254, 481 S.E.2d 25, 28 (1997). At the conclusion of the guilt phase of the trial, the jury convicted Perkins of the first-degree rape and first-degree murder of JoJo Moore under the theories of premeditation and deliberation and felony murder.

A capital sentencing proceeding was then held pursuant to N.C. Gen.Stat. § 15A-2000 (2001). At the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, the jury found all three aggravating circumstances submitted to them to be present: (1) Perkins had been previously convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of violence; (2) Perkins committed the murder while engaged in the commission of or an attempt to commit first-degree rape; and (3) the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel. The jury found one statutory and five nonstatutory mitigating circumstances, but concluded that the mitigating circumstances did not outweigh the aggravating circumstances, and unanimously returned a recommendation that Perkins be sentenced to death for the murder conviction. See Perkins, 481 S.E.2d at 28. The death sentence was imposed by the trial court for the first-degree murder, along with a consecutive sentence of life imprisonment for the first-degree rape conviction. See id. at 27.

On appeal, the North Carolina Supreme Court upheld Perkins's conviction and death sentence, see id. at 27-28, and the United States Supreme Court denied Perkins's petition for writ of certiorari, see Perkins v. North Carolina, 522 U.S. 837, 118 S.Ct. 111, 139 L.Ed.2d 64 (1997). Perkins then filed a motion for appropriate relief ("MAR"), see N.C. Gen.Stat. § 15A-1415 (2001), in Pitt County Superior Court in September 1998, which was denied in June 1999. The North Carolina Supreme Court denied review. See State v. Perkins, 353 N.C. 275, 545 S.E.2d 744 (2000).

Perkins filed his § 2254 petition for habeas relief in district court in September 1999. The state filed an answer and motion for summary judgment in December 1999. In March 2000, however, Perkins filed a motion for leave to conduct discovery into a claim that his trial counsel had been ineffective in their presentation of mental health evidence, a motion for leave to proceed ex parte in moving for expert assistance, and an ex parte motion for funds to hire expert assistance to pursue his ineffective assistance of counsel claim. The district court denied Perkins's motion for leave to proceed ex parte and for funds for expert assistance, granted the state's motion for summary judgment, and dismissed Perkins's petition for habeas relief. This appeal followed.

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For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the district court's denial of Perkins's motion for leave to proceed ex parte and for funds for expert assistance and dismissal of Perkins's petition for writ of habeas corpus. AFFIRMED.