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Eric Lane North Carolina Death Row

Eric Lane was sentenced to death by the State of North Carolina for sexual assault and murder of a five year old girl. According to court documents Eric Lane would kidnap five year old Precious Whitfield, sexually assault and murder the little girl. Eric Lane would put her body into a trash bag and throw her into a river. Eric Lane would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

North Carolina Death Row Inmate List

Eric Lane 2022 Information

Offender Number:	0667195
Inmate Status:	ACTIVE
Probation/Parole/Post Release Status:	INACTIVE
Gender:	MALE
Race:	WHITE
Ethnic Group:	EUROPEAN/N.AM./AUSTR
Birth Date:	06/07/1971
Age:	49
Current Location:	CENTRAL PRISON

Eric Lane More News

After less than four hours of deliberation, a jury found Eric Lane guilty for the 2002 kidnapping, rape and murder of 5-year-old Precious Whitfield.

Whitfield was last seen playing outside her grandmother’s home. Her body was later found seven miles away in a creek.

Lane was charged with first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and a first-degree sex offense in Whitfield’s death. Authorities believe Lane killed Whitfield within a couple of hours of kidnapping her.

“Right now, it’s in God’s hands. I’m going to let him deal with that. I’m just glad he was found guilty for what he had done for my child,” said Michelle Whitfield, Precious’ mother.

Whitfield said she was leaving court to visit her daughter’s grave and to send her a message.

“We love you and we miss you and we did all this for you to make sure you got your justice,” she said. “Can’t nobody hurt her now. She’s safe.”

Lane, who fired his previous attorneys last fall and previously represented himself, told the judge after the verdict that he did not want his attorneys involved during sentencing phase, which is scheduled to begin Monday morning.

Because the jury found Lane guilty of first-degree murder, the same jurors will now have to decide whether to sentence him to life in prison or death.

Last year, Lane’s original trial was delayed because of questions about his mental state. A judge later declared a mistrial because of juror misconduct. The case hit another roadblock in May during the jury selection of Lane’s second trial when the judge granted Lane’s motion to start over with the process.

Precious Whitfield’s family has mixed feelings on Lane’s punishment. Her grandparents believe he should get life in prison, but the child’s mother told WRAL that she wants the death penalty.

Eric Lane Death

A Wayne County man on death row for the murder of a 5-year-old girl in Goldsboro died of natural causes Thursday morning.

In 2005 a jury sentenced Eric Lane to death for the 2002 rape and murder of 5-year-old Precious Whitfield.

State officials said Lane died this morning in Central Prison’s Medical Center in Raleigh.

He was 51 years old

Whitfield was last seen playing outside her grandmother’s home. Her body was later found seven miles away in a creek.

During the 2005 trial, prosecutors presented hair and other DNA evidence they said proved Eric Lane raped and killed the child by stuffing her in a trash bag and throwing it in the river. They described in great detail how she was still alive and fighting back when she was put in the bag.

“It was hard for me to hear that she did fight, the she did try and she is a fighter,” said Michelle Whitfield, the victim’s mother. “It was hard for me to hear that she was still alive at the time and that he did all this stuff to her.”

Lane’s original trial was delayed because of questions about his mental state. A judge later declared a mistrial because of juror misconduct. The case hit another roadblock in May of 2005 during the jury selection of Lane’s second trial when the judge granted Lane’s motion to start over with the process.

In June of 2005, during Lane’s trial, an investigator read a written confession from Lane.

Relatives cried as they listened to details about how Lane says he killed 5-year-old Precious Whitfield and disposed of her body.

Lane’s lawyers said the confession should be thrown out because Lane only made the statement after State Bureau of Investigation agents lied to him.

In its closing statement, the prosecution told the jury that the crime was so atrocious and cruel that Lane deserved to die.

Precious Whitfield’s parents agreed.

“For him to do what he did to her while she was still alive and while she was still trying to fight for her life — and I know she was telling him to stop, I know she was, but for the way he did her, he really does deserve to die,” Whitfield said.

“Now that it’s about done and over with, I feel more relieved,” said the victim’s father, Anthony McQuirter. “We can’t bring her back, but she can rest in peace now.”

It took jurors less than four hours to come back with a guilty verdict.

During the sentencing phase of the trial, Lane opted not to present any evidence on his behalf and forfeited any attempt at convincing the jury to save his life. He would not even allow his attorneys to offer a closing statement at the sentencing.

There were no explanations for Lane’s decision to not plead his case and that may explain the swiftness of the jury’s decision

https://www.wral.com/eric-lane-dies-at-51-on-death-row-for-murder-of-5-year-old-goldsboro-girl/20647966/

Eddie Taylor North Carolina Death Row

Eddie Taylor was sentenced to death by the State of North Carolina for a robbery murder. According to court documents Eddie Taylor would shoot and kill store owner Mitch Faciane during an armed robbery. Eddie Taylor would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

North Carolina Death Row Inmate List

Eddie Taylor 2021 Information

Offender Number:	0762634
Inmate Status:	ACTIVE
Probation/Parole/Post Release Status:	INACTIVE
Gender:	MALE
Race:	BLACK/AFRICAN AMERICAN
Ethnic Group:	AFRICAN
Birth Date:	04/27/1982
Age:	38
Current Location:	CENTRAL PRISON

Eddie Taylor More News

A Harnett County jury has convicted a man of first-degree murder in the 2003 death of a storeowner.

Authorities say Eddie Taylor, of Fayetteville, killed Mitch Faciane during a robbery and shootout at his store on U.S. 401 in Bunnlevel. Faciane’s wife was also shot, but she survived.

The jury also found Taylor guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery and two counts of armed robbery.

The sentencing phase of the trial is expected to begin Thursday. The jury must decide whether Taylor is sentenced to life in prison or given the death penalty.

Taylor’s attorneys argued that evidence was improperly collected and the death does not apply.

https://www.wral.com/news/local/story/119300/

William Raines North Carolina Death Row

William Raines was sentenced to death by the State of North Carolina for the murders of Pam and Phillip Holder. William Raines was living with the victims when he would slay Pam and Phillip Holder in 2002. William Raines would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

North Carolina Death Row Inmate List

William Raines 2021 Information

Offender Number:	0526698
Inmate Status:	ACTIVE
Probation/Parole/Post Release Status:	INACTIVE
Gender:	MALE
Race:	WHITE
Ethnic Group:	EUROPEAN/N.AM./AUSTR
Birth Date:	11/09/1975
Age:	45
Current Location:	CENTRAL PRISON

William Raines More News

For the first time in more than 20 years, a Henderson County jury sent a convicted killer to death row.

After less than five hours of deliberating Friday, jurors recommended the death penalty for 29-year-old Billy Raines, who murdered his longtime friends, Phillip and Pam Holder, in 2002.

Raines remained silent and showed no emotion as Superior Court Judge Ronald Payne read the jury’s decision, while relatives of the Holders and of Raines wept. Two jurors also wiped tears from their eyes.

State law required Payne to sentence Raines to the fate decided by the jury. He ordered Raines to be sent to Central Prison in Raleigh to await the lethal injection.

“May God have mercy on his soul,” Payne said.

Raines’ relatives left the courthouse in tears before he was sentenced. Afterward, the Holder family hugged each other, smiling and crying.

“I’m just glad it’s over,” said Jill Gilbert, Phillip Holder’s sister.

Justice was done, she said.

“I don’t hate Billy,” she said. “I hate what he did.”

Family members hugged Assistant District Attorney Beth Dierauf, who whispered to them, “It’ll never be even. It’ll never be even.”

Dierauf praised jurors, saying they “did a great job.”

“The facts in this case were just so atrocious and so cruel, not only the way he killed Phillip and Pam but their personal history,” she said.

Raines was living with the Holders when he killed them. He and Phillip Holder were childhood friends, and Raines left his abusive mother’s home to live with the Holder family when he was about 12 years old, witnesses said.

Raines’ attorneys had pleaded with jurors to give their client life in prison, saying the extensive abuse and neglect he suffered as a child left him with emotional, behavioral and mental problems as an adult.

“Of course we’re disappointed with the verdict,” said defense attorney Vince Rabil. “We know it was a hard decision for the jury.”

He and co-counsel Mike Klinkosum prepared Raines for the possibility that he would receive the death penalty, Rabil said.

“He’s disappointed, but he’s accepting it,” he said.

The last time a Henderson County jury sent anyone to death row was in 1982, when Eldred Leon Hill was convicted of first-degree murder. His sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1984.

Raines was found guilty Tuesday of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of armed robbery. Payne sentenced him to eight to 10 years in prison for the robbery.

Like all capital cases, Raines’ case will be automatically appealed to the N.C. Supreme Court.

The Holders were found dead Dec. 11, 2002, in their Brickyard Road home. They were beaten in the head with a heavy wrench and shot multiple times.

After killing the couple, Raines robbed them and spent the next two days posing as Phillip Holder, driving his truck and using his stolen credit card to make purchases at various stores in Western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina. He was arrested three days later in Greenville, S.C.

https://www.blueridgenow.com/article/NC/20050910/News/606058738/HT

Jeremy Murrell North Carolina Death Row

Jeremy Murrell was sentenced to death by the State of North Carolina for kidnapping and murder. According to court documents Jeremy Murrell would kidnap Matt Harding from a restaurant in Winston-Salem and his body would be found a week later in Virginia. Jeremy Murrell would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

North Carolina Death Row Inmate List

Jeremy Murrell 2021 Information

Offender Number:	0940436
Inmate Status:	ACTIVE
Gender:	MALE
Race:	BLACK/AFRICAN AMERICAN
Ethnic Group:	AFRICAN
Birth Date:	05/09/1979
Age:	41
Current Location:	CENTRAL PRISON

Jeremy Murrell More News

Death row inmate Jeremy Murrell was back in Forsyth Superior Court on Wednesday.Murrell was given the death penalty last Friday for the 2003 kidnapping, robbery and murder of a 19-year-old Matt Harding. Harding’s decomposing body was found in the trunk of his car in Virginia over a week after he disappeared from outside his job at a Winston-Salem restaurant. Murrell was apparently sentenced under the wrong guidelines for the kidnapping charge. He was re-sentenced in a brief hearing to 80 to 100 months on for that charge on Wednesday, before being returned to Central Prison in Raleigh.

https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/local/death-row-inmate-sentenced-again/83-403437989

Darrell Maness North Carolina Death Row

Darrell Maness was sentenced to death by the State of North Carolina for the murder of a police officer. According to court documents Darrell Maness was pulled over on a traffic stop and would fatally shoot Boiling Spring Lakes police Officer Mitch Prince. Darrell Maness would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

North Carolina Death Row Inmate List

Darrell Maness 2021 Information

Offender Number:	0831753
Inmate Status:	ACTIVE
Probation/Parole/Post Release Status:	INACTIVE
Gender:	MALE
Race:	WHITE
Ethnic Group:	EUROPEAN/N.AM./AUSTR
Birth Date:	12/18/1985
Age:	35
Current Location:	CENTRAL PRISON

Darrell Maness More News

A long nightmare came to an end Tuesday for the family of Mitch Prince.
Another is just beginning for Darrell W. Maness.

After initial confusion about the nature of his punishment, a Brunswick County Superior Court jury recommended that Maness, 20, receive the death penalty for shooting Boiling Spring Lakes police Officer Prince to death during a traffic stop early Jan. 18, 2005, along a dark stretch of N.C. 87.

Family members of both the victim and defendant shed tears as 11 days of witness testimony and emotional arguments to the jury came to a close.

Maness cupped his face in his hands and looked down when he learned his fate. Maness will be processed at Central Prison in Raleigh and take his place as the state’s 173rd death row inmate.

“What Darrell Maness is going to be receiving is light compared to what Mitch received. Darrell’s going to see his family. Darrell Maness is going to get off light,” said Pam Prince, wife of the slain officer, after the defendant was escorted from the courtroom.

Pam and Mitch Prince were married for 13 years. The dedicated father of two was 36 when he died.

Maness “was 19 years old. He knew right from wrong. I hate it for his mom and his sister, but they’ve got to endure,” Prince said.

Maness’ mother, Annette Tidwell, broke into loud sobs as the jury’s recommendation was announced. On Friday, the seven-man, five-woman jury convicted Maness of first-degree murder. The sentencing phase of the trial lasted only two days and included testimony from Tidwell and other relatives, along with impassioned pleas by defense lawyers to spare Maness.

Tidwell quickly left the courtroom after the jury recommended death for her son. Others, including Maness’ grandmother and his sister, followed a few minutes later.

District Attorney Rex Gore told jurors during his opening statement that Maness was a “cold-blooded killer.” He said prosecutors are satisfied with the outcome of the trial.

“When you think of losing someone who is protecting us out there, and in such a senseless way, it reminds us of what our job is,” Gore said.

An appeal of the death verdict was automatically filed on behalf of Maness. It will be at least a decade before all of his appeals are exhausted. One of them could focus on a false ray of hope for Maness about an hour after jurors began deliberating.

The seven-man, five-woman jury returned to the courtroom about noon, apparently with a decision. A clerk announced a jury recommendation of life without parole.
Tidwell held her hands together, as if in prayer, and embraced her daughter. The Prince family appeared stunned.

When each juror was polled by presiding Judge D. Jack Hooks Jr., a different picture emerged. Eight jurors appeared to favor the death penalty and only four life in prison. Hooks directed the jury to continue deliberations. He denied defense motions for a mistrial because the jury was tainted by witnessing reactions in the courtroom.

Jurors might have been confused by the wording of instructions that directed panel members to consider if aggravating circumstances favoring the death penalty outweighed mitigating ones supporting a prison sentence of life without parole.

To Larry Prince, the victim’s father, the jury couldn’t have made a recommendation other than death.

Prince said he awakens every night about 1 a.m., about the time Mitch Prince was killed.

“Hopefully, the nightmares will subside,” he said. “I was always there to provide and take care of him, and I couldn’t take care of my son. That is destroying me. I want to help him so bad, but I can’t help him.”

Defense lawyers used all the resources at their disposal to sway the jury toward choosing life in prison without parole. A psychiatrist’s testimony focused on Maness’ attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, marijuana addiction and details of a troubled upbringing in Alamance County by a cocaine-addicted mother and alcoholic grandparents.

Jurors also considered the haunting fact that Maness grew up knowing his father was serving a life term in prison for killing a retired police officer in 1986.

Larry Prince, still overcome with a father’s grief, didn’t accept any of the defense arguments.

“It’s absolutely the same as me or anyone else. Be accountable for what you do,” he said.

Prince’s family members weren’t the only ones deeply affected by his death. Others included Prince’s colleagues at the Boiling Spring Lakes Police Department, where a memorial plaque was dedicated last year.

“Twelve good people deemed Darrell Maness beyond redemption. Darrell Maness challenged life with anger and violence. He will reap the consequences of his actions each and every day of his incarcerated life. It will not be a tragedy when this man is put to death,” Boiling Spring Lakes Police Chief Richard White said in a prepared statement.

Pam Prince said she discussed the concept of the death penalty with her teenage children, and both thought it appropriate for Maness.

“Mitch favored the death penalty,” she said.

Assistant District Attorney Lee Bollinger summed up the views of the law enforcement community:

“It’s the right result. If you kill a police officer in cold blood, it ought to be the result every time,” he said.

Maness was also convicted of seven other felonies in connection with his actions after Prince was shot, including firing Prince’s gun at three other police officers. In addition to the death penalty, he was given up to 55 additional years in prison, prosecutors said.

Larry Prince said he was concerned at first that the memory of his son would fade from the public consciousness.

“My biggest fear was that he would be forgotten, but no, he will never be forgotten in Brunswick County. He touched too many lives,” Prince said.

https://www.starnewsonline.com/article/NC/20060405/News/605115598/WM