Many are outraged that 20 violent criminals are about to be set free in N.C. because by law their sentences are complete, but Gov. Perdue is trying to keep them in by every legal means possible.
All together more than 100 prisoners throughout the state are due to be released and put back into the general population, many without any supervision. The inmates are scheduled to be released Oct. 29 after state courts agreed with double murderer Bobby Bowden, that a 1970s law defined a life sentence as 80 years. The 1981 Fair Sentencing Act included a retroactive provision essentially cutting all those sentences in half, and good behavior and other credits have shortened the sentences to the point that they are now complete. All but one of them have been convicted of murder or rape, including several who targeted young girls.
