James Ferguson, president of the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, headed a list of speakers in favor of the resolution. Over the last 10 years, at least three people have been sentenced to death in North Carolina for crimes they did not commit, Ferguson said. Others were convicted because they could not afford competent lawyers. State law allows the execution of the mentally ill and persons under 18, and more than 60 percent of those on death row are Black, he added.

Other speakers in support of the resolution included several clergy members, a representative of the local NAACP chapter, and a Black woman whose daughter had been murdered. "I deserve to see genuine justice, not a conveyor belt" of convictions, she said.

Many speakers stressed that the resolution was not calling for an end to the death penalty, only that it be made "fair." But the large turnout reflected the growing resistance to state-sponsored brutality--both legal executions and at the hands of the cops on the street.

The council then heard a parade of police officers and others who argued that the resolution would weaken the authority of the cops. One uniformed cop declared that executions are necessary to fend off the "criminal element in society that cares nothing for your property." Less than two dozen of those in attendance applauded these speakers.

Following this debate the council voted 8-3 to adopt the resolution. Mayor Patrick McCrory promptly vetoed the decision, asserting that the issue is not within the city government's jurisdiction. In a September 5 vote, the council overrode his veto. Charlotte is the seventh municipal government in North Carolina to call for a moratorium on executions.