As the News Roundup previously has noted, Charles Ray Finch was released from North Carolina prison earlier this year after serving more than 40 years for a murder that he did not commit. This week the News & Observer reported that Finch has filed a federal lawsuit against Wilson County, Sheriff Calvin Woodard Jr., two former Wilson County deputies, and two staffers with the SBI. According to the N&O, the suit alleges that deputies with the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office, then led by W. Robin Pridgen, organized the 1976 robbery that resulted in store owner Richard Holloman’s murder and then framed Finch for the crime. Keep reading for more news. Finch. The N&O report in the lead says that a 1977 FBI investigation revealed rampant corruption in the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office when Pridgen was sheriff. During that time, deputies apparently would identify Wilson County businesses with large amounts of cash on hand and then arrange for them to be robbed, splitting the money with the robbers. Pridgen was convicted of racketeering charges in 1979 and shortly after that conviction Finch filed a motion to have his sentence vacated and wrote to the new sheriff, L.G. Taylor, that he had been framed for the murder. Taylor contacted the SBI but the agent assigned to the case is alleged to have not contacted the FBI or any potential witnesses Finch had identified. Human Trafficking Conviction. The Durham Herald-Sun reports that a recent attempted human trafficking conviction following a jury trial in Durham [...]
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