Governor Commutes Man’s Death Sentence
A condemned man who steadfastly denied fatally beating his girlfriend escaped execution when Gov. Mike Easley commuted his sentence to life in prison, hours before he was to be put to death.
Charlie Mason Alston Jr., 42, was to die by injection early today. In a statement, he thanked the governor “for giving me a chance to enjoy another day in this wonderful world.”
Alston was sentenced in 1992 for the beating and suffocation death two years earlier of Pamela Renee Perry.
No one witnessed the killing, and no blood or fingerprint evidence was ever linked to Alston.
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