Buncombe County Pays For Wrongful Convictions

By Hady Mawajdeh,

Published July 9, 2015 at 12:12 PM EDT

Robert Wilcoxson, right, is embraced by his father in 2011 after being proclaimed innocent in the murder of Walter Bowman. Wilcoxson now lives near Detroit.

Robert Wilcoxson served 11 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, and now he’s going to be compensated for the wrongful conviction.

Wilcoxson and four other men were convicted for the murder of Walter Bowman, who was shot to death in 2000. But in 2011, the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission exonerated Wilcoxson, and yesterday Wilcoxson and his lawyer reached a settlement with county and defense attorneys.

Host Frank Stasio talks with Asheville Citizen-Times reporter Tonya Maxwell about the settlement and the blunders during the original investigation of Walter Bowman’s murder. They also discuss what’s next for the other convicted men.

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Hady Mawajdeh

Hady Mawajdeh is a native Texan, born and raised in San Antonio. He listened to Fresh Air growing up and fell in love with public radio. He earned his B.A. in Mass Communication at Texas State University and specialized in electronic media. He worked at NPR affiliate stations KUT and KUTX in Austin, Texas as an intern, producer, social media coordinator, and a late-night deejay.

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Frank Stasio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.

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