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Four former Bladen County law enforcement officers and one current officer have until Oct. 31 to respond to a civil lawsuit filed by a man who spent 37 years in prison for crimes he didn’t commit.
Former Bladen County sheriff’s Earl Stoms, Stephen Bunn and Prentis Benston, along with former detective Phillip Little and current officer Jeff Singletary are among a group named in the lawsuit brought by Joseph Sledge Jr. for being “wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment” for the murders of Josephine and Aileen Davis in Elizabethtown on Sept. 6, 1976, according to the suit filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina Southern Division on Aug. 20.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
The Bladen defendants, which also includes John Doe Corp. in its capacity as surety on the official bond of the sheriff of Bladen County, have until Oct. 31 to respond, according to court filing. Oct. 31 is a Saturday, so the filings will likely happen Oct. 30 or Nov. 2.
It’s the first step in what is expected to be a long, drawn out process as the suit works its way through federal court.
James Morgan Jr., the lead attorney for the Bladen group, declined comment on the lawsuit. He is with the Womble Carlyle firm in Winston-Salem.
Also named in the suit is former SBI agent Henry Poole, the estate of former Columbus County Clerk of Court Linda Faye Proctor, former Columbus County Clerk of Court Sheila Pridgen and current Columbus County Deputy Clerk of Court Rita Batchelor. The Jack Doe Corp., in its capacity as surety of the official bond of the clerk of court of Columbus County, also is named.
Sledge’s case was tried in Columbus County because of pre-trial publicity.
The lawsuit contends that “based primarily on the false testimony of inmates Herman Baker and Donnie Lee Sutton,” Sledge was convicted in Aug. 1978 for the murders, and that “officials withheld from Sledge’s counsel early versions of statements provided by Sutton that were markedly inconsistent with the final version that was disclosed to trial counsel and with Sutton’s trial testimony.” The lawsuit also alleges that exculpatory evidence was withheld before trial.
In Aug. 2013, the lawsuit says, N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission members found evidence at the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office, including 97 latent prints, files that were reported as destroyed or missing and a bloody piece of linoleum taken from the crime scene. DNA testing, which wasn’t available at the time of the murders, confirmed Sledge’s innocence, the lawsuit said. In Dec. 2013, Baker recanted his testimony.
Sledge was released from prison In January.
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