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RALEIGH,
N.C. (March 9, 2001 12:03 a.m. EST) - A Superior Court judge in
North Carolina issued a stay of execution late Thursday night for
a killer just three hours away from being executed for the 1992
stabbing death of his girlfriend. Superior Court Judge Howard
Manning Jr. issued the stay of execution for Willie Ervin Fisher
at 11:10 p.m., after Fisher's lawyers raised the possibility of a
conflict of interest regarding Gov. Mike Easley, who denied
clemency for Fisher earlier Thursday. Fisher, 39, was scheduled to
die by injection at 2 a.m. Friday for the murder of Angela Johnson,
who was stabbed 32 times. "All I can say is I can't blame
anyone else for what has happened except for myself," Fisher
said in a videotape given to Gov. Mike Easley during a clemency
meeting this week at which lawyers asked for a life sentence.
"I can't express enough how sorry I am, how I regret
everything
that has happened. ... If the taking of my life is what
makes
everything right, then so be it."
Easley said he carefully reviewed the case and cited the
"heinous nature" of Johnson's killing in denying
clemency.
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