N.C. Gov. Commutes Death Sentence

 By ESTES THOMPSON,

N.C. - A condemned man who steadfastly denied fatally beating his girlfriend escaped execution when Gov. Mike Easley commuted his sentence to life in prison Thursday, hours before he was to be put to death.

Charlie Mason Alston Jr., 42, was to die by injection early Friday. 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, who was hit in the face with a hammer.

No one witnessed the killing and no blood or fingerprint evidence was ever linked to Alston, who had been convicted about six weeks earlier for assaulting Perry.

Alston contended his innocence could have been proved by DNA tests on evidence that has since disappeared. Prosecutors said the evidence, scrapings from beneath Perry's fingernails, would confirm the guilty verdict.

Defense lawyer Mark Edwards said he will continue to try to locate the fingernail scrapings in an effort to have the conviction overturned.

``The good thing is, we now have time,'' he said.

Easley did not specify why he commuted the sentence, saying only that after scrutinizing the case ``the appropriate sentence ... is life in prison without parole.''

The U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) rejected Alston's two remaining appeals Thursday afternoon.

As his execution approached, Alston's supporters had scheduled protest rallies around the state and at the governor's mansion.

``This case involves a man sentenced to death despite the fact that not a single shred of physical evidence tied him to the murder,'' said Steven Hawkins, executive director of the Washington-based National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.