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Let courts take their course

Published/Last Modified on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 4:24 PM EDT

The court ruling could free more than two dozen convicted murders and rapists. The idea sticks in the craw of many North Carolinians.

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Gov. Beverly Perdue was correct in putting the brakes on the prison exodus and returning to the courts in search of another solution and verdict.

The law was never intended to free violent felons whom society believed would spend the rest of their lives confined behind prison walls. But due to the bureaucratic shuffling and rule making at the Department of Correction over the years the door may well have been opened.

We support the governor’s efforts to keep the iron bars closed and hope the legal arguments will hold sway with the higher courts.

However if they don’t, the rule of law must held sacrosanct.

If there is a problem with a law it is up to the legislature or the courts to repair it, not public opinion.

We welcome the people’s outcry and demand for change and justice, but we must now and always remain a nation of laws. If not, we risk the freedom we all cherish.

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