GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 1999

SESSION LAW 1999-358
SENATE BILL 365

AN ACT TO PROHIBIT DEATH ROW INMATES FROM CONTACTING THE FAMILIES OF THEIR VICTIMS AND TO REVISE THE LAW PROVIDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DATE FOR EXECUTIONS.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  It shall be the policy of the Department of Correction to prohibit death row inmates from contacting the surviving family members of the victims without the written consent of the family members being contacted.  For purposes of this section, the term "contact" includes arranging for a third party to forward communications from the inmate to the surviving family members of the victim.
Section 2.  G.S. 15-194 reads as rewritten:
"§ 15-194.  Time for execution.
In sentencing a capital defendant to a death sentence pursuant to G.S. 15A-2000(b), the sentencing judge need not specify the date and time the execution is to be carried out by the Department of Correction. The Secretary of Correction shall immediately schedule a date for the execution of the original death sentence not less than 30 days nor more than 60 days from the date of receiving written notification from the Attorney General of North Carolina or the district attorney who prosecuted the case of any one of the following:
(1)	The United States Supreme Court has filed an opinion upholding the sentence of death following completion of the initial State and federal postconviction proceedings, if any;
(2)	The mandate issued by the Supreme Court of North Carolina on direct appeal pursuant to N.C.R. App. P. 32(b) affirming the capital defendant's death sentence and the time for filing a petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court has expired without a petition being filed;
(3)	The capital defendant, if indigent, failed to timely seek the appointment of counsel pursuant to G.S. 7A-451(c), or failed to file a timely motion for appropriate relief as required by G.S. 15A-1415(a);
(4)	The superior court denied the capital defendant's motion for appropriate relief, but the capital defendant failed to file a timely petition for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of North Carolina pursuant to N.C.R. App. P. 21(f);
(5)	The Supreme Court of North Carolina denied the capital defendant's petition for writ of certiorari pursuant to N.C.R. App. P. 21(f), or, if certiorari was granted, upheld the capital defendant's death sentence, but the capital defendant failed to file a timely petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court; or
(6)	Following State postconviction proceedings, if any, the capital defendant failed to file a timely petition for writ of habeas corpus in the appropriate federal district court, or failed to timely appeal or petition an adverse habeas corpus decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit or the United States Supreme Court.
The Secretary shall send a certified copy of the document fixing the date to the clerk of superior court of the county in which the case was tried or, if venue was changed, in which the defendant was indicted. The certified copy shall be recorded in the minutes of the court. The Secretary shall also send certified copies to the capital defendant, the capital defendant's attorney, the district attorney who prosecuted the case, and the Attorney General of North Carolina."
Section 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.  Section 2 of this act applies to execution dates scheduled on or after the effective date of this act.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 21st day of July, 1999.

s/	Marc Basnight
President Pro Tempore of the Senate

s/	James B. Black
Speaker of the House of Representatives

s/	James B. Hunt, Jr.
Governor

Approved 6:00 p.m. this 4th day of August, 1999