The following is from a Raleigh News & Observer article by Joseph Neff, originally published Nov 02, 2003 and revised Jan 12, 2006.
It SHOULD not only start to answer your questions about the Alan Gell issue, who was the defendant, but also the prosecutorial question -- David Hoke, the prosecutor, is very high in the NC State court system
Any wonder about the clerical error with the NC State Supreme Court?
http://www.newsobserver.com/634/story/386637.html
The price and the pain:
For the wrongfully convicted, prosecutorial misconduct means years in prison. For the victims' families and the public, there is the pain and cost of a second trial. For the prosecutors, there are rarely any consequences.
An example: David Hoke, who prosecuted Alan Gell, is now the No. 2 administrator in the state court system. Debra Graves, his co-counsel, is a federal public defender. Both declined to talk about the case.
If you REALLY want a good, LONG read on the problems with the NC prosecutorial system (i.e., the NC Legal Industry and NC Bar), check-out the articles at the following link:
http://search2.newsobserver.com/search-bin/search.pl.cgi?product=pubsys;sf_meta_product=pubsys;live_template=http%3A%2F%2Ftest.newsobserver.com%2F1026%2Findex.html;collection=ENDECA_INDEX;fields=%2A;preview_template=http%3A%2F%2Fpreview.newsobserver.com%2F1026%2Findex.html;results_per_page=20;aggregate_key=meta_rollup;sort=pubsys_story_release_dt%20desc;sp_ex=%2Flocation_ads%3B%2F106%3B%2Fstaff%3B%2F123;sf_pubsys_pubobj_expire_dt=%3E%20Monday%2C%2023-Jan-2006%2009%3A32%3A43%20EST;search_type=search;sf_pubsys_story=alan%20gell;submit.x=8;submit.y=7;offset=0
Remember, Mike Easley was the former Attorney General for the state. . . . He, the current A.G., Roy Cooper, and their cronies, run the NC Bar and the NC Court System.
Hubert