13 February 2017 :

Phillip Antwan Davis, 39, Black, who was sentenced to death in the 1996 murders of his aunt and her daughter, was granted his bid to be removed from the state's death row roster, following an agreement by his defense attorneys and the Buncombe County district attorney. Under the judgment entered by Superior Court Judge J. Thomas Davis of Rutherford County, Davis agreed to drop any appeals in the case, including a pending motion made under the now-vacated N.C. Racial Justice Act of 2009, which prohibited imposition of the death penalty based on race. Davis Pleaded guilty in 1997 to murdering his aunt, Joyce Miller, 43, and cousin, Caroline Miller, 17, in 1996. A jury sentenced him to death for killing Joyce Miller, and to life without parole in the death of Caroline Miller. Defense attorneys for Davis in October filed a motion arguing that their client, who is black, should be sentenced to life without parole, citing concerns that he was handed death by an all-white jury. District Attorney Todd Williams, who won that office in 2014, cited several reasons for agreeing that Davis should be resentenced to life without parole, including his age at the time of the crime. He was a few months beyond age 18. Had he been under 18, Davis would have been ineligible for the death penalty. Williams also noted that after the crime Davis accepted responsibility and pleaded guilty to the murders. Of the family members he spoke with, Williams said he heard no one argue that Davis should remain on death row. The murders likely stemmed from a suspected theft: Joyce Miller discovered $800 had disappeared and believed her nephew, who had purchased new clothes and a gold chain, had stolen the money.