Sierra Dunne reports:
For more than a decade, Christine Mumma has fought for the wrongfully imprisoned. But this past week she fought a different battle.
Mumma, executive director of the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence and a professor in the UNC School of Law, faced charges from the North Carolina State Bar for acting dishonestly during an investigation to exonerate Joseph Sledge, who was convicted for two counts of second degree murder in 1978.
In October 2013, Mumma went to Marie Andrus’ house to request a DNA sample — which Andrus denied — in an attempt to link Andrus’ two brothers to the crime and exonerate Sledge, according to the Bar’s complaint.
Mumma left with a water bottle from Andrus’ home, which she DNA tested without Andrus’ knowledge or consent.
According to the Bar, Mumma infringed on Andrus’ right to privacy.
Read more on The Daily Tar Heel.
Ms Mumma was cleared of three of the four charges and only received a minor sanction for the fourth charge. There’s some suggestion in the story that the charges were politically motivated, but the reporting is somewhat one-sided, so it’s hard to know.