From the Kinston Press, Oct. 25

We applaud the efforts that have been put forth by legal counsel in the Perdue administration, the attorney general’s office and the General Assembly related to an apparent imminent release of 20 prisoners serving “life sentences” for violent crimes.

Earlier this month, the N.C. Supreme Court let stand a Court of Appeals decision ordering that convicted double murder Bobby E. Bowden get his day in court to determine if he’d earned enough bonus points to get his release in prison.

Word from Gov. Bev Perdue is that she and her legal staff don’t believe the release of Bowden and 19 others serving life sentences should occur.

The legal staffers at the attorney general’s office and at the General Assembly agree.

We’re glad that the attorneys are carefully scrutinizing the court’s opinion and calculating the time served by these prisoners. It means that these violent criminals will likely serve a bit more time behind bars than they otherwise would have.

Keep in mind that Bowden and the others aren’t subject to release because they’re innocent or because they’ve shown that they’ve been reformed. The order which could set them free didn’t occur because they’ve done something meritorious, such as provided information to help solve a major crime.

The order sifting through our judicial system comes because of convoluted legislation adopted by the General Assembly three to four decades ago.

One of the former laws defined a life sentence as being 80 years. The state has argued that the definition was intended as a means of gauging when a prisoner would be eligible for parole. But the Court of Appeals ruled, and the Supreme Court let the decision stand, that the 80 year rule for a life sentence was for all purposes, not just for parole considerations.

The ruling screams for lawmakers to be more deliberate when they pass bills so that more “I’s” can be dotted and more “T’s” can be crossed. More openness and longer deliberation can result in lessening the likelihood that such unintended consequences occur again.

We also must think that Perdue was adding levity to the debate earlier when she mused about potentially having to go to jail for defying a court order to release the prisoners. She joked asking if anyone would come and visit her in jail.

Certainly, our elected officials must respect the law even if those given life sentences don’t.