RALEIGH (AP) — The Republican leader of the state Senate says state government seems "to have been caught off guard" by a court ruling that will mean the release of 20 violent convicts next week.
Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger of Rockingham County said today he wants more details about how the Department of Correction and the Attorney General's Office prepared for the releases.
The state Supreme Court this month upheld a ruling from November that limited the length of life sentences while a 1970s law was on the books. Berger said state officials and lawmakers had 11 months to prepare.
Berger told reporters he's unsure what the state or legislature could have done to prevent the prisoners' release, but he said they might have been able to extend the sentences by a few months.
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