Duke Law Advocacy Helps Secure Freedom for Charles McNeair

McNeair was arrested at 16 and has always maintained his innocence

Charles McNeair looking at the camera

Advocacy by Duke Law students and faculty helped secure freedom for a man who spent 46 years in prison for a crime he has always said he didn’t commit. 

Charles McNeair, now 63, was released on parole May 4. He was arrested at age 16 for an alleged rape in Lexington, N.C., and later sentenced to life in prison. 

In 2022, McNeair’s case came to the attention of a law school student group, now called the Duke Decarceration Project, which works with incarcerated people serving long sentences for crimes committed as juveniles, and others who have demonstrated rehabilitation. Member Claudia Benz, a Duke Law 2023 alum, submitted a commutation petition on McNeair’s behalf; however, it was never acted on and clinical professor Jamie Lau began advocating for parole.

Because law enforcement lost the original investigation file, a case for innocence could not be made, said Lau, the supervising attorney of Duke Law’s  Wrongful Convictions Clinic.

A middle school dropout when arrested, McNeair learned to read and obtained his GED while in prison. Reentering a community that has changed greatly will be a challenge, Lau said. But McNeair has gained numerous supporters over the years, including Lexington Policy Chief Robby Rummage, who  wrote  to Gov. Josh Stein urging clemency.

“For someone who is incarcerated to garner that type of support from such a diverse group of people is pretty remarkable,” Lau said. “All of that is a testament to who Charles is today.”

Read more about McNeair’s case in the  full story on Duke Law School.