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HBO’s ‘Staircase’: What is an Alford plea? What to know about Michael Peterson’s plea

HBO Max’s “The Staircase” is renewing interest — locally and beyond — in the 2001 death of Kathleen Peterson in Durham and the subsequent trial and conviction of her husband, Michael Peterson.

The series, which premiered May 5, is a dramatization of Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s documentary series of the same name, which is available for streaming on Netflix.

In both real life and the scripted series, Peterson was convicted in 2003, after one of the longest trials in North Carolina history, of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison. He served eight years in federal prison before his conviction was overturned in 2011 and he was granted a new trial due to improprieties at the State Bureau of Investigation related to his case.

In February 2017, while awaiting his new trial, Peterson entered an Alford plea in the case. Under the terms of the plea, Peterson accepted a charge of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to time already served — allowing him to walk away a free man.

In the HBO series, Peterson is shown in Episode 6 with his attorney, David Rudolf, preparing for the Alford plea hearing. A piece of paper with the words “Alford Plea Script” are shown as Rudolf briefs his client on what to expect — and what will be expected of him — in the hearing.

But what exactly is an Alford plea? If you’re curious or confused about this legal term, here’s an explanation compiled using information from the UNC School of Government.

What is an Alford plea?

An Alford plea is a guilty plea in which a defendant maintains their innocence and does not admit to the criminal act they are accused of, but admits that the prosecution has sufficient evidence to persuade a judge or jury to find the defendant guilty, and thus agrees to be treated as guilty.

History of the Alford plea

The Alford plea gets its name from a case heard and ruled upon by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1970: North Carolina v. Alford.

The case originated with Henry Alford, who faced a first-degree murder charge in 1963.

The UNC School of Government calls the evidence presented against Alford in court “strong” — witnesses testified that “shortly before the killing Alford took his gun from his house, stated his intention to kill the victim, and returned home with the declaration that he had carried out the killing.”

Alford’s attorney, believing Alford would be convicted, informed Alford of his rights and advised him to plead guilty.

Alford maintained his innocence, but given the evidence presented, agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree murder. The lesser charge would allow Alford to avoid the death penalty and instead receive a sentence of 30 years in prison.

Alford later appealed his sentence to the North Carolina Supreme Court, which denied the appeal, finding that Alford voluntarily entered the plea with knowledge of what it meant and what the consequences were.

Alford then filed a habeus petition with the federal district court, which the School of Government says argued his plea was “involuntary because its principal motivation was fear of the death penalty,” thus violating his constitutional rights.

The federal district court upheld the original ruling, the School of Government says, but the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals then ruled in Alford’s favor, saying his sentence was involuntary and unconstitutional and the original court should have rejected Alford’s plea.

Then, though, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed the Fourth Circuit’s ruling, saying in part that “An individual accused of crime may voluntarily, knowingly, and understandingly consent to the imposition of a prison sentence even if he is unwilling or unable to admit his participation in the acts constituting the crime.”

Because the prosecution had evidence that would have supported Alford’s conviction, the court ruled that his guilty plea was admissible, even if Alford maintained that he was not guilty.

The Supreme Court, the School of Government says, held that “when a guilty plea is accompanied by a denial of guilt, there must be a ‘strong factual basis for the plea,’ in order to ensure that the truly innocent are not coerced into false guilty pleas.”

Today, Alford pleas are legally permissible in nearly all federal and state courts in the United States.

More on HBO’s ‘The Staircase’

For full coverage of HBO Max’s “The Staircase” and other background on the death of Kathleen Peterson and the murder trial of Michael Peterson, visit: newsobserver.com/topics/staircase