RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court says there was no error in a North Carolina death row inmate’s first-degree murder conviction.
Elrico Darnell Fowler was sentenced to death for killing Bobby Richmond, an employee of a Howard Johnson’s Motel in Charlotte, during an armed robbery on New Year’s Eve in 1995. Another employee was seriously wounded.
Fowler claimed on appeal that his due process rights were violated when the owner of a restaurant adjoining the motel lobby identified him in court as the killer. The North Carolina Supreme Court rejected Fowler’s claim. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond upheld that ruling Monday.
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