In making a clemency determination, however, he is not passing judgment on the correctness or integrity of any jury or court decisions. His responsibility is to consider all factors that now affect the choice of punishment, many of which were nvever before the jury or a court. Here clemency is an opportunity to respond justly and humanely to a gragedy. It does not eliminate punishment. It falls to the governor to blend mercy with justice, as best he can, involving human as well as legal considerations, in the light of all circumstances after the passage of time.
Hunt is a strong proponent of capital punishment.
He has never granted clemency in a capital case. Every other North Carolina governor of this past century who had the opportunity did commute a death sentence. Many people who support the death penalty as fully as the governor does hope and pray that Zane Hill's sentence will be commuted. Such an act of leadership by Governor Hunt would be comparable to the many others he has demonstrated during his 14 years in office. Several potential jurors in Pressley's trial last year expressed such strong opinions about criminals and law enforcement that they should have been removed for cause, Pressley's attorney, John C. Robbins of Birmingham, told the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals.