Inventory of the Robert P. Mosteller Papers, 1978-2002

Abstract

Law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Former president of the North Carolina Center for Death Penalty Litigation.

Legal files, transcripts, and motions from the case of John Wesley Oliver, a former death row inmate in North Carolina. Includes materials from his initial trial with co-defendant George Moore and subsequent appeals in North Carolina's court system. Acquired as part of the Human Rights Archive.

Descriptive Summary

Repository: David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
Creator: Mosteller, Robert P.
Title: Robert P. Mosteller Papers, 1978-2002
Language of Material: English
Extent: 6 Linear Feet, 3750 Items
Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Series Quick Links

John Wesley Oliver materials, 1978-2002

Collection Overview

Collection consists of the case file for John Wesley Oliver, a former death row inmate who was represented by Robert P. Mosteller. Materials from Oliver's case (as well as his co-defendant, George Moore, Jr.) date as early as witness statements from 1978, and end with NC Court of Appeals judgments from 2002. The majority of the files are legal motions, trial transcripts, and court orders from Moore and Oliver's various court cases and appeals in 1979, 1982, 1993, and 2001. There is very little material that falls outside the official documentation of the case, and there is no personal material from Mosteller in this collection. Files have been arranged as best as possible in chronological order.

Acquired as part of the Human Rights Archive.

Administrative Information

Collections are on the move for the renovation of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Contact Rubenstein Library staff before visiting. Read More »

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

However, collection may contain materials to which the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibilities and Privacy Rights form applies. Patrons must sign this form before using this collection.

Also, all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.

Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to use this collection.

Use Restrictions

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

Contents of the Collection

Browse List of Series

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John Wesley Oliver materials, 1978-2002

(8 boxes)

John W. Oliver trials - witness statements, December 1978

Box 1

NC Superior Court, 78-CRS-25576, etc.: Indictments, orders, and judgments for Moore and Oliver, 1978-1979

Box 1

NC Superior Court, Criminal Session: State of NC vs. George Moore and John Wesley Oliver

Transcript on Appeal, Vols. 1-4 (Pages 1-872), May 14-23, 1979

(6 folders)

Box 1

Transcript on Appeal, Vols. 4-6 (Pages 873-1420), May 14-23, 1979

(4 folders)

Box 2

NC Superior Court, 78-CRS-25577

Sentencing of George Moore before Judge D.L. Smith, May 1979

Box 2

NC Supreme Court, No. 11: State of NC vs. John Wesley Oliver

Defendant Appellant's Brief, Spring 1980

Box 2

NC Supreme Court, No. 11: State of NC vs. George Moore and John Wesley Oliver

Case materials, Vols. 1 and 2, 1980

(2 folders)

Box 2

Case materials, 1979-1980

(7 folders)

Box 3

NC Superior Court, 78-CRS-25575, etc.: State of NC vs. George Moore and John Wesley Oliver

Evidence list for trial, Jan. 1982

Box 4

Transcript on Appeal, Vols. 1 and 2, Jan. 25-28, 1982

(4 folders)

Box 4

Re-sentencing of George Moore before Judge James Pou Bailey, March 1982

Box 4

NC Supreme Court, No. 133A82: State of NC vs. George Moore and John Wesley Oliver

Appeal of judgments, 1983

Box 4

Moore: Defendant Appellant's Brief, 1983

Box 4

Oliver: Defendant Appellant's Brief, Feb. 1983

Box 4

Brief for the State, Mar. 1983

Box 5

NC Superior Court, 78-CRS-25575: State of NC vs. John Wesley Oliver

Motion for Appropriate Relief, Nov. 11, 1986

Box 5

Orders for execution and Orders staying execution, Dec. 1986

Box 5

US Supreme Court: John Wesley Oliver vs. State of NC, October 1987

Box 5

Outgoing correspondence re: Oliver, 1991-1994

Box 5

NC Superior Court, 78-CRS-25575: State of NC vs. John Wesley Oliver

Motion for Appropriate Relief, 1993

Box 5

NC Supreme Court, No. 133A82: State of NC vs. John Wesley Oliver and George Moore

Brief for the State, 1993

Box 5

NC Superior Court, 78-CRS-25576: State of NC vs. John Wesley Oliver

State's Supplemental Rebuttal Brief, 1993

Box 5

Rural Justice Center, 1993

Box 5

NC Superior Court, State of NC vs. John Wesley Oliver

Motion for Appropriate Relief transcript, Vol. 1 (Pages 1-300), Aug. 30-Sept. 13, 1993

Box 5

Motion for Appropriate Relief transcript, Vol. 2-5 (Pages 301-1418), Aug. 30-Sept. 13, 1993

(4 folders)

Box 6

Motion for Appropriate Relief transcript, Vol. 1, Part 1 (Pages 1-121), Nov. 29-30, 1993

Box 6

Motion for Appropriate Relief transcript, Vol. 1, Part 2 (Pages 122-256), Nov. 29-30, 1993

Box 7

Motion for Appropriate Relief documents, 1990-1994

Box 7

Arguments and Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, Nov. 1993

Box 7

Motion to Suppress Identification, July 1994

Box 7

Files from AGs, 78-CRS-25575: John Wesley Oliver, Files 1-3

(6 folders)

Box 7

Files from AGs, 78-CRS-25576: John Wesley Oliver, File 1

(2 folders)

Box 8

John Wesley Oliver: Reversing the death penalty case arguments, undated

Box 8

NC Superior Court, 78-CRS-25575: State of NC vs. John Wesley Oliver

Sentencing case documents, 1982-2001

Box 8

NC Court of Appeals, COA02-177: State of NC vs. George Moore and John Wesley Oliver

Case materials, 1978-2001

Box 8

Briefs, Apr.-May 2002

Box 8

Slip Opinion, Dec. 31, 2002

Box 8

NC Supreme Court: State of NC vs. George Moore and John Wesley Oliver

Petition for Discretionary Review/Notice of Appeal of Substantial Constitutional Question, 2002

Box 8

NC Superior Court: State of NC vs. Noland pleading and exhibits, 1985-1987 and undated

(2 folders)

Box 8

Historical Note

Robert P. Mosteller (b. 1948) is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was born in North Carolina and earned graduate degrees from both Yale and Harvard before working for the Washington, D.C. Public Defender Service as Director of Training and Chief of the Trial Division. Mosteller taught at Duke Law School from 1983 to 2008. He is particularly interested the death penalty, and served as co-reported for the Death Penalty Initiative of the Constitution Project and as president of the North Carolina Center for Death Penalty Litigation.

Mosteller was also an attorney for John Wesley Oliver, a former death row inmate whose case file represents the content in this collection.

In May 1979, John Wesley Oliver and co-defendant George Moore, Jr., were convicted of murdering Allen Watts and Dayton Hodge in an armed robbery of a gas station in Robeson County, North Carolina. Oliver was sentenced to death for both murders, while Moore was sentenced to death for the murder of Dayton Hodge. On appeal, the Supreme Court of North Carolina affirmed the defendants' convictions, but vacated the death sentences and remanded the cases for re-sentencing.

In January 1982, Oliver was re-sentenced to death for the murder of Dayton Hodge, and both defendants were sentenced to death for the murder of Allen Watts. The case was appealed, and the death penalty for Watts' murder was overturned, but Oliver's second death sentence for the murder of Dayton Hodge was affirmed.

In April 1994, following a hearing on Oliver's Motion for Appropriate Relief, the court vacated Oliver's death sentence when the Superior Court judge found that the prosecution had withheld from the defense important information that would have cast doubt on eyewitnesses' identification of Oliver as the person responsible for the death of Dayton Hodge. The judge ordered a new sentencing hearing regarding Hodge's murder. In a 2009 article, Mosteller writes that "a combination of processes resulted in the exclusion of all African Americans in a jurisdiction where approximately one-fourth of the population was African American from a jury that in 1982 recommended death sentences for two African American defendents [Oliver and Moore] charged with the murder of two white men.... The death sentence was vacated on the basis of a violation of the defendant's due process rights under Brady v. Maryland" (Kotch and Mosteller: "The Racial Justice Act and the Long Struggle with Race and the Death Penalty in North Carolina").

The cases came before the court in November 2001 for re-sentencing, and the State of North Carolina elected not to seek the death penalty. Oliver was sentenced to life imprisonment for both murders, while Moore was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Dayton Hodge.