A condemned inmate whose picture, taken by Oliviero...

A condemned inmate whose picture, taken by Oliviero Toscani, was part of a Benetton campaign against capital punishment received a stay of execution. Bobby Lee Harris was scheduled to die on January 19. His execution was stayed by a judge who ordered a Feb. 20 hearing on issues raised by the defense, including whether he has the mental ability to plan a murder and whether his trial was fair. Benetton, an Italian clothing company, has used pictures of 7 North Carolina death row inmates and 19 others in an ad campaign protesting capital punishment. A German woman, Dagmar Polzin, drew attention when she moved to Raleigh in October to be near Harris. She said she fell in love him after seeing a Benetton ad, but has shelved wedding plans in the hope that Gov. Mike Easley will change the death sentence to life in prison. On January 10, 4 jurors who sentenced Bobby Lee Harris to death for the 1991 slaying of an Onslow County fisherman said in affidavits that they didn't want to vote for execution. State and Onslow County prosecutors are opposing clemency. No appeals have been filed for Harris and both his attorneys said clemency is their primary hope to spare his life. Harris was to be executed Jan. 19 for killing John Redd. Harris confessed to stabbing Redd and stealing his truck and about $80. "At the time of Bobby's trial, it was before life without parole became an option for the jurors," said Daniel Shatz, who is 1 of the 2 lawyers representing Harris. "What that means is if Bobby's case had come up later, what the jurors would have done is life without parole. Since the governor has an option that was not available to the jury ... we think that an important consideration for Gov. Easley." Jurors couldn't consider a sentence of life without parole until Oct. 1, 1994, when the law was changed. Each affidavit states that the juror "chose the death sentence because I thought that Bobby would eventually be released from prison. If I had known that life without the possibility of parole was an option, I would have chosen a life sentence instead of the death penalty." Easley was North Carolina's attorney general for 8 years before he became governor this month. As attorney general, his office pushed to have every death row prisoner executed.