Hawkins v. Freeman

Affirmed by published opinion. Senior Judge PHILLIPS wrote the majority opinion, in which Chief Judge WILKINSON, Judge WIDENER, Judge NIEMEYER, Judge HAMILTON, Judge LUTTIG, Judge WILLIAMS, Judge MICHAEL, Judge MOTZ, Judge TRAXLER and Judge KING joined. Judge MURNAGHAN wrote a dissenting opinion.

OPINION

PHILLIPS, Senior Circuit Judge:

When officials of the North Carolina Parole Commission discovered that twenty months earlier they had mistakenly granted parole to Irving Houston Hawkins, a convicted habitual felon who was not at the time nor yet eligible for parole under applicable law, it…