The North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission is a state agency established by the General Assembly to investigate and evaluate post-conviction claims of factual innocence. The Commission is charged with providing an independent and balanced truth-seeking forum for credible post-conviction claims of innocence in North Carolina. The Commission is separate from the appeals process. A person exonerated through the Commission process is declared innocent and cannot be retried for the same crime. In order to apply directly, you must be claiming complete factual innocence for the crime for which you are convicted and any related and/or lesser offense and be convicted of a homicide, robbery, sex offense, or class A-E felony in North Carolina State Court. There must be credible and verifiable evidence of innocence. New evidence of innocence that the jury did not hear or that was not available prior to a plea. The Commission cannot review procedural errors, sentencing issues, or any other claims not associated with actual innocence; cannot represent claimants; requires that claimants waive all privileges, including, but not limited to, self-incrimination, attorney/client, spousal, doctor-patient, etc.; turns over additional evidence of a crime(s), other’s involvement, and new crimes to law enforcement.