North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services: Fighting Systemic Problems One Client at a Time
Seaga Gillard sat quietly at the defense table in a Wake County courtroom in January 2020 as his attorneys Edd K. Roberts and Jonathan Broun prepared for the first day of jury selection.
Gillard was charged with first-degree murder in the 2016 brutal deaths of April Lynn Holland, who was pregnant, and Dwayne Garvey. Both were gunned down in a room at the Crabtree Valley Best Value Inn. Gillard was found guilty, and a Wake County jury unanimously recommended of murder the death penalty.
Broun, who is senior attorney with the North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services (NCPLS), had been assigned as co-counsel by the Capital Defender after the district attorney offered aggravating factors and declared it a death penalty case.
