Biography
James McKoy was one of the Wilmington 10, convicted in 1972 on conspiracy and arson charges arising from the February 1971 firebombing of Mike's Grocery in Wilmington, North Carolina. Convictions of all ten were vacated by the Fourth Circuit in 1980 after recantations by prosecution witnesses, and Governor Bev Perdue granted pardons of innocence on December 31, 2012.
James “Bun” McKoy was one of the Black student activists swept into Wilmington’s 1971 school boycott and protests for educational equality during the city’s desegregation turmoil. He became one of the Wilmington Ten, a group whose legal case became emblematic of the era’s racial and political tensions.
McKoy was prosecuted in 1972 in connection with the firebombing of Mike’s Grocery and allegations that the group conspired to assault emergency responders. The Wilmington Ten were convicted on October 17, 1972, and McKoy received a 29‑year sentence. The convictions were overturned by the Fourth Circuit in 1980, and the group was later granted pardons of innocence in 2012. Wilmington native; convicted at age 19 with 29-year sentence (third-longest). Lived quietly in Wilmington post-release. Died November 10, 2023, age 69.
Parole release versus the 1980 judicial decision
The original August 4, 1978 Militant, page 24, reports that James McKoy and Willie Vereen were released on parole July 25. The custody endpoint is corrected to July 25, 1978; the previous June 14, 1978 and December 4, 1980 endpoints are withdrawn. Contemporary parole report, page 24.
December 4, 1980 is the date of the Fourth Circuit decision overturning the convictions, not a later physical release for McKoy. Existing overlapping prosecution rows are preserved, not presented as two independently verified prison terms; their conflicting initial dates remain outside this 1980s endpoint correction. Computed spans are not evidence of actual uninterrupted custody. Original appellate decision.
Contemporary interrupted-custody chronology
The February 1978 Amnesty International Newsletter, page 3, individually names all members of the Wilmington Ten and distinguishes their interrupted custody chronology: bail in June 1972; brief re-imprisonment after conviction; release on appeal bail in July 1973; and return to prison in February 1976. It reports Anne Shephard Turner already on parole while the nine men remained imprisoned when the article was written. The February 1976 month start already recorded here describes the final prison term, not the beginning of uninterrupted imprisonment extending from 1972. The newsletter’s January 23, 1978 update describes Governor Hunt’s commutation as permitting future parole in June for eight men and parole eligibility on January 1, 1980 for Ben Chavis. Those eligibility dates are not actual releases and do not replace later individually documented parole dates. The source does not supply the missing original booking or exact earlier bail days. Existing case dates, later outcomes and custody intervals remain unchanged.
Amnesty’s account describes the case as it stood in February 1978; its call for pardon is historical advocacy, not a statement that the later vacatur and pardons had not occurred.
The individually captioned Wilmington Ten photo roster accompanies a report that all three key prosecution witnesses had recanted by March 8. The article alleges bribery, coaching and threats by prosecutors and says a May hearing on a new trial was scheduled. It describes the 1972 convictions and 282-year collective total, which is not assigned as any individual’s term. Proposed retrial proceedings are not an accomplished vacatur, acquittal or release. The source’s Tindell, Sheppard and William Wright II caption variants are resolved through the named Wilmington group and existing identities.
The Wilmington Ten report describes Alan Hall’s October 12, 1976 recantation affidavit, alleging pressure from prosecutors and federal agents and denying personal knowledge of the charged events. It distinguishes the first June 1972 mistrial, later trial, initial bail and subsequent imprisonment after direct appeals failed. The pending federal habeas request and renewed bail application are not accomplished relief or release. The reported 282 years is an aggregate; individual maximums and Anne Sheppard’s accessory conviction are distinguished from the other defendants’ charges.
