Mark
Rabil, a native of Winston-Salem, N.C. and a 1980 graduate of the
University of North Carolina School of Law, had been practicing law for
four years when he was court-appointed to assist a senior partner in his
law firm in representing Darryl Hunt, a 19-year-old black man charged with
assaulting, raping, sodomizing and stabbing to death Deborah Sykes, a young
white newspaper reporter. He would continue to represent Mr. Hunt for the
next 20 years, through trials, hearings, investigations, appeals, and clemency
and pardon proceedings.
In the summer of 1993, post-conviction hearings regarding witness intimidation and discovery violations led to DNA tests proving that neither Hunt nor another suspect, Sammy Mitchell, was involved in the rape of Ms. Sykes. Mr. Rabil, while in private practice, expended thousands of hours representing Mr. Hunt for very little compensation.
Since 2003, he has been an assistant capital defender in North Carolina and represents individuals who are charged with first-degree murder and face the death penalty.
Mr. Rabil is a member of the board of directors of the Darryl Hunt Project. He has served the Wake Forest University School of Law as a supervising attorney for the Clinical Program since 1983 and as an adjunct professor of trial advocacy since 2003.
