WILSON -- The family of a man charged with murder wants the North Carolina State Bar to investigate the handling of his case.

James Arthur Johnson will stand trial next week for the kidnapping, rape and killing of 17-year-old Brittany Willis in 2004. Johnson's supporters insist he is innocent, and during a prayer service Sunday in Wilson, they demanded that the prosecutor drop all charges.

"There has been a murder, there has been a conviction and now we must prevent a lynching, the Rev. William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP, told the packed crowd, adding, "We want to see the attorney general get involved, the governor get involved, we want the bar to do an investigation.”

As their son's fate heads into the hands of a jury, Beverly and Arthur Johnson said they put their faith in the hands of a higher judge.

"So as long as we have the faith, and God on our side, then victory is ours," said Arthur Johnson.

James Arthur Johnson has sat in jail under a $1 million bond since Willis’ murder. Kenneth Meeks, who has already been convicted of the crime, initially told police Johnson was involved, but later changed his story and said he acted alone.

“I think what happened here was, once Meeks named him they were determined to try to convict him,” said Richard Rosen, a UNC Chapel Hill law professor who works The Innocence Project to free wrongly convicted people. Rosen is not directly involved in the Johnson case.

Arthur Johnson said he hopes his son will get a fair trial.

"I do not fear Wilson County,” he said. “I have people here who will support me, and we will fight them tooth and nail."

Kenneth Meeks is already serving a life sentence for Willis' murder.