On December 13, North Carolina Superior Court Judge Greg Weeks reduced the sen­tences of three death row inmates to life with­out parole after find­ing that race played a sig­nif­i­cant role in the selec­tion of the juries in their cases. 

Applying North Carolina’s revised Racial Justice Act, Judge Weeks relied par­tial­ly on stud­ies show­ing pros­e­cu­tors struck qual­i­fied African-American jurors twice as often as oth­er poten­tial jurors, both in Cumberland County and statewide. He also relied on evi­dence pre­sent­ed ear­li­er at a lengthy hear­ing show­ing that poten­tial black jurors were often dis­missed for rea­sons such as their reser­va­tions about the death penal­ty, crim­i­nal back­ground, hard­ships, or employ­ment, while white jurors with sim­i­lar char­ac­ter­is­tics were select­ed. Evidence of racial bias was also shown in state­ments, notes, train­ing mate­ri­als, and tes­ti­mo­ny from the prosecutors. 

Evidence of train­ings spon­sored by the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys showed pros­e­cu­tors were trained in fab­ri­cat­ing legal­ly accept­able ways to exclude African Americans from juries. Judge Weeks, who had reduced the death sen­tence of anoth­er inmate ear­li­er in the year, stat­ed: ​“The court finds no joy in these con­clu­sions. Indeed, the court can­not over­state the grav­i­ty and somber nature of its find­ings. Nor can the court over­state the harm to African-American cit­i­zens and to the integri­ty of the jus­tice sys­tem that results from racial­ly dis­crim­i­na­to­ry jury selection practices.” 

Kenneth Rose, one of the lawyers rep­re­sent­ing the defen­dants, said, ​“The evi­dence that our cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem is infect­ed by racial bias has become too great to deny.… We will not rest until we are assured that race plays no role in North Carolina’s death penalty.”

The three defen­dants whose death sen­tences were reduced were Tilmon Golphin, Christina Walters, and Quintel Augustine.

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Sources

M. Burns, Judge: Race a fac­tor in pick­ing juries for death penal­ty cas­es, WRAL​.com; Associated Press; Center for Death Penalty Litigation, Press Release, all December 13, 2012. See Race; see also DPIC’s report on jurors in capital cases.

UPDATE: Read the Court’s Opinion reduc­ing the death sen­tences. Watch a video of Judge Weeks issu­ing his ruling.