Marcus Robinson was the first defen­dant to receive a hear­ing under North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act. His sen­tence was reduced to life with­out parole due to evi­dence of racial bias in jury selection.

Timeline of Robinson’s case:

August 5, 1991: Marcus Robinson is indict­ed for the mur­der of Eric Tornblom.

August 5, 1994: Robinson is sen­tenced to death.

1999: State post-con­vic­tion appeal is unsuccessful.

2006: Federal post-con­vic­tion appeal is unsuccessful.

January 25, 2007: Judge orders a stay of Robinson’s exe­cu­tion, sched­uled for the next day, in order to allow time for con­sid­er­a­tion of Robinson’s civ­il action chal­leng­ing North Carolina’s lethal injec­tion pro­to­col. Litigation in that case is ongoing.

August 10, 2009: North Carolina enacts the Racial Justice Act.

August 6, 2010: Robinson files a motion for relief under the RJA.

January 30 — February 15, 2012: Robinson’s hear­ing, the first con­duct­ed under the RJA, is conducted.

April 22, 2012: Judge Gregory Weeks issues rul­ing find­ing that race was a sig­nif­i­cant fac­tor in jury selec­tion and reduces Robinson’s sen­tence to life without parole

Tags