Entries tagged with “Racial Justice Act”
Issues
Aug 28, 2024
Closing Arguments in Hasson Bacote’s North Carolina Racial Justice Act Hearing Conclude; Results Could Impact More than 100 People on State’s Death Row
Brandonrush, CC0, via Wikimedia…
Issues
Mar 14, 2024
North Carolina Racial Justice Act Hearing Concludes in Hasson Bacote Case
On Friday, March 8, 2024 a Johnston County trial court concluded a historic hearing regarding the claims of Hasson Bacote, a death-sentenced prisoner in North Carolina, that racial discrimination in jury selection played a role in his 2009 capital sentencing. The case, which is being reviewed pursuant to North Carolina’s 2009 Racial Justice Act (RJA), could have implications for more than 100 other death row prisoners who have pending claims…
Issues
Feb 26, 2024
North Carolina Trial Court Will Hear New Evidence of Racial Bias in Death Row Prisoner’s Racial Justice Act Claim
Beginning February 28, 2024, a Johnston County, North Carolina, trial court will hear death row prisoner Hasson Bacote’s claims that racial discrimination in jury selection played a role in his capital sentencing. In 2009, North Carolina passed the Racial Justice Act (RJA), which allowed death-sentenced prisoners to challenge their sentences if they could demonstrate that race played a role in their sentencing and jury selection. Sentenced to death in 2009 by a nearly…
Issues
Oct 25, 2022
Legal Reform Advocates: Racial Justice Act Will Reshape California Death Row
When California’s Racial Justice Act becomes applicable to the cases of prisoners on the state’s death row beginning in January 2023, it will vastly reshape the legal landscape of the state’s death penalty, legal reform advocates…
Issues
Oct 03, 2022
California Governor Signs into Law Bill Expanding Racial Justice Act to Prisoners Already on Death Row
California Governor Gavin Newsom (pictured) has signed into law a bill that provides death-row prisoners relief from convictions or death sentences obtained“on the basis of race, ethnicity, or…
Issues
Jul 13, 2022
Marcus Robinson Remembered for Pioneering Racial Justice Case
Marcus Robinson (pictured), the first person to be granted relief under North Carolina’s trailblazing Racial Justice Act, has died. Robinson, who was sentenced to death in 1994 for a crime he committed shortly after turning 18, died June 9, 2022. He was…
Issues
May 28, 2021
In New Round of Racial Justice Act Litigation, North Carolina Judge Orders Prosecutors to Disclose Data on Decades of Jury Strikes
In the first Racial Justice Act case to reach a hearing since the North Carolina Supreme Court struck down the state legislature’s attempt to retroactively repeal the landmark law, a North Carolina judge has ordered state prosecutors to produce decades of data on jury selection in capital cases. On May 20, 2021, Superior Court Judge Wayland Sermons (pictured) granted a request from the legal team representing death-row prisoner…
Issues
Sep 28, 2020
North Carolina Supreme Court Restores Life Sentences to Three Prisoners Whose Death Sentences Violated Racial Justice Act
The North Carolina Supreme Court has ordered that three African American death-row prisoners who had proven that their death sentences violated the state’s since repealed Racial Justice Act (RJA) must be resentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. In three decisions issued on September 25, 2020, the court ruled that North Carolina had violated constitutional principles of double jeopardy and the prohibitions…
Issues
Sep 04, 2020
California Legislature Passes Racial Justice Package Affecting Death-Penalty Practices
In the closing days of its 2020 legislative session, the California legislature passed a trio of racial justice reform bills expected to reduce the influence of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic bias in the administration of the death penalty in the state with the country’s…
Issues
Federal Death Penalty
,Aug 17, 2020
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of August 10, 2020
NEWS (8/14/20) — Alabama: The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has affirmed a lower court ruling granting a new trial to death-row prisoner Steven Petric based upon his lawyer’s ineffective representation at trial. Petric had been convicted and sentenced to death in 2009 for a rape and murder in suburban Birmingham two…
Issues
Jun 30, 2020
New Podcast: Henderson Hill and North Carolina’s Historic Racial Justice Act Rulings
In the June 2020 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Henderson Hill (pictured), Senior Counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union Capital Punishment Project, speaks with Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robert Dunham about North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act. Hill, who has spent decades as a public defender, capital defense attorney, and civil rights advocate, is currently representing North Carolina death-row…
Issues
Jun 08, 2020
North Carolina Supreme Court Strikes Down Racial Justice Act Repeal, Permits Race Challenges by 140 Death-Row Prisoners
The North Carolina Supreme Court has struck down the state legislature’s attempted retroactive repeal of the state’s Racial Justice Act (RJA), restoring the rights of approximately 140 death-row prisoners to seek redress of death sentences that they had claimed were substantially affected…
Issues
Sep 03, 2019
North Carolina Supreme Court Hears Argument on Retroactive Repeal of State’s Racial Justice Act
The North Carolina Supreme Court (members pictured) heard arguments on August 26 and 27, 2019 on whether the state may retroactively apply the legislative repeal of its Racial Justice Act to death-row prisoners who had overturned their death sentences or filed claims under the act before…
Issues
Feb 22, 2019
Friend-of-the-Court Briefs Challenge Systemic Injustices in North Carolina Death Penalty
Two amicus curiae briefs filed in the Racial Justice Act appeal of North Carolina death-row prisoner Rayford Burke (pictured) are asking the North Carolina Supreme Court to redress systemic problems in North Carolina’s administration of its death penalty. One brief, filed by the New York-based NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), urges the court to provide Burke“the opportunity to prove that racial bias…
Issues
Jul 23, 2018
North Carolina Death-Row Prisoners Challenge Retroactive Repeal of Racial Justice Act
Four African-American death-row prisoners in North Carolina whose death sentences had been overturned for racial discrimination have challenged the constitutionality of subsequent state court rulings that reinstated their death sentences and then denied them a new hearing on their discrimination claims. The four—Marcus Robinson (pictured), Tilmon Golphin, Quintel Augustine, and Christina Walters—had…
Issues
Mar 05, 2018
North Carolina Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Racial Justice Act Death-Penalty Cases
The North Carolina Supreme Court announced on March 2 that it will hear appeals from three of the four prisoners whose death sentences were reduced to life without parole under the state’s Racial Justice Act, then reinstated after the legislature…
Issues
Dec 21, 2015
North Carolina Court Reverses Racial Justice Act Ruling, Orders New Hearings
The North Carolina Supreme Court has reversed the historic rulings of a Cumberland County, N.C. trial court that had overturned the death sentences of four North Carolina death-row prisoners under the state’s Racial Justice Act. Ruling entirely on procedural grounds, the state’s high court expressed no opinion on the lower court’s fact findings that North Carolina prosecutors had engaged in a decades-long practice of intentional race discrimination in jury selection…
Issues
Dec 18, 2015
North Carolina Racial Justice Act
In August 2009, North Carolina passed the Racial Justice Act, becoming the second state to allow courts to consider statistical evidence as proof of racial bias in the administration of the death penalty. As initially written, the North Carolina law permitted a judge to overturn a death sentence or prevent prosecutors from seeking the death penalty in an individual case upon proof of racial bias. Governor Beverly Purdue, who signed the act into law,…
Issues
Apr 11, 2014
North Carolina Supreme Court to Hear Racial Justice Act Cases
On April 14, the North Carolina Supreme Court will hear appeals in the cases of the four inmates whose death sentences were reduced to life without parole under the state’s Racial Justice Act. North Carolina passed the Act in 2009, allowing death row inmates to use statistical studies to show that racial bias affected their trials. The first four cases were heard in 2012. The evidence presented at hearings for defendants Marcus Robinson (l.),…
Issues
Jun 07, 2013
RECENT LEGISLATION: North Carolina Legislators Vote to Repeal Racial Justice Act
On June 5, legislators in North Carolina voted to repeal the Racial Justice Act, which had allowed death row inmates to challenge their sentences using statistical evidence of racial bias. Since the law took effect in 2009, most of the inmates facing execution in North Carolina appealed their sentence under the law. In 2012, Marcus Robinson, who was the first defendant to receive a hearing under the RJA, was re-sentenced to life without…
Issues
Apr 18, 2013
RECENT LEGISLATION: Texas Legislature Examining Problems of Innocence and Racial Bias
Two bills under consideration in Texas aim to address issues in the state’s death penalty. House Bill 2458 would allow defendants to appeal their death sentences if they can prove that race was a significant factor in the decision to seek or impose the death penalty. Statistical evidence of bias can be used to support such a claim. Similar bills, referred to as the Racial Justice Act, have been considered in other states. Testimony in favor…
Issues
Dec 13, 2012
RACE: Three More Death Sentences Reduced in North Carolina Because of Bias in Jury Selection
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…
Issues
Oct 04, 2012
Challenges to Jury Selection Continue under North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act
On October 2, Judge Gregory Weeks heard testimony regarding racial bias in jury selection, as three North Carolina death row inmates challenged their sentences under the state’s Racial Justice Act. Prof. Barbara O’Brien of Michigan State University provided statistical evidence of racial bias in the frequent rejection of African-American potential jurors from death penalty trials in the state. According to O’Brien’s study, qualified black…
Issues
Jun 29, 2012
North Carolina Governor Vetoes Racial Justice Rollback Legislation
On June 28, North Carolina’s Governor, Beverly Perdue, vetoed legislation that would have essentially repealed the state’s Racial Justice Act (RJA), a law allowing death row inmates to challenge their death sentence based on statewide patterns of racial bias. The law Gov. Perdue vetoed would have removed the possibility of showing bias based on these sophisticated studies. The governor said,“As long as I am governor,…
Issues
Jun 15, 2012
RACE: After Judge Finds Statewide Racial Bias in Jury Selection, North Carolina Legislators Move to Repeal Racial Justice Act
On June 13, the North Carolina House of Representatives approved a bill to essentially overturn the state’s Racial Justice Act (RJA), a groundbreaking law that allowed a finding of racial bias in sentencing or jury selection based on sophisticated statistical…
Issues
May 29, 2012
NEW RESOURCES: DPIC’s Summary of First Ruling Under North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act
The Death Penalty Information Center has prepared a summary of North Carolina v. Robinson, the first ruling issued under North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act. The opinion by Superior Court Judge Gregory Weeks on April 22, 2012, reduced Marcus Robinson’s (pictured) death sentence to life without parole. DPIC’s summary highlights the statistical evidence of racial bias in eliminating potential black jurors that led the court to rule in Robinson’s…
Issues
Apr 22, 2012
DPIC’s Summary of North Carolina v. Marcus Robinson
(Superior Court, Judge Gregory Weeks, April…
Issues
Apr 22, 2012
The Case of Marcus Robinson
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…
Issues
Apr 20, 2012
RACE: North Carolina Judge Overturns Death Sentence Under Racial Justice Act
On April 20, North Carolina Superior Court Judge Gregory Weeks issued an historic ruling under the state’s Racial Justice Act finding intentional bias by the state in selecting juries for death penalty cases. In what may be the first ruling of its kind in the country, the court held that“race was a materially, practically and statistically significant factor in the decision to exercise peremptory challenges during jury…
Issues
Feb 17, 2012
RACE: First Hearing Under Racial Justice Act Concludes in North Carolina
The first hearing to decide whether there has been significant evidence of racial discrimination in the application of North Carolina’s death penalty was concluded on February 15. Cumberland County Judge Gregory A. Weeks, who presided over the two-and-a-half week hearing, will offer a decision based on the state’s Racial Justice Act in the next few weeks. Much of the historic proceeding focused on whether race played an improper role in…
Issues
Dec 14, 2011
North Carolina Governor Upholds Racial Justice Act, Calling Bias “Unacceptable”
North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue vetoed the bill that would have repealed the state’s Racial Justice Act that was passed in 2009. The Act allows death row inmates to appeal their death sentences based on statistical studies showing racial bias. In issuing the veto, the governor, who supports the death penalty, said,“I am vetoing Senate Bill 9 for the same reason that I signed the Racial Justice Act two years ago: it is simply unacceptable for racial…
Issues
Nov 29, 2011
North Carolina Legislature Votes to Repeal Racial Justice Act; Governor May Veto
On November 28 the North Carolina Senate voted to repeal the state’s Racial Justice Act, which allowed death row inmates to use statistical evidence of racial bias to challenge their sentences. The House had earlier approved the repeal measure. The Act was passed in 2009, and the first cases brought under the law are just now being considered in state court. There were considerable shifts in the state’s legislature in the wake of the 2010…
Issues
Nov 18, 2011
RACE: Supporters Re-Affirm Importance of North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act in Face of Prosecutors’ Challenges
Leaders from North Carolina’s civil rights groups, such as the NAACP, and from the defense bar have re-affirmed the need for the state’s Racial Justice Act, which was passed in 2009. The Act allows death row inmates to challenge their death sentences using data from statistical studies of racial bias within the state. The North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys is attempting to have the law repealed because…
Issues
Jul 25, 2011
North Carolina Court to Hear First Challenge under State’s Racial Justice Act
Marcus Robinson will be the first North Carolina death row inmate to have a sentencing challenge heard in court based on the state’s 2009 Racial Justice Act. According to the act, a death row inmate who can establish through statistical studies that his sentence was racially discriminatory can seek to have it commuted to life in prison. Robinson’s lawyers plan to argue that he received a death sentence partly because he is black and his victim was white They plan…
Issues
Aug 11, 2009
Gov. Perdue Signs North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act – NAACP Commends Passage
Governor Beverly Purdue of North Carolina signed the state’s Racial Justice Act into law on August 11, concluding a long period of legislative action surrounding this death penalty statute. Gov. Purdue said in a news release,“I have always been a supporter of death penalty, but I have always believed it must be carried out fairly. The Racial Justice Act ensures that when North Carolina hands down our state’s harshest punishment to our most…
Issues
Aug 06, 2009
Racial Justice Act passes in North Carolina
On August 5, the North Carolina senate passed a bill allowing pre-trial defendants and death-row inmates to challenge the death penalty process through the use of statistical studies. The Racial Justice Act allows a defendant facing a capital trial or an inmate sentenced to death to use evidence showing a pattern of racial disparity as a way of challenging racial injustice in the death penalty. Prosecutors would then have the…
Issues
Jul 15, 2009
Racial Justice Act Passed In North Carolina House and Senate
On July 15, the House of Representatives of North Carolina voted 61 – 53 to pass the Racial Justice Act. A similar bill already passed the state senate, though that bill contained an amendment to bypass some objections to the state’s execution process. The new law, if finally approved, would allow judges to consider whether racial bias played a role in the decision to seek or impose the death penalty.“This is a fairness bill,” said Rep. Larry Womble, the…
Issues
May 09, 2007
North Carolina Could Become Second State to Pass Racial Justice Act
North Carolina’s legislature recently took an important step toward becoming the nation’s second state to pass a Racial Justice Act, legislation that gives defendants the opportunity to challenge the death penalty based on studies showing racial bias. The bill was quickly approved by members of the House Judiciary II Committee and will now go before the…