Page 1 of 13 12311 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 127

Thread: North Carolina Racial Justice Act

  1. #1
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217

    North Carolina Racial Justice Act

    July 1, 2009

    Controversial death penalty bill advances

    By Winston-Salem Journal

    RALEIGH (MCT) — A bill aimed at reducing racial disparities in the imposition of the death penalty advanced another step in the N.C. General Assembly yesterday.

    Supporters of the bill, which is known as the "North Carolina Racial Justice Act," say that it would combat racial bias by giving defendants and death-row inmates clear legal procedures to argue that race played a significant role in decisions to impose the death penalty.

    But the bill is controversial because of the way it would allow defendants and inmates to use statistics to try to show racial bias.

    The bill would allow them to use data from other death-penalty trials within the same county, prosecutorial district, judicial division or the state at large. For instance, a black defendant might argue to a judge that, statistically, blacks are much more likely than whites to receive the death penalty in one or more of those jurisdictions. The statistical evidence alone would be enough for a judge to throw out the death penalty for that defendant -- regardless of the particular facts of the defendant's case.

    Supporters say that the bill is necessary to overcome a legacy of systemic bias in the criminal-justice system that has been especially pronounced in the realm of capital punishment. Murders involving black defendants, or white victims, or both, are more likely to result in death sentences.

    The bill's sponsors also said that defendants would have to meet high standards before a judge would rule that race played a significant role in decisions to impose the death penalty.

    ''I just want to re-emphasize that the burden of proof in this act is with the defendant," said state Rep. Earline Parmon, D-Forsyth. She and Rep. Larry Womble, also D-Forsyth, are two of the bill's biggest advocates.

    ''This is a bill for fair sentencing," Parmon added. "And it's been around a long time, and it's time for us to move forward on it."

    The legislature is doing just that, but the bill is far from a sure bet to pass into law. Yesterday, the bill was approved by a key judiciary committee in the N.C. House. The committee's vote was 7-6.

    It must go through one more committee before coming up in the full House, where Republicans plan to oppose it aggressively, and some conservative Democrats may be unenthusiastic about the bill.

    ''I think it will be close," said Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam, R-Wake and the House minority leader. "We will fight it hard."

    Another test for the bill is in the N.C. Senate. That chamber previously approved a version of it, but the bill has undergone significant changes since then that may make it less palatable to some senators.

    The bill's opponents argue that it would, in effect, create racial quotas for the death penalty. The bill's supporters dispute that claim.

    Under the bill, a defendant charged with first-degree murder could use the bill's procedures to challenge either a prosecutor's decision to seek the death penalty or a jury's decision to issue a death sentence. It also would give all current death-row inmates one year to challenge the death sentences in their cases on the basis of race.

    If a death sentence were thrown out, it would be automatically converted to a sentence of life in prison without parole.

    The General Assembly's Fiscal Research Division estimates that the bill could cost the state $2 million to $6 million in new expenses based on the additional appeals that would likely arise in death-penalty cases.

    http://www.news-record.com/content/2..._bill_advances

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    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 Forsyth Democrat who helped champion the bill. "If we're going to kill people, we must be as fair and objective as we can. This allows one more chance for justice to be blind. ... It's not a get-out-of-jail free card for anybody."

    Studies in North Carolina and elsewhere have shown that defendants are much more likely to be sentenced to death if they killed a white victim than if they had killed a black victim. In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court held in McCleskey v. Kemp that, unless new legislation was passed, defendants would have to do more than just show the presence of racial disparities through studies. The U.S. House of Represenatives passed a similar Racial Justice Act on two occasions that would have applied to all states, but the Senate did not pass the bill. The only other state to pass a Racial Justice Act is Kentucky, where the law allows challenges on a pre-trial basis rather than through appeals.

    http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/raci...use-and-senate

  3. #3
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    July 20, 2009

    Family of NC Murder Victims Back Racial Data Bill

    By AP, NBC17, 1

    Some North Carolina residents who lost family members to crime but oppose the death penalty are backing state legislation to allow a judge to consider data supporting racial bias.

    Crime victims' families are taking part in a rally at the state capitol in Raleigh on Monday to support the measure. The bill would allow defendants to try to prove that race was a significant factor in a death sentence or in a prosecutor seeking the death penalty. A judge who agrees could limit a sentence to life in prison without parole.

    Opponents say it won't work and would discourage prosecutors from seeking capital punishment.

    The legislation is now being considered by the Senate, which approved an earlier version of the bill.

    http://wake.mync.com/site/Wake/news/...ial-data-bill/

  4. #4
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    August 11, 2009

    N.C. Governor Set To Sign Law On Race, Death Penalty

    RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolina will become only the second state in the country that allows defendants to try to prove race was a significant factor in a death sentence or in a prosecutor seeking the death penalty

    Gov. Beverly Perdue is scheduled to sign the Racial Justice Act into law Tuesday morning.

    The General Assembly passed the law last week. Kentucky is the only other state that allows statistical evidence to establish racial bias by prosecutors seeking or jurors rendering the death penalty.

    The bill allows judges to consider whether statistical data show race was a key factor in putting a defendant on trial for his life or receiving a death penalty. A judge who agrees with the evidence could limit a sentence to life in prison without parole.

    http://www.wsoctv.com/news/20356847/detail.html

  5. #5
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    October 1, 2009

    No death penalty in N.C. woman's death

    TARBORO, N.C. (AP) - A North Carolina man accused of killing one of six women whose decomposing bodies were found dumped in a rural area outside Rocky Mount will not face the death penalty, prosecutors said Thursday.

    Antwan Maurice Pittman would be spared if convicted of murder in the strangling death of 29-year-old Taraha Shenice Nicholson, according to the Edgecombe County clerk of superior court.

    Thirty-one-year-old Pittman was charged with first-degree murder last month. Nicholson's body was found in March.

    Pittman's court-appointed defense attorney Thomas Moore said his client didn't meet any criteria necessary to qualify for capital punishment. Defendants typically must be accused of multiple homicides, especially heinous, atrocious or cruel homicides and also have prior murder convictions, Moore said. Pittman doesn't meet these requirements but he is a convicted sex offender.

    Investigators have released very few details in the case and say they are still investigating five unsolved murders and three missing persons cases that might be connected.

    Moore said he's pleased with the rapid pace of the trial, which is scheduled to begin in May. Moore declined to discuss details of the case, saying not much information was available yet but that evidence was starting to "trickle in."

    "We entered a not guilty plea today. At this point we plan to pursue that this man is innocent," he said.

    Moore said his client was relieved the death penalty was taken off the table. "He's as happy as he can be, but you know he's still locked up."

    Moore said his client is innocent because, "from what I have seen and from my independent investigation I'm not seeing anything that tells me otherwise."

    http://hamptonroads.com/node/525448

  6. #6
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    NC DA agrees to delay 4 cases

    District Attorney Jim O'Neill has agreed to allow four pending first-degree murder cases to be delayed until after a study on the death penalty and race is completed next summer.

    Motions in the four murder cases were filed under the Racial Justice Act, and a judge in Forsyth Superior Court was scheduled to hear those motions yesterday.

    But O'Neill was able to reach an agreement with Mark Rabil, an assistant capital defense attorney, to postpone the cases, which included one set to start in January.

    The motions were the first in Forsyth County to be filed under the Racial Justice Act, which Gov. Bev Perdue signed in August. The law allows defendants to use statistics and other evidence to prove racial bias in the application of the death penalty.

    In the motions, defense attorneys asked that the start of the trial in each case be delayed until a $500,000 study being done by two law professors at Michigan State University is finished in August. The motions also asked for discovery information from prosecutors on what criteria they used in pursuing the death penalty and whether race was a significant factor.

    O'Neill said yesterday that he has always been a strong supporter of the death penalty, but because capital cases are so serious, they should be approached cautiously.

    "People can believe in different sides of this argument," O'Neill said. "I believe in one side. I also believe that this community deserves a cautious approach to every death-penalty case. It's important that we move cautiously and slowly before deciding to put someone's life in jeopardy."

    Last week, O'Neill was sworn in as interim district attorney, replacing Tom Keith, who retired Nov. 30.

    Rabil, who has had sharp disagreements with Keith over his handling of racially charged cases, praised O'Neill's decision.

    "Certainly, there has been the perception over the last three or four decades that perhaps the district attorney's office was not sensitive to issues involving race, and I think Jim has taken a good step here in letting discovery go forward on these cases," he said.

    The decision to delay immediately affects the case of Gerald Spease, whose murder trial was scheduled to start Jan. 11. Spease, who is accused of setting a fire June 17, 2006, that killed Tammy Dianne Wilson, faces the death penalty if convicted. A motion to delay the trial under the Racial Justice Act was filed late last week.

    Motions had also been filed in the following cases:

    □ Mikal Deen Mahdi, who is on death row in South Carolina. Mahdi is accused of killing a gas-station clerk in Winston-Salem in 2004 during a crime spree that started in Virginia.

    □ Alfredo Garza Ayala, who was charged with first-degree murder last year in the death of his wife, Linda Nelly Munoz-Rivera, 42, of 108 Chestnut Trail.

    □ Amar Mushar Wilson Sr., who was charged with first-degree murder in the death of his 2-year-old son.

    O'Neill said he believes that the pursuit of the death penalty by Forsyth County prosecutors in the past has been racially neutral and that it is unfair to compare Forsyth with other counties.

    However, he also said that it didn't make sense to try a capital murder case in January until prosecutors and defense attorneys know the results of the death-penalty study.

    "As a criminal lawyer, a capital case is the most serious, gut-wrenching trial that we take part in, and in the end, justice is the most important thing," O'Neill said. "And if it takes a couple of months before we can pick back up, if that's what justice is, what justice requires, so be it."

    http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2...delay-4-cases/

  7. #7
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Toward justice

    There's little middle ground to be found in North Carolina's Racial Justice Act, which allows defense attorneys to use racial bias as an argument against the pursuit and imposition of the death penalty. Jim O'Neill, Forsyth County's new district attorney, supports the death penalty and says that its use has been "racially neutral" in the 13 years he has worked in the office. But, setting a new spirit of cooperation for his office, he agreed last week to delay a death-penalty case to await the results of a major study about capital punishment and race in North Carolina.

    "It would be disingenuous to the public to schedule another capital case before the study is completed," O'Neill told the Journal.

    He agreed to delay the case of Gerald Spease, whose murder trial was scheduled to start next month. Spease, charged with setting a fire June 17, 2006, that killed Tammy Dianne Wilson, faces the death penalty if convicted. Mark Rabil, an assistant capital defender, had moved to delay the trial, citing the Racial Justice Act that the state legislature passed in August. The Spease case involves a black defendant and victim. Rabil said he may have argued for a delay by saying that in similar, more heinous cases involving white defendants, the death penalty has not been in play.

    Rabil also sought delays in three other murder cases. Those cases had not been put on the court calendar. O'Neill has no plans to do so until the study is done. He has scheduled the Spease case for September.

    The $500,000 study being done by 2 law professors from Michigan State University is scheduled to be finished in August.

    Rabil said that O'Neill is one of the toughest prosecutors in the state, but is willing "to take a good hard look at the issues."

    O'Neill obviously realized that Rabil may well have prevailed in court with his motion to delay the cases. But other prosecutors, responding to the demands of their pro-death-penalty constituents, may have still waged the fight. O'Neill's predecessor, Tom Keith, was an outspoken critic of the Racial Justice Act, which Gov. Bev Perdue signed into law in August.

    O'Neill, whom Perdue appointed to serve out the rest of Keith's term after he retired last month, is being criticized for his decision to delay the Spease case. But we believe that his action was pragmatic and fair given the racial tension over some criminal cases in Forsyth County.

    The 1984 Deborah Sykes murder case, particularly the arrest and convinction of Darryl Hunt, created a long-running racial division in Winston-Salem. Sykes was white and Hunt, wrongly convicted of her murder, is black. Rabil finally won Hunt's release in 2003, after DNA testing led to the real killer. In response to that case and others, Forsyth County Reps. Larry Womble and Earline Parmon introduced the Racial Justice Act.

    The act, and the study, could lead the way toward resolving longstanding questions about racial bias in the criminal justice system. The process will require a cooperative spirit from prosecutors -- like that shown by O'Neill last week.

    (source: Editorial, Winston-Salem Journal)

  8. #8
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Narrowing race bias test in NC death cases sought

    RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Republican legislators argued Thursday for restricting a new law that made North Carolina the second state after Kentucky to allow death-penalty defendants to claim statistical data indicates racial bias tips the scales of justice against them.

    The state's Racial Justice Act was adopted last year after supporters said it was needed to prevent black defendants from being punished more harshly what whites. But Republicans argued the law should be altered to prevent it from being used in pending cases before a conviction.

    The widow of slain Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Jeff Shelton urged state legislators to revisit the issue this year. Jennifer Shelton said at a news conference Thursday that the need for a revision was shown two weeks ago when a Superior Court judge postponed the death-penalty trial of her husband's accused killer until October.

    The judge said that because the law is so new, he felt he had to give the suspect's lawyers time to gather information on what role race may play in North Carolina prosecutors seeking or juries imposing the death penalty, The Charlotte Observer reported.

    "I disagree with the basis of the Racial Justice Act. I believe that a person is tried for their crime and not for the color of their skin," said Shelton, who is white. "A defendant may argue and win a claim of racial discrimination under current law. Therefore, I do not support giving criminals another tool to use to get away with the crimes they have committed."

    "I'm standing here because this hit me personally," Shelton said.

    Demeatrius Montgomery, 28, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the 2007 slayings of Shelton and Officer Sean Clark, who were both shot in the head after responding to a domestic disturbance in Charlotte.

    Mecklenburg Assistant District Attorney Marsha Goodenow said race is not a factor in the decisions prosecutors make to seek a death sentence.

    House Minority Whip Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, said Republicans will attempt to introduce a measure during the legislative session that started this week to narrow the law to considering race only after a guilty verdict. But the GOP proposal is unlikely to advance this year.

    The decision to join Kentucky came last year after months of contentious debate and House and Senate votes along party lines. Any effort to introduce new legislation also faces multiple procedural hurdles lawmakers impose on themselves to focus work this year on passing adjustments to the state budget.

    "We're not going to go around the rules to get into the Racial Justice Act again. This session is to focus on the budget, not to go in with bills that will be controversial," said House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman, D-Davidson. "We'll be glad to listen, but unless there's more than one case out there, it can wait until January" when the Legislature's long legislative session begins.

    The law was opposed by district attorneys, sheriffs and victims' advocates who said it would make death penalty prosecutions too difficult. North Carolina has not had an execution since August 2006.

    Advocates pointed to research such as a 1990 report by the U.S. General Accounting Office that said dozens of studies have found "a pattern of evidence indicating racial disparities in the charging, sentencing, and imposition of the death penalty."

    In one case cited by supporters, then-Gov. Mike Easley commuted the death sentence of Robert Bacon Jr. to life in prison in 2001. An all-white jury had sentenced him to death for stabbing his lover's husband to death. The woman, who is white and who lured her husband to the spot where he was killed, avoided a death sentence and has since been paroled.

    State NAACP president William Barber said the law will remain a target of Republican opposition.

    "There are some people who will never want to acknowledge that we have racial disparities in America," Barber said.

    http://www.reflector.com/state-news/...th-cases-35286

  9. #9
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    August 3, 2010

    Five death row inmates seek new sentences, claim racial bias

    Five death row inmates filed motions this morning challenging their death sentences on the basis of racial bias, the first test of a ground-breaking law passed last year by the state legislature that allows inmates to challenge their sentences on the basis of race.

    All five inmates -- Kenneth Rouse in Randolph County, Guy LeGrande in Stanly County, Shawn Bonnett in Martin County, Jeremy Murrell in Forsyth County, and Jathiyah Al-Bayyinah of Davie County -- are black men convicted of killing white victims. Rouse and LeGrande had all-white juries sentence them to death.

    The 159 prisoners on North Carolina's death row must make such claims by Aug. 10, the day before the anniversary of the signing of the Racial Justice Act law. Adopted over the objections of prosecutors, some law enforcement organizations and victims rights advocates, the law is designed to combat racial disparities in death sentences and is one of only two of its kind in the country.

    The five men are looking to have their sentences changed to life in prison.

    The law allows defendants in death penalty cases and death row inmates to challenge prosecutions on grounds of bias. It also allows judges to consider statistics and trends of racial disparities in death sentences to change a death sentence to life in prison without parole or to stop prosecutors from seeking capital punishment at the outset.

    Similar filings from other death row inmates are expected in coming days. The appeals will lean heavily on a recent study by Michigan State College of Law professors that found that race played a role in death row convictions.

    The study done by Catherine Grosso and Barbara O'Brien found that more than 40 percent of defendants on North Carolina's death row were sentenced to death by a jury that was either all-white or included only one person of color. The researchers also found that in selection of juries, prosecutors statewide struck qualified blacks from the potential jury pool at more than twice the rate of whites.

    In addition, they found that in cases with at least one white victim, a defendant is 2.6 times more likely to be sentenced to death than if the case does not involve a white victim.

    http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/08/...#ixzz0vZ3bWWxr

  10. #10
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    Lawyers for death row inmates request case consolidation

    Lawyers for several death row inmates seeking to have their death sentences set aside because of racial bias claims want to have one judge decide all their cases.

    The request for consolidation comes the day after five death row inmates, all black men accused of killing white victims, filed motions under the Racial Justice Act passed last year by the N.C. General Assembly. The inmates are looking to have their execution sentences commuted to sentences of life in prison. The law, one of the first in the nation, will allow judges to consider whether racial discrimination played a part in some murder defendants receiving the death penalty over others.

    Lawyers for three of the five inmates filed their request for consolidation today with the N.C. Supreme Court, which has the ability to assign all the cases to one Superior Court judge in the state.

    More death row inmates are expected to file similar claims of racial bias in coming days to meet an Aug. 10 deadline for appeals. North Carolina currently has 159 inmates on death row. No one has been executed in the state since 2006 as the courts and legislature work through legal issues surrounding lethal injection, the method of execution North Carolina uses, whether doctors can assist in executions and other issues surrounding the death penalty.

    The consolidation could save money, by having one judge decide the similar claims, according to Malcolm "Tye" Hunter, director of the Durham-based non-profit Center for Death Penalty Litigation.

    Having the statewide issues decided in an orderly and centralized way is more efficient and will save our state money and save our judges and lawyers courtroom time, said Hunter.

    Attempts to coordinate with the N.C. Attorney General's Office and prosecutors around the state to streamline the litigation have been unsuccessful, according to a press release from the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. The AG's office could not be reached immediately Wednesday afternoon to offer comment on the requests for consolidating the Racial Justice Act cases.

    http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/08/...#ixzz0vp55n3l1

Page 1 of 13 12311 ... LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •