That's the title of an OpEd by Chris Fitzsimon, director of NC Policy Watch, in the Carrboro (NC) Citizen. LINK
It’s too bad that every single member of the General Assembly who stands in front of television cameras clamoring for the state to resume executions wasn’t in the press room at the Legislative Building Tuesday afternoon.
Three men recently freed from North Carolina’s death row after spending a combined 36 years awaiting their executions for crimes they did not commit appeared with Darryl Hunt, who spent 19 years behind bars until he was finally declared innocent and freed from his life sentence just a few years ago.
The four unjustly incarcerated men have something else in common too. They are all African-American males and race played a role in the miscarriages of justice that robbed each of them of a significant portion of their lives.They came to the Legislative Building as part of an effort to convince the Senate to pass the Racial Justice Act, legislation that sets up a procedure for a defendant to challenge his conviction or death sentence by showing that race played an improper role in the decision.
The House passed the Racial Justice Act last year with Democrats and Republicans supporting it, acknowledging that race does influence verdicts and sentences in death penalty cases.
Comments