The breaking news headline from the News & Observer is, "Racial Justice Act for death row inmates survives court challenge," by Anne Blythe.
The fledgling Racial Justice Act survived its first challenge when a Forsyth County judge rejected contentions by prosecutors that the law was too sweeping to comply with the N.C. Constitution.
Judge William Z. Wood issued his findings today in Forsyth County Superior Court.
The Winston-Salem courthouse has been the setting for the first wave of death row inmates seeking relief from their sentences under the 18-month-old law.
The Racial Justice Act, passed narrowly along party lines in 2009, provides people convicted and accused in capital cases a legal avenue for challenging their plights using statistics and anecdotal evidence to bolster racial bias claims.
Errol Duke Moses and Carl Stephen Moseley, death row inmates since the 1990s, are using statistics and findings from a Michigan State University study to claim racial imbalance and bias played a role in their trials and sentencing in Forsyth County.
Their cases are the first of the 154 death row inmates seeking relief under the law to get to a courtroom.
"This vindicates the decision of the legislature to examine whether racial bias is tainting death sentences in this state," said Ken Rose, an attorney from the Center for Death Penalty Litigation representing Moses.
Earlier this week, prosecutors tried to pick apart the law, saying it was too sweeping to apply fairly across the state.
"Forsyth judge upholds Racial Justice Act," is the Winston-Salem Journal's initial report by Michael Hewlett.
Judge William Z. Wood of Forsyth Superior Court rejected the arguments of Forsyth County prosecutors that the Racial Justice Act, signed into law in August 2009, was too broad and vague and was subject to multiple interpretations. He was the first judge in North Carolina to hear cases involving the Racial Justice Act, and the hearings were being closely watched by prosecutors from across the state as well as supporters of the law.
The law allows death-row inmates and defendants facing the death penalty to use statistics and other evidence to prove that racial bias played a "significant factor" in their sentence or in prosecutors' decision to pursue the death penalty. The only remedy under the law is to reduce an inmate's sentence to life in prison.
And:
The law was prompted partly by the case of Darryl Hunt, who attended the hearings this week. Hunt was exonerated in 2004 on charges that he killed Deborah Sykes in 1984 after new DNA evidence led police to a new suspect, who confessed.
The AP report, "Racial Justice Act for death row appeals upheld," is via WRAL-TV. The first quote in this excerpt is from attorney Ken Rose, who represents death row inmates.
The Forsyth County case was the first, and so far only, legal challenge to the law. The proceedings were closely followed around the state, with some prosecutors from other districts attending court sessions in Winston-Salem this week to listen to arguments in the case.
Rose said Wood's ruling bolsters what attorneys for the inmates have argued all along. "It's very significant," he said.
Tye Hunter, executive director of the Durham-based Center for Death Penalty Litigation, which has coordinated efforts to file cases on behalf of inmates under the new law, said Friday the ruling was not a surprise.
"I thought the state's arguments were borderline frivolous," he said. "As legal arguments, I thought they were very weak."
Earlier coverage begins with the posts, "North Carolina RJA to the Test."
News coverage from the hearing includes, "Racial Justice Act before judge," and "Racial Justice Act faces test." Both are by Blythe. Winston-Salem Journal coverage includes, "Arguments heard in Racial Justice Act cases; judge to rule later," and, "Racial Justice Act gets first test Monday." Both are by Hewlett. The North Carolina News Service posted, "Death Row Attorneys: Racial Justice Act Constitutional," by Stephanie Carroll Carson.
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