"Judge's decision rightly confronts bias in the death penalty," is the Winston-Salem Journal editorial.
A Cumberland County judge scored a win for justice last week when he ruled in favor of the Racial Justice Act, deciding that racial bias played a role in landing a black man on death row.
Critics are already assailing the decision made by Superior Court Judge Greg Weeks. But 100 years from now, we believe his decision will be seen as on the right side of history.
As will that of Superior Court Judge William Wood of Forsyth County, who ruled in favor of the RJA last year. And we believe history will look well on the bill that set this law in motion, one pushed by Reps. Larry Womble and Earline Parmon of Winston-Salem.
The RJA addresses racial bias in the pursuit and imposition of the death penalty. The evidence of that should be obvious to anyone who has been awake in this state in the last 30 years. The new law allows defense attorneys to present statistical evidence from statewide studies. And prosecutors can also present evidence from their specific cases to refute the defense arguments.
The RJA does not free death row defendants. It commutes their sentences to life in prison — if they prove bias landed them on death row. That's what happened in the decision made by the Cumberland County judge in the case of Marcus Robinson, a black man convicted of killing a white teenager in 1991.
"The dying penalty," is the Greensboro News-Record editorial.
In the first of more than 150 pending Racial Justice Act cases, Cumberland County Superior Court Judge Greg Weeks last week commuted an inmate's death sentence to life in prison, finding evidence of racial bias in jury selection. Similar outcomes in most of the other cases are possible. All these legal proceedings will consume vast resources that our state's legal system can scarcely afford. Doing away with the death penalty and converting all death sentences to life in prison will save time and money.
Those are practical reasons for ending capital punishment. There are more profound considerations: the chance of executing an innocent person; the unequal distribution of justice, when some murderers die and others live; and the changing attitudes of society. Most people say they still support capital punishment, but juries seem to say differently. They rarely recommend the death sentence. How much more will attitudes shift in the future?
"Racial Justice Act not perfect, but first test shows its merits," is the Wilmington Star editorial.
Justice is far from blind, as it turns out. In a landmark ruling last week, a Cumberland County judge has found that prosecutors intentionally used race as a factor in seating the jury that condemned a convicted Marcus Robinson to die for the murder of a teenager in 1991.
In making the landmark ruling, Superior Court Judge Gregory Weeks said the evidence supported what critics of the death penalty have long argued: Racial bias is embedded in what is supposed to be a colorblind justice system. The judge noted that Robinson’s attorneys proved their case that race played a significant role in the jury’s decision to apply the death sentence.
Weeks said often-cited findings of a Michigan State University study showed prosecutors in North Carolina used peremptory challenges to exclude qualified black jurors twice as often as for whites. Peremptory challenges require no reason for dismissing a potential juror. Robinson’s attorneys said prosecutors dismissed half of black jurors and only 15 percent of all others in his trial. They also cited credible studies that found that the death penalty is more likely to be applied if the victim is white.
During the build-up to this first test of the Racial Justice Act, prosecutors attempted to force Weeks to recuse himself – they said they might want him to testify. They contend that Robinson, who is black, received a fair trial and sentencing hearing, and said they will appeal, but Republicans in the General Assembly are hoping to stop North Carolina from being a leader in the push for a racially neutral justice system.
Earlier commentary on Judge Weeks' RJA ruling begins at the link. Related posts are in the race index.
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