The News & Observer's Under the Dome column reports, "The families of murder victims denounce House vote on Racial Justice Act." The column is written by Craig Jarvis, Lynn Bonner, and Rob Christensen.
About two dozen state legislators, members of Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation and others held a news conference Thursday morning to denounce the House vote on Wednesday rewriting the Racial Justice Act.
They called it a complete repeal of the 2009 law, which allows death-row inmates to use statistical proof of racial bias in North Carolina jury selection to try to turn their sentences into life without parole. The bill so weakens the use of statistics as to make them nearly useless in most cases.
Rep. Earline Parmon, a Winston-Salem Democrat, who was one of the original sponsors of the Racial Justice Act, called the vote “appalling” for “knowingly allowing racial discrimination to continue in our justice system.”
Three people whose relatives were murdered also criticized the vote and called for the Senate to put the brakes on the bill. The Senate is expected to pass the bill along party lines. Five House Democrats voted for the bill, ensuring enough votes to override a veto, if the governor does that.
Darryl Hunt, the Winston-Salem man who spent more than 19 years in prison for a rape and murder that DNA later showed he did not commit, said Republicans’ claim that statistics are irrelevant in individual cases is wrong.
“I lived through four jury trials,” Hunt said. “I know how they use race to excuse African-Americans on juries.”
"Victims' families defend Racial Justice Act," is Matthew Burns' report for WRAL-TV.
Family members of murder victims spoke out Thursday to defend the Racial Justice Act, which the legislature is working to repeal.
The 2009 law allows death row inmates to have their sentences reduced to life without parole if they can prove racial bias in jury selection or another aspect of their case. Legislation approved by the House this week says that statistical evidence alone isn't enough to prove bias.
Relatives of some victims asked lawmakers to leave the law in place, saying it's the best way to ensure justice for their loved ones will truly be color-blind.
"It's a slap in the face to me because I'm not here because our system worked," said Darryl Hunt, who was on death row before being exonerated in 2004. "I didn't spend 19 years, four months in prison for a crime I didn't commit because our system worked. If our system worked, I'd have never gone to prison."
MSNBC posts, "North Carolina lawmakers move to scale back Racial Justice Act," by James Eng.
“This bill guts the NC Racial Justice Act, plain and simple,” Scott Bass, director of Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation, said in a statement. “What legislators do not understand is that by passing this law, they not only shirk their responsibility to address documented racial bias in the system, they will also be costing taxpayers millions of dollars in extra expense and slowing resolution of death penalty cases by adding additional layers of appeals.”
“This bill is an attempt to sweep that evidence under the rug by allowing the state to ignore mountains of statistics pointing to the pervasive and disturbing role that race plays in jury selection and sentencing,” said Sarah Preston of the ACLU of North Carolina. “We cannot turn our backs on such evidence, as this bill seeks to do.”
Supporters of the effort to amend the Racial Justice Act denied any nefarious intentions.
"Victims' families tell lawmakers not to change Racial Justice Act," by Annette Newell at WNCN-TV. There is video at the link.
Several murder victims' family members spoke out against state republicans' plans to change the Racial Justice Act.
The Racial Justice Act is a law that allows people to appeal death sentences on the grounds of racial bias.
At the state capitol in Raleigh, the group "Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation" joined lawmakers who support the act, which passed in 2009.
They encouraged the state senate to vote against new limits that would make it tougher to appeal a death sentence on the grounds of racial bias.
A soldier from Johnston County is among the supporters who want to keep the law the same.
"I'm witness to the fact that our justice system is not always right," said Yolanda Littlejohn. "They don't always get it right. This was shown in my sister's case when a man served 17 years for murdering her, and it wasn't him."
Darryl Hunt, a supporter of the Racial Justice Act, had his own death sentence overturned by D.N.A. evidence.
"Opponents claim bill will gut Racial Justice Act," at WTVD-TV.
Family members of murder victims stood beside Democratic lawmakers at a news conference Thursday bashing a vote by the NC House that, they said, would gut the Racial Justice Act.The historic act allows death row inmates to use statistics and other evidence to show racism may have been a part of their trial and sentencing.
The historic act allows death row inmates to use statistics and other evidence to show racism may have been a part of their trial and sentencing.
Among the family members in attendance was Yolanda Littlejohn. She said she still hopes investigators can find out who really killed her sister Jaquetta Thomas in Raleigh after Greg Taylor was exonerated in 2010.
And:
The Senate could take up the issue as early as next week.
Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation of North Carolina has posted the news release, "House Bill 416 Guts the Historic NC Racial Justice Act." Here's the full text:
Today victims’ family members, exonerees and leaders in the legal and justice communities called on the North Carolina Senate to reject NC House Bill 416, a bill passed yesterday by the House of Representatives that guts the historic NC Racial Justice Act.
“After imprisoning the wrong man for 17 years, my sister Jacquetta’s murder has not been solved,” said Yolanda Littlejohn. (Greg Taylor was wrongfully convicted of her death until he was fully exonerated by NC Innocence Inquiry Commission, based on egregious misconduct by the state’s crime lab.) “I cannot understand why our legislature is undoing the Racial
Justice Act - a law that tries to right wrongs - when we know our justice system is so imperfect.”
The NC Racial Justice Act was passed in 2009. Two months ago, Superior Court Judge Greg Weeks ruled in the first case under the law. He found significant racial discrimination in the case of Marcus Robinson and resentenced him to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Judge Weeks wrote that Robinson “introduced a wealth of evidence showing the persistent, pervasive, and distorting role of race in jury selection throughout North Carolina. The evidence, largely unrebutted by the State, requires relief in this case and should serve as a clear signal of the need for reform in capital jury selection proceedings in the future.”
Last year opponents of the RJA tried to repeal the law. Unable to do so, they appointed a study committee to try to create a compromise bill. No compromise bill was ever considered, and instead, a few legislators met in private with district attorneys and came up with the current, extreme version of the bill.
“Judge Weeks heard evidence from both sides,” said Darryl Hunt, who spent 19 years in prison for a murder of which he was fully exonerated, and whose mother was murdered. “He ruled based on the facts and the evidence, and found that racial bias affected Marcus Robinson’s trial. I know, in my heart and from my experience, that unless we are willing to face our prejudices, injustices will continue to occur.”
“This bill guts the NC Racial Justice Act, plain and simple,” said Scott Bass, Director of Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation, an organization of murder victims who have fought for RJA. “What legislators do not understand is that by passing this law, they not only shirk their responsibility to address documented racial bias in the system, they will also be costing taxpayers millions of dollars in extra expense and slowing resolution of death penalty cases by adding additional layers of appeals. Passing this bill is doubly irresponsible.”
Today's Roanoke Rapids Daily Herald carries the editorial, "Bill to amend death penalty procedures an attempt to improve Racial Justice Act." It's by Titus Workman, the paper's publisher.
The current Racial Justice Act has a simple but flawed premise: Because statistics show decades of racial bias in death penalty cases, judges should be able to consider that history when reviewing a sentence. But the RJA doesn’t require a defendant to prove that their specific case was affected by bias, therefore a convict who didn’t significantly suffer individually from bias could have his or her sentence reduced because they came from a racial class that did.
The new bill will rightly require each defendant to prove bias in their specific case while limiting the scope of statistics and demanding other types of evidence.
This is important legislation that will put an end to the moratorium on the death penalty. The death penalty can only be a deterrent to crime if it is used.
Earlier coverage from North Carolina of the RJA begins at the link.
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