Today's News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina reports, "Bill that thwarts Racial Justice Act appears veto-proof." It's written by Craig Jarvis and Rob Christensen.
The House gave final approval Wednesday to a bill that hobbles the Racial Justice Act. The vote followed another lengthy debate on a day that drew a full House – literally, the entire House of Representatives showed up. The vote was 73 to 47 along party lines, with five conservative Democrats breaking ranks to vote with Republicans.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where it is expected to pass. Last year, Gov. Bev Perdue vetoed a bill that was meant to torpedo the Racial Justice Act, which allows death-row inmates to use statistical proof of widespread racial bias in North Carolina capital case prosecutions to convert their sentence to life in prison without parole.
The Senate overrode the veto, but the House didn’t have the votes to try. This new attempt at getting rid of the 2009 law was fashioned as a compromise, worked out in private, aimed at convincing the conservative Democrats to break ranks.
The votes on Tuesday and Wednesday show the House has the 72 votes needed for an override, if Perdue vetoes this bill.
Rep. Tim Moore, a Republican from Cleveland County, said on the House floor Wednesday that if there is evidence of racial bias in someone’s trial, the solution isn’t converting the sentence to life in prison but in having a whole new trial.
Rep. Deborah Ross, a Democrat from Raleigh, said supporters of the bill were disingenuous when they said it was just an amendment and not a demolishing of the 2009 law.
“There is absolutely no question at all under the law that this bill repeals the Racial Justice Act,” Ross said. “Just don’t go home and lie about it.”
Earlier coverage of the Racial Justice Act begins at the link.
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