USA - North Carolina. Senate OKs repeal of Racial Justice Act.

Senate OKs repeal of Racial Justice Act. The state Senate voted to repeal the remnants of the Racial Justice Act, the third attempt in three years to erase the 2009 law that allows convicted killers to be spared the death penalty if they can prove racial bias in their cases. Senate Republicans were spurred in their campaign by Cumberland County judge Greg Weeks’ findings last year that jury selection in the cases of four death-row inmates was tainted by conclusive evidence of racism, a ruling that automatically converted their sentences to life in prison without parole (see the cases of David Gainey, Tilmon Golphin, Christina Walters and Quintel Augustine). Those were the first four of more than 150 challenges filed under the 2009 version of the law. Today’s vote was 33-14 – strictly along party lines. Senate Bill 306 now goes to the state House. The legislation would restart executions in North Carolina, where there has been an unofficial moratorium since 2006. It comes at a time when public support for executions seems to be waning: No jury has sentenced anyone to death in more than a year. The bill also seeks to invalidate the remaining Racial Justice Act claims that have not yet been heard in court – more than 140 in all. But it could ultimately be up to the courts to determine whether the cases are considered under the law as it was when the inmates sought relief. “We have a moral obligation to ensure that death-row inmates convicted of the most heinous of crimes imaginable finally face justice in North Carolina,” Sen. Thom Goolsby, the bill’s primary sponsor, said on the Senate floor.