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Fresh Debate on North Carolina's Racial Justice Act

By Steve Hall

Today's Greensboro News-Record carries the editorial, "Is bias law misused?"The state's controversial Racial Justice Act, enacted in August to ensure sentencing in capital cases is based on law, not racial bias, may need tweaking in the General Assembly. But not just yet. The legislature's current "short" session would not allow it the thoughtful debate and consideration it deserves. A handful of Republican legislators have complained that the law, prompted by the disproportionate number of death penalty cases against black defendants, is being used by attorneys to stall judicial proceedings. To bolster their argument, the widow of a slain Mecklenburg County police officer, at a news conference last week, said a judge has postponed the death-penalty trial of her husband's accused killer for months to allow his lawyer to gather relevant information under the new law...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on May 19, 2010 (boomark / email).