The Associated Press via The Washington Post
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina’s governor on Wednesday halted a Republican effort to dismantle a law that gives death row inmates a new way to use racial bias as an argument for appealing their sentences.
Gov. Beverly Perdue vetoed a bill that would have essentially repealed 2009’s Racial Justice Act, which was designed to address concerns that race has played a role in sentencing prisoners to death.
The law says a judge must reduce a death sentence to life in prison without parole if he determines race was a significant factor to impose the penalty. It creates a new kind of court hearing where prisoners can use statistics to make their case to a judge. North Carolina and Kentucky are the only states with laws like it.
Full Story: NC governor vetoes bill that would repeal 2009 law alleging racial bias in death penalty