NC Governor vetoes bill to repeal state's Racial Justice Act

This AP story reports on an interesting (though I think anticipated) new development in the controversy over North Carolina's Racial Justice Act.  Here are the details:

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 Beverly Perdue vetoed a bill that would have essentially repealed 2009's Racial Justice Act, which was designed to address concerns that race has played a role in sentencing prisoners to death.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.

The Democratic governor had signed the 2009 bill into law. In a statement Wednesday, she said that "it is simply unacceptable for racial prejudice to play a role in the imposition of the death penalty in North Carolina."

Prosecutors who pushed the repeal said the act is clogging the courts with new appeals and, in effect, halting capital punishment. Nearly all of the 158 prisoners currently on death row — both black and white inmates — have filed papers seeking relief under the Racial Justice Act.

Perdue's veto means she must call lawmakers back to Raleigh to consider an override by Jan. 8. Lawmakers say it will be difficult to override the veto, especially in the House, where it passed in June along party lines. Republicans are a few votes shy of a veto-proof majority in the chamber. "I am disappointed in yet another decision by Gov. Perdue to put politics ahead of principle," House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, said in a prepared statement. He said she's let down families of victims and prosecutors "who need every available resource to crack down on violent criminals."...

The governor's veto came two days after she met with relatives of murder victims. Some of those relatives asked her to keep the 2009 act on the books. "We applaud her for understanding that racially-biased justice is not justice at all and for reaffirming that she values the lives and the safety of all citizens regardless of race," said a statement from Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, a Washington-based group that opposes the death penalty.

Some older and newer related posts on the North Carolina Racial Justice Act:  

• Robust legislative debate over NC Racial Justice Act
• NC Racial Justice Act going to governor's desk
• NC Gov signs new racial justice act concerning capital prosecutions
• Will NC's new Racial Justice Act effectively kill the state's death penalty?
• New research suggests race of victim impacts NC death penalty administration
• NC defender officer urging that racial bias claims be brought in every capital case
• NC prosecutors bring complaints about state's Racial Justice Act to court
• State judge refuses to overturn Racial Justice Act in North Carolina
• Upcoming MSU symposium to examine North Carolina Racial Justice Act
• Talk of profound changes to North Carolina's potent Racial Justice Act
• North Carolina DAs urge state legislature to repeal Racial Justice Act
• Will NC legislature soon repeal its groundbreaking Racial Justice Act?
• Veto debate follows NC legislature's vote to repeal state's capital Racial Justice Act