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A North Carolina judge on Thursday commuted the sentences of three death row inmates to life in prison after finding that race played a factor in jury selection for their cases.
Hearings began Monday to determine whether three people convicted of some of North Carolina's most notorious killings can be taken off death row under the Racial Justice Act.
Three North Carolina death row inmates could have their sentences reviewed in October under the revised Racial Justice Act, while the status of a fourth inmate's appeal is unclear.
State lawmakers voted Monday to override Gov. Beverly Perdue's veto of a bill that overhauls the landmark Racial Justice Act.
Gov. Bev Perdue has vetoed Senate Bill 416, the latest attempt by GOP leaders to repeal the state's 2009 Racial Justice Act.
The state House on Tuesday gave key approval to legislation that would restrict the ability of death row inmates to introduce statistical evidence to claim race played a role in their sentences.
North Carolina lawmakers continue to tinker with legislation to overhaul the state's Racial Justice Act in a bid to stop convicted killers from using the landmark law to show racial bias influenced their death sentences.
North Carolina lawmakers presented legislation Wednesday to overhaul the Racial Justice Act, bidding to stop convicted killers from using certain provisions of the landmark act in a bid to show racial bias influenced their death sentences.
North Carolina, which has 156 prisoners on death row, has not executed an inmate since Aug. 18, 2006. Even those who say the death penalty is needed have doubts when it might ultimately be enforced here.
The head of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP says the decision to spare the life of a death row inmate under the Racial Justice Act was a breath of new life into the state Constitution's promise of equal protection under the law.
Supeior Court judge Greg Weeks vacated Marcus Robinson's death sentence Friday after finding that prosecutors in his 1994 murder trial discriminated against black jurors.
Supeior Court judge Greg Weeks vacated Marcus Robinson's death sentence Friday after finding that prosecutors in his 1994 murder trial discriminated against black jurors.
A Cumberland County Superior Court judge made history Friday morning when he commuted a death row inmate's sentence in the first test of North Carolina's fledgling Racial Justice Act.
Supeior Court judge Greg Weeks vacated Marcus Robinson's death sentence Friday after finding that prosecutors in his 1994 murder trial discriminated against black jurors.
A North Carolina judge is expected to issue a precedent-setting ruling on Friday in the first case under a state law that lets death row prisoners use statistical evidence to argue racial bias played a role in their sentences.
A Michigan State University law professor says she couldn't find anything in her data other than race to explain why potential black jurors are rejected more than twice as often by prosecutors for North Carolina death penalty trials compared to whites.
Lawyers for a Cumberland County man on North Carolina's death row for a 1991 murder argued Wednesday that the jury selection in his trial was racially biased and his sentence should be commuted to life in prison.
Sharp partisan differences surfaced once again as lawmakers considering changes to North Carolina's Racial Justice Act held their first meeting Friday.
Race didn't play a significant role in the exclusion of black jurors from the case of a death row prisoner who is challenging his sentence under North Carolina's Racial Justice Act, a former prosecutor testified Monday.
A researcher is on the stand in the state's first case involving the Racial Justice Act, discussing her findings about the dismissal of qualified black jurors in capital cases in North Carolina.
The first appeal under the state's Racial Justice Act, which allows death row prisoners a chance to argue that race was a significant factor in their case, went before a judge in Fayetteville Monday.
The Senate voted along party lines Wednesday to override Gov. Beverly Perdue's veto of legislation that essentially repeals a law that gives death row inmates a path to challenge their sentences.
A North Carolina district attorney has resigned from fellow Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue's crime policy panel because she vetoed a bill that would have essentially repealed a 2009 law focused on capital punishment and racial bias.
Gov. Beverly Perdue has vetoed a bill that would have essentially repealed a 2009 law designed to address alleged racial bias in death penalty cases.
Gov. Beverly Perdue met Monday with relatives of murder victims, victims of violent crimes and others as she weighed a bill on her desk for two weeks that would essentially repeal a 2009 law designed to address alleged racial bias in death penalty cases.
Family members of several murder victims plan to rally in Raleigh Monday and urge Gov. Beverly Perdue to veto legislation that would essentially repeal North Carolina's landmark law to eliminate racial bias on death row.
The Republican-controlled state Senate voted Monday night to repeal a landmark 2009 state law that allows death row inmates to appeal their sentences by using statistical evidence to try and prove the taint of racial bias.
The legislature should act quickly to repeal a new law that gives death row inmates another way to challenge their sentences on the grounds of racial bias, North Carolina's district attorneys argue in a letter to state senators.
A black Superior Court judge will be allowed to hear the first appeal under the state's Racial Justice Act after another judge on Thursday ended prosecutors' attempts to call him as a witness in the case.
Superior Court Judge Greg Weeks was assigned the appeal by Marcus Robinson because he is the senior resident judge in Cumberland County. Prosecutors say they might call him as a witness in the case.
Religious leaders from across the state gathered at the General Assembly Tuesday morning to ask lawmakers to keep the Racial Justice Act on the books.
A state House judiciary committee held nearly two hours of passionate debate Wednesday on proposed changes to the Racial Justice Act.
As prosecutors launched a legal challenge Monday to a racial bias law that death row inmates have used to try to overturn their sentences, Republican lawmakers are looking at revising or repealing the statute.
The state court system, which is already strained by case backlogs, has devised a plan to keep claims of racial bias in death penalty cases from clogging the courts even more.
The state office that defends people facing death-penalty cases has urged defense attorneys to raise a claim of racial bias in all potential capital cases, which prosecutors say will slow the justice system.
Five death row inmates are testing a new North Carolina law that would allow them to argue racial bias played a role in their sentences, and they may soon be joined by dozens of others.
A new study by two university researchers has found that someone convicted of killing a white person in North Carolina is three times more likely to be sentenced to death than someone who kills a black person.
Republican legislators called Thursday for restricting a new law that allows death penalty defendants to claim that racial bias tips the scales of justice against them.
Gov. Bev Perdue signed a bill into law Tuesday that prohibits race to determine whether someone faces the death penalty.
Legislation that would allow statistical evidence to establish racial bias as the reason prosecutors sought or jurors imposed death sentences could do away with capital punishment in North Carolina, Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby said.
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