SHELBY, N.C. — 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 Beverly Perdue's crime policy panel because she vetoed a bill that would have essentially repealed a 2009 law focused on capital punishment and racial bias.

Cleveland and Lincoln county prosecutor Richard Shaffer told Perdue he is leaving the Governor's Crime Commission because of her veto last week on changes to the Racial Justice Act. Shaffer wrote Perdue saying the veto will delay the right of murder victims to receive justice and potentially could allow death row inmates to be released on parole.

Perdue and other Racial Justice Act supporters have argued repeatedly that no one can be released from prison because of the law.

“Gov. Perdue appreciates Mr. Shaffer’s service," spokeswoman Chris Mackey said. "I’d like to point out that the former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court called the idea that anyone will get out of jail as a result of the Racial Justice Act a ‘misapprehension’ that ‘is simply not true.’”