Entries tagged with “Marcus Robinson”
Policy Issues
Race
,Representation
,Federal Death Penalty
,Aug 17, 2020
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of August 10, 2020
NEWS (8/14/20) — Alabama: The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has affirmed a lower court ruling granting a new trial to death-row prisoner Steven Petric based upon his lawyer’s ineffective representation at trial. Petric had been convicted and sentenced to death in 2009 for a rape and murder in suburban Birmingham two decades…
Policy Issues
Race
,Jul 13, 2022
Marcus Robinson Remembered for Pioneering Racial Justice Case
Marcus Robinson (pictured), the first person to be granted relief under North Carolina’s trailblazing Racial Justice Act, has died. Robinson, who was sentenced to death in 1994 for a crime he committed shortly after turning 18, died June 9, 2022. He was 49 years…
Policy Issues
Race
,Dec 21, 2015
North Carolina Court Reverses Racial Justice Act Ruling, Orders New Hearings
The North Carolina Supreme Court has reversed the historic rulings of a Cumberland County, N.C. trial court that had overturned the death sentences of four North Carolina death-row prisoners under the state’s Racial Justice Act. Ruling entirely on procedural grounds, the state’s high court expressed no opinion on the lower court’s fact findings that North Carolina prosecutors had engaged in a decades-long practice of intentional race discrimination in jury selection in capital…
Policy Issues
Race
,Mar 05, 2018
North Carolina Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Racial Justice Act Death-Penalty Cases
The North Carolina Supreme Court announced on March 2 that it will hear appeals from three of the four prisoners whose death sentences were reduced to life without parole under the state’s Racial Justice Act, then reinstated after the legislature repealed the…
Policy Issues
Race
,Sep 28, 2020
North Carolina Supreme Court Restores Life Sentences to Three Prisoners Whose Death Sentences Violated Racial Justice Act
The North Carolina Supreme Court has ordered that three African American death-row prisoners who had proven that their death sentences violated the state’s since repealed Racial Justice Act (RJA) must be resentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. In three decisions issued on September 25, 2020, the court ruled that North Carolina had violated constitutional principles of double jeopardy and the prohibitions against after-the-fact…
Policy Issues
Race
,Jun 08, 2020
North Carolina Supreme Court Strikes Down Racial Justice Act Repeal, Permits Race Challenges by 140 Death-Row Prisoners
The North Carolina Supreme Court has struck down the state legislature’s attempted retroactive repeal of the state’s Racial Justice Act (RJA), restoring the rights of approximately 140 death-row prisoners to seek redress of death sentences that they had claimed were substantially affected by racial…
Policy Issues
Race
,Recent Legislative Activity
,Jun 15, 2012
RACE: After Judge Finds Statewide Racial Bias in Jury Selection, North Carolina Legislators Move to Repeal Racial Justice Act
On June 13, the North Carolina House of Representatives approved a bill to essentially overturn the state’s Racial Justice Act (RJA), a groundbreaking law that allowed a finding of racial bias in sentencing or jury selection based on sophisticated statistical…
Policy Issues
Race
,Recent Legislative Activity
,Apr 20, 2012
RACE: North Carolina Judge Overturns Death Sentence Under Racial Justice Act
On April 20, North Carolina Superior Court Judge Gregory Weeks issued an historic ruling under the state’s Racial Justice Act finding intentional bias by the state in selecting juries for death penalty cases. In what may be the first ruling of its kind in the country, the court held that “race was a materially, practically and statistically significant factor in the decision to exercise peremptory challenges during jury selection by prosecutors” at the time…