The NC Racial Justice Act will be heard in the House on Wednesday, May 13, 2009.
The following House members continue to contemplate support for the Racial Justice Act. Please use the email provided below to encourage them to vote in favor of RJA tomorrow. An email is provided but personalizing your letter (and subject line!) will increase its impact.
Keep the following in mind:
Race continues to play an undeniable part in North Carolina’s use of the death penalty.
A defendant in the state of North Carolina is 3.5 times more likely to get the death penalty if their victim is white than if their victim is a person of color.
Prosecutors exclude people of color from sitting on juries in death penalty cases. Many African-Americans on North Carolina’s death row were sentenced to death by all-white juries.
In 2008, three men, Jonathan Hoffman, Edward Chapman and Levon Jones, were exonerated from North Carolina’s death row. All three men are African-American and were accused of killing at least one white victim.
Currently, a person on death row is barred from presenting statistical evidence—often the best and most accessible form of proof—to show that racial discrimination took place in his case.
The NC Racial Justice Act, H472, would allow a person accused of a capital crime the opportunity of a court review of whether race played a part in the prosecutor’s decision to seek the death penalty.
Also, if you have time to call rather than email, please find contact information listed below:
Jim Crawford-D 919-733-5824
William Brisson-D - 919-733-5772
R. Van Braxton-D - 919-715-3017
Ronnie Sutton-D - 919-715-0875
Pearl Burris-Floyd-R - 919-715-2002
Darren Jackson-D - 919-733-5974
Timothy Spear-D - 919-715-3029
Cullie Tarleton-D - 919-733-7727
Arthur Williams-D - 919-733-5906
Marian McLawhorn-D - 919-733-5757
Ray Warren-D - 919-715-8361
Pat McElraft-R - 919-733-6275
Ric Killian-R – 919-733-5886
Ruth Samuelson-R - 919-715-3009
Randy Stewart-D - 919-733-5802
Pryor Gibson-D - 919-715-3007
Mitchell Setzer-R - 919-733-4948
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