The North Carolina Legislature on Monday, July 2nd, 2012, overrode the state Governor's veto of legislation that rolls back a state law giving "death row" inmates an avenue to seek as reduced prison sentence because of racial bias.
The original law (the Racial Justice Act) directed North Carolina state judges to reduce a death sentence to life imprisonment if they found that the defendant's race was a significant factor in a death sentence or in the composition of a jury.
Many district attorneys and Republicans said the original law went too far. With the veto override, the scaled-back version now prevails.
[www.nytimes.com/2012/07/03/US/north-carolina-bias-law-scaled-back.html; The Associated Press (AP), July 2, 2012, "North Carolina: Bias Law Scaled Back"]
In addition, this same North Carolina Legislature overrode the Governor's veto of another blatantly discriminatory bill. The bill, pushed by the Republican-dominated Legislature, is designed to strip Planned Parenthood of all state funding.
[takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/north-carolina-regresses-on-race-and-gender]
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