In a landmark ruling, a North Carolina judge vacated the death
penalty Friday of a convicted murderer, saying prosecutors across the
state had engaged for years in a deliberate and systematic pattern of
racial discrimination while striking black potential jurors in death
penalty cases.
In a 167-page order harshly critical of prosecutors, Superior Court
Judge Gregory Weeks said they "intentionally used the race of (jury
pool) members as a significant factor in decisions to exercise
peremptory strikes in capital cases." He ruled that discrimination was
a factor not only in the case Weeks heard involving convicted murderer
Marcus Reymond Robinson, who is black, but also in capital cases
involving black defendants across North Carolina.
The ruling was the first under North Carolina's Racial Justice Act,
passed in 2009, which allows judges to reduce death sentences to life
in prison without parole in cases where defendants prove racial bias in
jury selection. Prosecutors fought the law, calling it a back-door
attempt to overturn the death penalty.
The judge, who is black, said discrimination by prosecutors had
undermined public confidence in the state's court system and infringed
on the rights of defendants of all races.
Robinson, sentenced to death for killing a white teenager in 1991,
was re-sentenced by Weeks to life in prison without parole. Robinson,
38, is among 150 Death Row inmates, both white and black, who have
filed appeals in North Carolina under the act.
The decision was greeted by Robinson's lawyers and civil rights
advocates as a groundbreaking affirmation of ingrained racial
discrimination by prosecutors in a Southern state.
"This is historic," said James Ferguson, who represented Robinson.
"It marks a turning point in jury selection as far as race is concerned
in North Carolina. We hope this signals a real change."
Prosecutors have 60 days to appeal Weeks' ruling. Republicans, who
control the state Legislature, have attempted to repeal the Racial
Justice Act but have been vetoed by Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue.
Robinson, wearing a tan sports shirt and khakis, sat quietly and
looked down at the defense table as the ruling was announced. He
declined the judge's offer to speak.
Robinson was convicted of killing 17-year-old Erik Tornblom with a shotgun blast to the face during a robbery that netted $27.
Tornblom's stepmother, Patricia Tornblom, and his father, Richard
Tornblom, have bitterly opposed the act and said earlier this year that
Robinson should be executed. They sat in silence Friday as Weeks read
his ruling.