N.C. Supreme Court Hears Arguments On Racial Bias In Death Penalty Cases
In 2009, the state passed a law allowing inmates to challenge their sentence if race was a "significant factor." Nearly all inmates filed claims, but the law was later repealed and the cases voided.
In closing arguments in a death penalty trial, the prosecution told an all-white jury that a black defendant was "a big black bull."
In the case of a different black man, prosecutors justified excluding a black juror because he drank alcohol by calling him a "blk wino," whereas a potential white juror who drank was considered "ok" and a "country boy."
And in another courtroom exchange, a prosecutor grilled a black juror about whether he had trouble reading, but those same questions were never directed at other prospective jurors.
In North Carolina, the state's Supreme Court is hearing arguments this week about these and other instances in which lawyers for six death row inmates say racial
