NORTH CAROLINA (USA): LEGISLATURE OVERRIDES DEATH PENALTY BILL VETO

July 2, 2012: In North Carolina, the General Assembly overrode Gov. Bev Perdue's veto of legislation that rolled back a state law giving death-row prisoners a way to seek a reduced sentence because of racial bias.
The House and Senate voted separately to override Perdue's veto of changes to the 2009 Racial Justice Act.
The bill now becomes law because at least 60 percent of the legislators in each chamber voted to override. The measure was approved despite arguments it would turn a blind eye to racism in the criminal justice system. Most local district attorneys and other death-penalty supporters argue the scaled-back law will rely less on statistics they say were misleading and untie a log jam over the carrying out of executions in North Carolina. The state's last execution was in 2006.
"With today's override of the governor's veto, the end of the moratorium is in sight," House Majority Leader Paul Stam, R-Wake, the bill's chief proponent in the chamber, said in a statement. "The basic principle of justice is restored: individual responsibility."
Lawmakers who supported the Racial Justice Act said the changes gutted the law and will make it impossible for defendants to prove discrimination in the sentencing of a convicted murderer or in the composition of jurors hearing a case. A judge who finds that race was a significant factor could reduce a death sentence to life in prison without parole. "We should not allow race to come into our courtrooms," Sen. Floyd McKissick, D-Durham, said during the Senate debate.
"Race still impacts the minds and the hearts and the consciences of many people who serve on our juries." The Senate vote was 31-11. The House override vote was 72-48 — exactly a 60 percent majority.
Perdue, who signed the 2009 law and will leave office in January, said she would fight to make sure the death penalty stays on the books in North Carolina as long as she is governor. "But it has to be carried out fairly — free of prejudice," she said in a statement. Perdue vetoed last December another Republican effort to undermine the Racial Justice Act, but GOP legislative leaders didn't have the votes to override it.
On Monday, they got help from a handful of House Democrats.
North Carolina's last execution was in 2006. (Sources: The Associated Press, 02/07/2012)