jmccann@heraldsun.com; 419-6601
DURHAM -- The top judge in Durham acknowledges that the death penalty is rarely sought here. Yet the primary sponsor of North Carolina's newly signed Racial Justice Act was state Sen. Floyd McKissick Jr., a Durham Democrat.
Gov. Beverly Perdue on Tuesday signed the legislation that will give those facing the death penalty the power to challenge their convictions on the basis of race.
The impact of the Racial Justice Act may not be as glaring in Durham as in other North Carolina counties, said the county's chief judge, Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson. The death penalty is rare in Durham, because murder cases here get thorough looks before they're deemed capital cases, he said. That said, the judge believes the Racial Justice Act is a good law.
"Overall, it's a tremendous piece of legislation," Hudson said. "Once you carry out the execution, you can't reverse that sucker."
It should be pointed out that Durham is a diverse community where people of color hold many influential positions: Hudson is black. District Attorney Tracey Cline is black. Durham Police Department Chief Jose Lopez Sr. is Hispanic.
In addition, both the chairman of the Board of County Commissioners, Michael Page, and the mayor, Bill Bell, are black. The superintendent of the school system, Carl Harris, is black, and the chairwoman of the school board, Minnie Forte-Brown, is black.
Kentucky is the other state in this country with a similar law aimed at thwarting racial bias in death-penalty cases.
In North Carolina, there are 163 inmates on death row, and most of them are black, said Jeremy Collins, campaign coordinator for N.C. Coalition for a Moratorium, an organization focused on pausing executions while state legislators reform capital punishment.
North Carolina is an old slave state with a history of inequities as it relates to executing black people, Hudson said. Civil rights lawyer Al McSurely in June on the steps of the Durham County Judicial Building made the same point during a state NAACP press conference pushing for passage of the Racial Justice Act.
