On Friday, a judge spared the first death row inmate from a death sentence under North Carolina's Racial Justice Act. In the historic decision, Cumberland County Senior Resident Court Judge Greg Weeks found that the racial bias that factored into Marcus Robinson's case was enough to invalidate his death sentence.
After being on death row for 18 years, the judge converted Robinson's death sentence to life without the possibility of parole. Weeks found that prosecutors had systematically struck Black jurors from several murder cases, including Robinson's.
Weeks argued, “[w]hen the government’s
choice of jurors is tainted with racial bias, that overt wall casts down over
the parties, the jury and the court to adhere to the law throughout the
trial. The very integrity of the
court is jeopardized when a prosecutor’s discrimination invites cynicism
respecting the jury’s neutrality and undermines public confidence.”
Prosecutors seek to appeal the decision, which would likely have an impact on the 154 other claims from death row inmates in the state.
Robinson's attorney, James Ferguson, said "We had hoped for this decision, we had worked for this decision. We thought the judge's decision was powerful. We know our work is not over, but we think this is a beginning."
