Marcus Robinson intently listens to his listening of the law on racial justice in 2012.The News & Observer, Shawn Rocco/Ap Photo
In 1994, Marcus Robinson, Black, was convicted of murder and sentenced to death for the murder of Eric Thornblom, a white teenager, in the Cumberland district, North Carolina. He spent almost 20 years in the cells of the suicide bombers, but in 2012 his sentence was changed to a lifelong conclusion without a chance for conditionally -free release. He was one of the four death penalty prisoners whose sentences were removed by the judge, who found that racial discrimination played a role in their trials.
The reason for which their cases were considered at all was from the North Carolina law of 2009, known as The law on racial justice, Which allowed the judges to reduce death sentences in prison without conditional release, when the accused were able to prove the racial slope of their prosecution, the choice of jury or the sentence.
“The law on racial justice guarantees that when North Carolina conveys the most severe punishment to our state to our most disgusting criminals,” former governor Bev Perdya said When she signed the bill, “the decision is based on facts and law, and not on racial prejudices.”
At 21, Robinson was the youngest person sentenced to death in North Carolin. When he was three years old, he was hospitalized with severe seizures after physical violence by his father, and he was diagnosed with constant brain dysfunction. However, they were not the only disturbing aspects of his business.
“We still believe that the law on racial justice is a poorly thoughtful law that is very little related to the race and absolutely nothing to do with justice.”
Race discrimination in the selection of jury was prohibited since the Supreme Court forbade it in the decision of the 1986 Supreme Court. Batson against Kentucky, But Robinson's test was infected. The prosecutor in the case, John Dixon, disproportionately abandoned the suitable black jury. For example, he hit one black potential jury, because he was once accused of public drunkenness. Nevertheless, he accepted two “careless” people condemning DWI. Of the acceptable members of the pool, he hit half of the blacks and only 14 percent of the Nebrads. In the end, Robinson was judged by a jury of 12 people, which included only three colored people, an individual individual of indigenous Americans and two blacks.
Race discrimination in the selection of jury was not a rarity in the system of criminal justice of North Carolina. In a complex study of the University of Michigan, more than 7400 potential jurors were considered in 173 cases from 1990 to 2010. Researchers found that prosecutors throughout the state were hit by 52.6 percent of suitable potential black jury and only 25.7 percent of all other potential jury. This bias was reflected in the cells of the suicide bombers. Of the 147 people in the death penalty in North Carolin, 35 prisoners were sentenced to completely white jurors; 38 jury with one black member.
In accordance with the law on racial justice, prisoners in turn One year from When the bill became the law to submit a proposal. Almost all of the state suicide suicide suede has submitted statements, but only Robison and the other three – Quintel Augustine, Tilmon Golphin and Christina Walters – hearings. In 2012, Robinson was the first. In the highest court of Camberland district, judge Gregory Wix He controlled this race He played a significant role in court, and Robinson was justified for life without conditional liberation. North Carolina I appealed the decision To the Supreme Court of the state.
The direct protest followed the decision. The conference of district prosecutors in North Carolin issued statement The legend: “Cases of the capital reflect the most cruel and disgusting offenders in our society. Whether our legislators in the General Assembrane should be appropriate for killers, and not disguised as claims (O) of racism in our courts. ”
The decision attracted a lot of advertising from all over the country, and the lawmakers of North Carolina were outraged. “There are definitely signs in the legislative report that there were some [lawmakers] It really wanted the execution to move forward, ”says Cassandra Stubbs, director of the ACLU Cail Cunsistion project, which also represents Robinson, says. Legislative employees distributed conversations for legislators with arguments that RJA is turning “district lawyers in racists and condemns killers in sacrifices”, describing the law as “envelope-sedimentation around the death penalty penalty.”
On the day when the judge of the week was headed by Robinson, President of the Senate Pro Tempore for the state legislative, Philip Berger, Anxiety expressed that Robinson can have the right to conditionally -free release. He suggested that Robinson, who had just turned 18 years old, when he committed a crime and would not be considered a minor, would not have the right to life imprisonment without a chance of conditionally -related release, citing a decision of the US Supreme Court, which prohibited minors from receiving a lifelong sentence without a conditional -related exemption. “We cannot allow the cold-blooded killers in our community, and I expect the state to appeal this decision,” he said. “Regardless of the result, we continue to believe that the law on racial justice is a poorly thought out law that is very little related to the race and absolutely nothing to do with justice.”
The state’s legislative assembly accepted the challenge and He voted for cancellation The law on racial justice in 2013. This made it impossible for those who are in the suicide cell, even try to view their sentences for racial bias, but this left the fate of the four, which were transferred to a lifelong conclusion, is unclear. “District prosecutors of the state are almost unanimous in its bipartisan conclusion that the law on racial justice created a trial to avoid the death penalty, and not the way to justice,” said Governor Pat Maccrorey.
Despite the fact that the law was still in force when the sentences of four prisoners were reduced, they were not yet safe from vacation. The sentenced Robinson were legally reduced, but the legal battle only began.
In 2015, after almost two years after the first hearing, the Supreme Court of North Carolina ordered the Supreme Court Review reduced sentences for Robinson, Augustine, Golfin and Walters, saying that the judge did not give the state enough time to prepare for a “complex” proceedings.
In January last year, the judge of the Supreme Court Erwin Spinehur decided that since RJA was canceled, four accused I could no longer use the law To reduce their proposals. “North Carolina promised to take an unprecedented look at the role of racial bias in the sentencing to capital,” says Stabbs. But now, “the state legislative body clearly deviated from its commitment and canceled the law.”
Robinson returned to the suicide cell in the central prison in the capital of the state. In a petition to the Supreme Court of the state, Robinson’s lawyers note that the double danger – the law that does not allow someone to judge the same crime twice – in North Carolin to try the death penalty again, because the 2012 RJA listening to his death penalty.
“He was never outraged to death,” says Stabbs. “They have no reason to keep him in the cells of the suicide bombers.”
