The NC Gen'l Ass'y on Mon voted to override the veto of GUV(D) Bev Perdue regarding legislation that will essentially nullify the state's Racial Justice Act (RJA). Signed into law by Perdue in `09, the RJA allows an individual sentenced to death to present evidence to prove that racial bias was a major factor in applying the sentence. Last week Perdue vetoed new legislation designed to seriously weaken the RJA thru restrictions on convicts' use of statistical evidence in challenging their sentences. Perdue vetoed the legislation on the ground that it rendered the original law meaningless, but the legislature, however, gathered the 3/5 vote needed to override Perdue, succeeding where it had fallen short of overriding a veto of similar legislation in 2011.
