Winston-Salem Journal

The Racial Justice Act, which Gov. Bev Perdue signed into law Tuesday, could live up to its lofty name if prosecutors put aside their criticisms of it and work with police and defense attorneys to curb the bias it aims to correct.

The act, pushed by Reps. Larry Womble and Earline Parmon of Forsyth County, will allow defendants to use statistics and other evidence to argue that there is racial bias in the administration of the death penalty. Judges who find significant bias can stop district attorneys from seeking a death penalty or, after a trial, convert a death sentence to life in prison without parole.

In this state, there’s compelling evidence that bias has landed blacks on death row. For example, about 54 percent of the inmates on North Carolina’s death row are black. Blacks make up only about 22 percent of the statewide population.

But proving bias will be hard. The argument behind the Racial Justice Act was rejected by the Supreme Court in 1987. Only one other state, Kentucky, has a version of the act.

Bias can be unintentional and subconscious in the courtroom, just as it can be anywhere else. It can also be subtle, and as tied to socioeconomics as to race. For example, a prosecutor’s language could signal to jurors that the defendant is from a lower socioeconomic class.

Most prosecutors, however, aren’t prejudiced, at least in the courtroom. Before the Racial Justice Act passed, some said they resented its implication that they are racist. So it’s only natural that some might be inclined to be defensive as the act takes effect.

They’ve expressed concern about the work it will create for them, especially with appeals from those already on death row. But workloads should not take precedence when a defendant’s life and the integrity of our justice system are at stake. North Carolina’s death penalty is under an unofficial moratorium as officials try to decide whether doctors should participate in executions, but it most certainly will resume.

Prosecutors will be able to counter defense arguments about bias, and we trust that judges will weigh these cases carefully. These decisions, and the arguments that precede them, should be based on logic, not on politics or the inflammatory rhetoric that characterizes so much talk about race in this country.

And to save themselves the work of future appeals, judges, prosecutors, police and defense attorneys should begin work now to reduce or eliminate bias in pending and present cases.
Piggott’s plea.

Now that Dan Piggott’s sexual assault case is over, officials with the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County schools system should make sure that teachers and students feel free to report abuse to school officials.

Piggott, the state school principal of the year for 1999, pleaded guilty in Forsyth County District Court Tuesday to two misdemeanor counts of sexual assault on a female in connection with allegations made in 2007 that he groped and fondled two women who worked at Atkins High School when he was the principal there.

Judge William Reingold sentenced Piggott to 24 months of supervised probation and 150 hours of community service, and ordered him to pay a $500 fine and a $200 community-service fee. Considering that the convictions were misdemeanors, Piggott has long since been fired from his job and his career is finished, that’s sufficient punishment.

What’s troubling about the case is the intimidation that Piggott apparently wielded. One of the victims told sheriff’s deputies that she feared she’d lose her job by reporting the assault. The other said that she didn’t report the assault when it happened because Piggott implied that school administrators would protect him and that he could retaliate against her.

School Superintendant Don Martin said Thursday that he doesn’t know what Piggott said, but he certainly didn’t receive any protection. Martin said that students and teachers have long been encouraged to come forward if they’ve been abused. Students are shown a video. “We don’t want anybody to feel uncomfortable for any reason,” he said.

Principals are dominant figures in schools, as Forsyth District Attorney Tom Keith said this week, and that makes employees fearful of reprisals if they come forward.

Complaints of such abuse must be weighed carefully to safeguard the rights of the accused and the accuser. But students and teachers should know that if their accusations are valid, they will be acted upon promptly.

No one should have to live in fear in a hostile work environment.

Play ball already.

Everything seems slower in August – especially progress on the downtown baseball stadium.
The city’s $15.7-million infusion, approved by the council in June, won’t start flowing until the financing is put in place later this month. Full-scale construction work won’t resume until then.
There was a little action on the site this week. The citizens’ stadium oversight committee toured it Thursday, and some members said they were impressed. “I think Winston-Salem, we’re going to be proud of this stadium once it’s built,” said Gordon Slade, one of the members.

Construction workers were onsite Tuesday, not to work on the actual stadium, but to control erosion. Rains have washed some of the ground away, the Journal’s Laura Graff reported.

That’s sure to spark another round of mud-pit jokes and jeers from the critics. The noise of construction should soon drown them out.

We’re waiting.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – Gov. Perdue today signed Senate Bill 461, the North Carolina Racial Justice Act, which permits defendants and inmates to challenge death sentences by presenting statistical evidence racial bias.

The bill was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Floyd McKissik (D-Durham) and in the House by Rep. Larry Womble (D-Forsyth), Rep. Earline Parmon (D-Forsyth), Rep. Paul Luebke (D-Durham) and Rep Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford).

“I have always been a supporter of death penalty, but I have always believed it must be carried out fairly,” said Perdue. “The Racial Justice Act ensures that when North Carolina hands down our state’s harshest punishment to our most heinous criminals – the decision is based on the facts and the law, not racial prejudice.”

The Racial Justice Act will allow inmates on death row and persons charged with a capital crime to present a judge with evidence that shows race was a significant factor that led to the imposition of the death sentence. If the judge agrees with the evidence, the death sentence can be overturned to life in prison without possibility of parole.

“This is extremely significant legislation that will help to assure us that when the death penalty is used as an ultimate punishment that the decision is free of racial biases and prejudices,” said Sen. McKissick.

“This is a very auspicious and also historic occasion for the state of North Carolina.  This is about justice for our state, and North Carolina is leading the nation in this particular area,” said Rep. Womble. “I want to thank all of the sponsors, supporters and the people of North Carolina.  We want the world to know that we will be fair and objective in this area.  Thanks for the support of the governor and the Speaker of the House – the passage of this bill would not have been possible without their help.”

RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Bev Perdue on Tuesday will sign Senate Bill 461, the North Carolina Racial Justice Act, which prohibits the death penalty to be imposed on the basis of race.  It allows for courts to consider race as a factor in cases involving the seeking or imposing of  the death penalty.

The signing will take place at the Old House Chamber in the State Capitol Building at 11 a.m.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – People on North Carolina’s death row or facing capital murder trials would have a new venue to argue racial bias before a judge in a bill that cleared the House.

The House agreed 61-54 Wednesday to the Racial Justice Act. The margin was similar to a vote on Tuesday. The measure now returns to the Senate, which already has approved a version of the bill.

The legislation would allow defendants to attempt to prove race was a significant factor in a death sentence or in a prosecutor seeking the death penalty. A judge who agrees could limit a sentence to life in prison without parole.

Bill supporters say the measure is about fairness. Opponents say it won’t work and would discourage prosecutors from seeking capital punishment.

RALEIGH, N.C. – The House has narrowly agreed to a bill its supporters say would ensure that people are removed from North Carolina’s death row if race was a factor in putting them there.

House members gave initial approval Tuesday to legislation that would also apply to situations where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in a pending capital murder case.

The defendant could use data or other evidence from a county, prosecutorial district or nearby area to attempt to prove that race was a significant factor in the decisions.

Republicans and the state’s district attorneys are opposed to the bill, saying it will further delay carrying out pending executions.

A final House vote could come Wednesday. The Senate has passed a version of the bill.

RALEIGH, N.C. — As the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People convenes this week in New York for its 100th Anniversary, President and CEO Benjamin Jealous joins NC NAACP President and National Board Member Rev. Dr. William Barber in calling on the NC General Assembly to pass the NC Racial Justice Act.

“Mr. Jealous just spoke directly today in his keynote speech about the NAACP’s number one issue, racial discrimination in the criminal justice system, and called on North Carolina to pass the Racial Justice Act,” said Rev. Barber, who, along with a large bi-partisan coalition of individuals and organizations has pushed hard for the passage of the bill that would address racial bias in death penalty cases.

“With full support from Mr. Jealous, I am right now raising the issue of the NC Racial Justice Act with over 5000 delegates here in New York,” said Rev. Barber.

“And North Carolinians seem to agree with our endorsement of the Racial Justice Act – a statewide poll conducted last week by Public Policy Polling found that 67% of NC voters believe capital defendants should be able to present evidence of bias, including statistical evidence, in court.”

“The numbers and the stories don’t lie,” said Mr. Jealous.  “We continue to be plagued with racial bias in our criminal justice systems across the country.  This week North Carolina has the opportunity to take an historical, righteous step towards justice by passing the Racial Justice Act.”

“It is time – it is past time — that North Carolina gets this right,” added Rev. Barber. “We’ve seen far too many cases of racial injustice in recent days.  We must enact a clean Racial Justice Act, one with statewide statistics and without inappropriate and irrelevant amendments.”

RALEIGH, N.C.  – North Carolina Democrats are honoring the first black chief justice of the state Supreme Court by adding his name to an annual party dinner.

The party says the annual Sanford Hunt dinner set for Aug. 29 in Charlotte has been changed to the Sanford Hunt Frye dinner to venerate Henry Frye of Greensboro. The event already is named for

Gov. Jim Hunt and the late governor and U.S. Sen. Terry Sanford. Hunt appointed Frye to the Supreme Court in 1983 and elevated him to chief justice in 1999, where he served until 2001. Frye also became the first black person elected to the Legislature in 1968. Party spokeswoman Kerra Bolton said Frye is a model to all North Carolina residents and not just black citizens.

By J. TODD FOSTER
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER

Women make up 51 percent of the U.S. population at 153 million strong. I’m no mathematician, but if you divide one woman justice on the U.S. Supreme Court into nine justices, you get 11 percent. Two women Supreme Court justices would be 22 percent. That’s still not good, but it’s better.

I normally advocate merit-based hirings only, but there’s a way for President Barack Obama to use merit and gender equality to find a successor to retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter and give Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg a female peer.

I’m even going to nominate the perfect female jurist for Obama and waive the usual finder’s fee I charge presidents when they consult me for judicial selections.
Susan Graber.

First a disclosure: I know Graber slightly because my wife, Melinda, was her law clerk from 1996-98 on the Oregon Supreme Court and then the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit – one judicial step below the U.S. Supreme Court.

What does it take to become a law clerk at that level? It helps to finish No. 1 in a class of more than 150 at a law school. The three years I spent as a bachelor while my wife completed her Juris Doctorate degree at Gonzaga University School of Law were made worth it when Graber hired my wife.

Rather than extol Graber’s judicial virtues, I’ll let legal scholars and other judges do it in the space below. What I will tell you about Graber, 59, is that she is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. Later I learned she graduated high school at age 15, Wellesley College at 19 and Yale University’s School of Law at 22.
“Perhaps what is most impressive about Judge Susan Graber, however, is the modesty she exudes in light of her talents and meteoric career trajectory,” according to the March/April 2006 issue of The Federal Lawyer magazine. “As Hon. Barry Silverman, her fellow judge for the Ninth Circuit, explains, Graber is ‘brilliant – but she doesn’t wear it on her sleeve. As bright as she is, she does not put on airs or use her amazing intellect to try to dominate.’ ”

In addition to her mind, Graber has the kind of tragic life experiences that would benefit anyone wearing a judge’s robe. Her father was carjacked and murdered in 1974 in Cincinnati.

President Bill Clinton appointed Graber to the Ninth Circuit bench in 1998 after she spent eight years on the Oregon Supreme Court and two years on the Oregon Court of Appeals.

“I have never personally known or been associated in practice with anyone who could see legal issues as quickly, or write as succinctly and clearly as Judge Graber,” Sidney Lezak, Oregon’s U.S. attorney from 1961 through 1982, told The Federal Lawyer. “She was a natural right from her first year of law school.”

I met Graber in 1996 and – after being exposed to her towering though modest intellect – was convinced that she one day would sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. That day should be now: She’s perfect for Obama because she is moderate to right of center and doesn’t legislate from the bench. Graber is so appealing to politicians of all stripes that the Senate confirmed her to the federal bench by a 98-0 vote.

Former federal prosecutor and now blogger David Lat wrote of Graber in 2006: “While warm and friendly, Judge Graber doesn’t qualify as a colorful character. … Instead, she exudes a restrained, matronly dignity, perhaps cultivated during her long years on the Oregon Supreme Court.”

Lat, a former law clerk to another Ninth Circuit judge, wrote: “Based on what we observed, [Graber] didn’t seem to care about serving any particular ideology, conservative or liberal. Nor did she seem to care about what people thought of her, or what the media wrote about her. She just ‘did her thing,’ calling each case as she saw it, typically with moderate results.”

A 1999 Law.com article said Graber is “routinely described as a dispassionate jurist who does not attempt to do ‘social justice’ from the bench.” The article quoted Lezak as saying: “I think the left-wingers are angry with her because they had hoped she was one of them.”

Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Edwin Peterson told The Federal Lawyer: “Judge Graber is unfailingly fair and objective. … She would be an excellent Supreme Court justice.”

Before the Senate’s unanimous vote to confirm her, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told his colleagues: “She knows the role of a judge is to follow, not make the law, and that is exactly what we need on the federal appellate bench.”

Here are some other interesting facts about Graber. She went to Wellesley and Yale with Hillary Clinton, whom she counted as a friend, and also was a friend of Yale classmate Henry “The Fonz” Winkler.
If you’re still not convinced Graber is a great prospect, consider this: The words “prolific” and “workhorse” often are used to describe her. She’s also family oriented, bakes bread with her teenage daughter, reads mystery novels and is an expert at such word games as Scrabble and Boggle.

A Boggle champion and FOF (Friend of the Fonz) on the Supreme Court would be pretty cool. So would being able to say my wife used to be the law clerk of Supreme Court Justice Susan Graber.

J. Todd Foster is managing editor of the Bristol Herald Courier and once defeated pro se a State Farm lawyer in small claims court over an accident claim. He retired 1-0 from the practice of law and can be reached at jfoster@bristolnews.com or (276) 645-2513.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Former state Supreme Court Justice David M. Britt has died at the age of 92.

Britt was one of the architects of North Carolina’s courts system and was appointed in 1967 to serve as one of the six original judges on the newly created Court of Appeals. Britt served 11 years on the Court of Appeals before he was elected to the state Supreme Court. He retired from the court in 1982.

Born in the Robeson County community of McDonald on Jan. 3, 1917, Britt died Tuesday at a retirement community in Cary.

A funeral service for Britt will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at Hayes Barton Baptist Church in Raleigh. Burial will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Floyd Memorial Cemetery in Fairmont.