Hasson Bacote's challenge to the death sentence by a majority white jury could set a precedent –

In 2009 Residents of RaleighT Hasson Bacote was sentenced to death by an almost entirely white jury in Johnston County after he shot and killed an 18-year-old during a robbery two years earlier.

A year later, Bacote, a black man, challenged this ruling under the Racial Justice Act. a law passed in North Carolina in 2009 The law allowed people sentenced to death to appeal their convictions if they could prove that their race had played a role in the conviction, whether intentional or not.

“The purpose of the law was to break the link between race and the death penalty,” Cassy StubbsDirector of the ACLU Death Penalty Project, said“And it specifically targeted three types of racial bias. Bias in the impeachment process – who gets sentenced to death – in the sentencing process – who gets the death penalty – and then also in the selection of the jury – who gets to decide who gets the death penalty.”

Although the law Repealed in 2013 under former Governor Pat McCrory, in 2020 North Carolina’s Supreme Court Full protection restored to those who filed suit before the repeal – meaning Bacote's case could still be heard.

This provision also allowed three prisoners in North Carolina were released from death row and sentenced to life imprisonment. While they successfully appealed their death sentence,While the RJA was in effect, they were put back on death row after it was repealed.

In these casesA nationwide statistical analysis found that jurors in capital crimes were 2.5 times more likely to reject potential black jurors than other jurors.

Weight of Bacotes suitcase

The trial in the Bacote case began in February this year. Historians and social psychologists evidence presented on Johnston County's racist past – including KKK posters from the 1970s – as well as data on other cases within the county where racial bias played a role.

It was later revealed thatBlack jurors in Johnston County were four times more likely to be excluded from the jury. In addition, the deputy district attorney Gregory Butler– who served as prosecutor in the case – was ten times more likely to reject potential black jurors.