State lawmakers are back in Raleigh today. They'll discuss repealing the Racial Justice Act.
Senate Republicans have scheduled a committee meeting to consider repealing a law passed in 2009 that gives prisoners on death row another way to challenge their sentences. The law allows people facing the death penalty to present evidence of racial bias in court. The North Carolina House has already passed a bill to repeal the Act, so it's now up to lawmakers in the Senate whether to move forward. The North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys has asked the Senate to eliminate the Racial Justice Act. But defense lawyers and civil rights groups want it to remain state law.