Raleigh Report from Verla Insko

Received via email from the office of Representative Verla Insko

December 22, 2011

A Special Session

Governor Perdue’s December 14 veto of Senate Bill 9, No Discriminatory Purpose in Death Penalty, triggered a process that will bring the General Assembly into a special session on Wednesday, January 4 at 2pm.

This special session fulfills the requirements in Article II of the State Constitution that the General Assembly shall reconsider bills vetoed by the Governor and in Article III, that, if the veto occurs after the General Assembly has adjourned, the Governor shall reconvene the General Assembly within 40 days to reconsider the vetoed bill.

It is interesting to note that this special session may be a “skeleton” session because, to date, the Republican majority does not have the required three-fifths vote in the House to over-ride a veto. In a skeleton session, a quorum is not established and no votes are taken. The Speaker calls the session to order, the clerk reads-in bills, thus putting SB9 on the calendar, and after other routine matters, the session is adjourned.

Because there is no date by which the General Assembly must take a vote to over-ride a veto, all bills vetoed in the 2011-2012 session stay on the calendar until the General Assembly adjourns sine die on the last day of the 2012 session. At that point all bills filed during the session die if they have not become law.

Of course, if the majority party does secure a three-fifths vote in the House, the January 4th convening would be a standard session. The Senate would vote to over-ride first because the bill originated in the Senate. Senate Republicans have enough seats to pass an over-ride on their own without any help from Democrats. In the House, an over-ride would likely require 3 to 5 Democrats voting with the majority depending on how many members are present and voting.

This special session does not affect the series of short sessions the General Assembly is imposing on itself through the routine adjournment resolutions. The next short session of the General Assembly would still convene on Thursday, February 16, 2012.

Senate Bill 9 and the Racial Justice Act (RJA)

The formal title of SB 9 is “An Act to Reform the Racial Justice Act of 2009 to be Consistent With the United States Supreme Court’s Ruling in McCleskey v Kemp.” As with the Racial Justice Act, SB9 applies to people found guilty of a capital crime and sentenced to death.

Rather than reform the Racial Justice Act, SB 9 literally guts it. The current RJA places the burden of proof on the defendant to prove that race was a significant factor in decisions to seek or impose the sentence of death. If the defendant is able to prove that race was a factor in the death penalty sentence, their death sentence changed to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

The new language places the burden of proof on the defendant to prove that there was discriminatory purpose in seeking or imposing the sentence of death… . Proving intentionally is almost, if not literally, impossible to do. That’s one reason the Governor vetoed the bill, pointing out that death is the ultimate punishment and we need to be confident it is carried out fairly and not influenced by prejudice of any kind.

The Governor’s veto message clarified that The Racial Justice Act does not: change the fact that the death penalty is legal in North Carolina, it doesn’t reopen the question of guilt or innocence and it doesn’t allow anyone to be released from prison or see parole. http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2011/s9Veto/letter.pdf

Some prosecutors believe the intent of the RJA is to end the death penalty in the State. I don’t doubt that most supporters of the RJA oppose the death penalty; but that seems to be beside the point. Do we really want to execute a possibly innocent person and let the guilty person escape punishment just to say a social debt has been paid?

Further, prosecutors believe the 152 people on death who have filed an appeal will clog the court system and prevent them from working on new cases. First, it is likely that only 1 of the 157 people on death row has a reasonable case under the RJA. Judges will review all the appeals and throw out the cases that are unreasonable.

This process was established and tested when we repealed the death penalty for mentally disabled people. Judges ruled quickly on cases that would move forward and cased that would be denied.

It may seem strange to discuss death during the holiday season; but on reflection, it seems most appropriate to spend time talking about justice.

Happy holidays and to each of you, a healthy, happy, prosperous and just New Year.

As always, thank you for your support of my work in Raleigh as your representative. Please let me know of your position on issues, your suggestions for legislation and your requests for help.