Racial Justice Act: The Hassan Bacote case in Johnston County could impact every death row inmate in North Carolina

SMITHFIELD, N.C. (WTVD) – A Supreme Court justice is currently presiding over a case that could impact every person on death row in North Carolina.

The legal team of Hassan Bacote, a black man who was sentenced to death by a majority white jury in Johnston County in 2009, is contesting his death sentence.

That same year, the Racial Justice Act was passed, allowing defendants to challenge their death sentence on the grounds that their race played a significant role in the decision to seek or impose the death penalty.

Fifteen years later, the court is now examining whether race played a role in Bacote's death sentence.

“This is a big deal. The question of who gets the death penalty, who sits in the courtroom deciding who gets the death penalty, is an issue that has rocked the nation forever – you set the date,” said Henderson Hill, senior counsel for the ACLU, during his closing argument.

The ACLU stated that in the Bacote case, prosecutors excluded black jurors three times more often than white ones.

“White jurors with the same perspective are put on the table; black jurors with the same background are put on the door,” Hill said.

The NAACP said Bacote's white colleagues had a better chance of avoiding conviction.

“During the relevant period in this case, 100 percent of black people sentenced to death were sentenced to death. For white people, the chance of receiving a life sentence was over 50 percent,” said Ashley Burrell of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

The state's lawyers deny these allegations.

Jonathan Babb, a prosecutor for the North Carolina Department of Justice, said, citing census data, that more white people lived in Johnston County at the time of the trial and that the jury selected was an accurate representation of the demographics.

“The state does not condone or defend some of the bills presented by the defense,” Babb said.

The verdict in this case could ultimately impact 135 people currently on death row.