Perdue meets with critic of Racial Justice Act

RALEIGH -- Gov. Bev Perdue met this afternoon with Jennifer Shelton, widow of a slain Charlotte police officer and an advocate for overhauling the Racial Justice Act.

"She seemed to listen to everything I had to say and take it into account," Shelton said afterward, adding that Perdue "seemed a little surprised that (the law) has been delaying trials."

Shelton said she left with the impression that Perdue, a Democrat, wants to take a look at how the law is working.

Shelton spoke at a news conference last week organized by Republican lawmakers pushing to scale back the new law. They complained that the Racial Justice Act, passed last year, is being used by accused killers, including white defendants, to delay their trials.

The event was the first time Shelton has spoken publicly about the prosecution of the man accused of fatally shooting her husband, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer Jeff Shelton, and his partner, Sean Clark, in 2007. That trial was postponed from July to October after the defendant, Demeatrius Montgomery, filed a motion under the Racial Justice Act.

"The governor clearly admired Jennifer’s strength, and expressed sincere sorrow at what she’s going through," said Chrissy Pearson, Perdue's communications director and the wife of a Cary police officer. She attended the meeting.

Perdue "goes straight to the source about issues that are important to her, or concern her," Pearson said. "In this case, Ms. Shelton wanted to share her personal story and the governor was more than happy to welcome her to the capitol."

The law, when it passed last year, was portrayed as a safeguard against the death penalty being disproportionately imposed against African-American defendants. Under the law, murder suspects may present evidence of racial bias, either at trial or after being sentenced to death.

A Charlotte Observer investigation in 2000 found that those who killed whites in the Carolinas were more likely to wind up on death row than those who killed blacks. The newspaper also found that blacks who killed whites were three times more likely to face execution as murder suspects generally.

Under the new law, judges can consider statistical evidence that suggests race played a key factor in prosecutors' decision to seek, or a court's decision to impose, the death penalty on a disproportionate number of people from a racial group. A judge could prohibit prosecutors from seeking a death sentence or overturn a death sentence on appeal and impose life without parole.

Last week Shelton criticized the law as a tool to help criminals get away with their crimes. Between October and December of last year, motions were filed in 18 cases using the Racial Justice Act. Legislators also highlighted two cases where white defendants filed motions using the new law.

The Center for Death Penalty Litigation, which represents death sentenced inmates, said death penalty cases are still taking the same time to move through the courts as they have in the past.