Court Finds “Glaring” Disparities in Capital Cases Against Black Defendants
A North Carolina judge ruled on Friday that racial bias influenced the jury selection and death sentence in the 2009 trial of a Black man, exposing what he called “glaring” patterns of racial discrimination in a prosecutorial district outside the state’s capital.
Superior Court Judge Wayland Sermons Jr. found that race was a “significant factor” in both the decision to seek the death penalty and in the selection of jurors for Hasson Bacote’s trial. Prosecutors disproportionately struck Black jurors and imposed the death penalty on Black defendants at a far higher rate than their white counterparts, the judge determined.
Racial Bias in Jury Selection and Sentencing
Bacote was one of 15 death row inmates whose sentences were commuted to life without parole last year by then-Governor Roy Cooper. While Friday’s ruling won’t alter Bacote’s sentence, legal experts say it could have implications for other death row inmates in similar situations.
The judge highlighted significant racial disparities in Johnston County’s capital cases. According to the ruling, Black defendants were sentenced to death 100% of the time, while white defendants facing similar charges received the death penalty only 45% of the time.
Additionally, Assistant District Attorney Gregory Butler, who prosecuted Bacote’s case, removed 75% of prospective Black jurors while only striking 23% of non-Black jurors. In Butler’s other cases, Black jurors were more than 10 times more likely to be excluded from the jury pool compared to non-Black jurors.
Prosecutor’s Justifications Rejected by Judge
During the hearing, Butler testified that race played no role in his jury selection decisions. However, Judge Sermons rejected that claim as unconvincing. The ruling pointed out that Butler justified removing five Black jurors based on their concerns about the death penalty—yet he allowed white jurors with nearly identical reservations to serve.
The U.S. Supreme Court has long held that excluding jurors based on race violates the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, which ensures that people in similar circumstances are treated equally. However, proving racial bias in jury selection remains challenging.
North Carolina Attorney General Plans to Appeal
The North Carolina Department of Justice, which represented the state in Bacote’s case, has announced plans to challenge the ruling. Nazneen Ahmed, spokesperson for Attorney General Jeff Jackson, confirmed that an appeal is forthcoming.
Bacote’s case was argued under North Carolina’s 2009 Racial Justice Act, which allowed death row prisoners to be resentenced to life without parole if they could prove racial bias influenced their sentencing. Although the law was repealed in 2013, the state Supreme Court ruled that it still applies to cases pending at the time of its repeal.
