Here's a great article about the Tour stop at Fayetteville state University.

http://www.fayobserver.com/Articles/2010/04/09/989837

Death penalty panel says reform is saving lives
By Drew Brooks
Staff writer


Darryl Hunt was one juror away from the death penalty when he was convicted of rape and first-degree murder in 1985.

Nearly two decades later, Hunt was exonerated after DNA evidence linked another man to the crime.

On Thursday, Hunt was part of a panel at Fayetteville State University that praised the state's Racial Justice Act as a "huge step" in reforming the death penalty in North Carolina.

The panel discussion was sponsored by FSU's Department of Criminal Justice and the N.C. Coalition for a Moratorium.

Hunt, who is black, was among a group of exonerated men who advocated for the passage of the act in August. He was joined on the panel by state Rep. Rick Glazier and Mary Ann Tally, a judicial candidate and death penalty lawyer.

Glazier and Tally have represented clients in capital cases in the past.

Tally said the act, which provides an avenue for defendants to negate death sentences if they can prove racism played a part in either the decision to seek the death penalty or the decision to apply the death penalty, "doesn't solve all the problems, but is a huge first step."

The act lays out three circumstances in which, if racism is suspected of playing a role, a defendant may be eligible to have a sentence commuted to life in prison.

Those circumstances are when the race of either the defendant or the victim affects the decision to choose the death penalty, or when racism plays a role during jury selection.

Glazier said he hopes the act would lead to the state's criminal justice system earning more trust. He said wrongful convictions, especially those caused by racism, create more victims.

Hunt was an example of one of those victims.

He was convicted of raping and killing a white woman. He said he was the only black man outside of the audience in his court room.

He said DNA evidence proved that he was innocent in 1994, but he had to wait nearly 10 more years before a court overturned his conviction.

Hunt said he knows the Racial Justice Act won't completely remove racism from the justice system.

"We have to change that by treating others as we want to be treated," he said. "Until we get to that state, it doesn't matter what kind of laws we make."

Tally agreed.

"Our system is us. We have our biases. We have our prejudices. We have our misconceptions," she said. "And we all make mistakes."

Staff writer Drew Brooks can be reached at brooksd@fayobserver.com or 486-3567.