Legislative Watch

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2003
H 1
HOUSE BILL 1199*




Short Title: Moratorium on Executions for Two Years.
(Public)
Sponsors: Representatives Luebke, Hackney, Miner,
Alexander (Primary Sponsors); Bordsen, Carney, Cunningham,
Farmer-Butterfield, Glazier, Insko, Jeffus, Jones, Miller,
Preston, Rayfield, Ross, Weiss, G. Wilson, and Womble.
Referred to: Judiciary I.

April 10, 2003

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A TWO YEAR MORATORIUM ON EXECUTIONS.

Whereas, the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme
Court and the Attorney General for the State of North Carolina
have both recognized that innocent people have been convicted
and incarcerated under current North Carolina law; and
Whereas, the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme
Court and the Attorney General for the State of North Carolina
therefore have recently established a Commission on Actual
Innocence to study the problems of innocent people being
convicted of crimes under our State's system of criminal justice
and further to recommend legislative and policy changes to
attempt to correct any injustices; and

Whereas, factors that may have affected the fair and
impartial administration of the death penalty include all of the
following:

(1) The adequacy of counsel for those on death row in
all stages of capital cases and the increased risk
of executing the innocent due to problems with
counsel appointed prior to the enactment of current
guidelines and qualifications.
(2) The effect of the locale of a crime on the
probability that a prosecutor decides to try a
homicide as a capital case.
(3) Proportionality in the use of the death penalty,
including the relationship between death sentences
and individual culpability for the crimes.
(4) Possible prosecutorial misconduct.
(5) The costs of the death penalty system.
(6) Possible discrimination in death penalty sentencing
based on either the victim's race or the
defendant's race as well as possible discrimination
with regard to other aspects of capital case
processing. Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1. Notwithstanding any other provision
of law, a moratorium is established with regard to carrying out
executions imposed by courts in this State. No person who has
been or is sentenced to death by a court of this State shall be
executed until the moratorium ends, as provided by this act.
SECTION 2. The moratorium shall end two years
from the effective date of this act. During this time period,
the General Assembly or its designees shall examine the issues
that underlie the need for the two-year moratorium on
executions.
SECTION 3. This act is effective when it becomes
law.

e-mail us


Text navigation:
About Us - News and Views - Cases - Facts and Myths - Legislation - Links