02/06/2012 07:38 AM

Prosecutors up next in Racial Justice Act hearing

By: Associated Press

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FAYETTEVILLE -- Prosecutors will begin presenting their case in the first evidentiary hearing involving North Carolina's Racial Justice Act.

Prosecutors are scheduled to begin presenting their case Monday morning in a Cumberland County courtroom. Marcus Robinson is a black man serving a death sentence for killing a white teenager in 1991.

Robinson is trying to prove that racial bias played a role in jury selection, saying prosecutors illegally excluded blacks as jurors.

Prosecutors last week tried to get additional time to present their side, saying a survey of district attorneys wasn't complete. Judge Greg Weeks said the hearing had been delayed at least twice and ordered the case to proceed.

Lawmakers approved the law in 2009, and it survived a legislative attempt to undo its provisions this year.

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