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Update: The Assocaited Press moved a story on this news conference. (Click here).

A group of House Republicans say they want the General Assembly to revisit the Racial Justice Act, a law passed last year that allows those charged with serious crimes to fight the death penalty with statistical data.

Rep. Thom Tillis of Mecklenburg County took the lead in today’s news conference. You can read his statement by clicking here. In short, he says the act is being used in ways never intended to delay prosecutions, not just seek post-conviction relief.

Tillis says that he will introduce a bill that would limit the use of the act to post-conviction, when somebody is actually facing a sentence of death.

Two videos are below. In the first, Tillis lays out his objections. In a second, Tillis and Jennifer Shelton, the wife of a slain Charlotte police officer, talk about how the act is being used in one particular case.

Shelton’s husband, Jeff, and his partner were killed responding to a domestic violence situation. The defendant in that case is trying to use the RJA to head off the use of the death penalty pre-trial.

Background here and here. Bill information on the act is here.

Update: I spoke with a couple of the House sponsors of the RJA. Rep. Rick Glaizer, a Democrat of Fayetteville, said that the act needed to be given time to operate before tinkering with it.

"I think it's a little premature to be revising an act we just passed," Glazier said. He acknowledged there could be some eye-catching cases like the one out of Charlotte.

"But I don't think we ought to make law for the entire state based on one case," he said. "At a minimum, that's a long session issue."

The videos:

Update 4:30 p.m.: The NAACP put out the following news release in response to Tillis' efforts: 

“In light of racial disparities in our criminal justice system, we don’t need anything done that will weaken the [Racial Justice Act]. We are working too hard to overcome racial disparities and outright racism in sentencing and we do not need to step backwards. The GOP didn’t help pass this historic legislation. Why would they now try to move it backwards? Last year with the passage of the Racial Justice Act, North Carolina moved forward. Actions to weaken it are a step backwards,” stated Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President of the NC State Conference of the NAACP.

He continued, “The Racial Justice Act [RJA] was never about delaying justice nor protecting those guilty of violent crimes. The purpose was to stymie the racial application and immoral use of the death penalty based on race and class which has a deep history in this state, in the South and in the nation. The GOP should not attack the RJA out of context and muddy the waters suggesting that proponents of the RJA are somehow weak on crime and are preventing the carrying out of justice. The RJA simply addresses the wrong application of the law with racial intent. We want no changes. We want the GOP to leave this legislation alone.”

Rev. Barber was commenting from the National NAACP Board of Directors meeting out of state. North Carolina NAACP, HK on J Partners and others will have additional comments later.