news-record.com

WINSTON-SALEM (AP) — Prosecutors in Forsyth County argued Monday that a North Carolina law that inmates are using to allege racial bias in their death sentences is too vague.

Judge William Z. Wood began hearing arguments in Winston-Salem about whether the Racial Justice Act is constitutional. The case has drawn prosecutors from around the state for the first legal debate over the 2009 law.

Prosecutors say the law fails to provide key guidelines and procedures. Attorneys for the inmates say prosecutors simply don't like the law.

Most of North Carolina's 158 death row inmates have filed a claim under the Racial Justice Act, including white inmates convicted of killing white victims. The law allows inmates to use statistical evidence to argue bias in their sentencing. Many inmates question the racial makeup of the juries that handled their cases.

David Hall, a Forsyth County prosecutor called the racial bias claims by white inmates an "absurdity."

"That's an abuse of the state's resources," he said. "That's an abuse of the judicial system."