STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 2-21-19
NEW DOCUMENTARY EXPLORES THE LENNON LACY CASE
[BLADENSBORO] A new film details the 2014 fatal hanging of a 17-year-old black teenager in a case that’s never been solved. “Always in Season” by Jacqueline Olive explores the phenomenon of modern day lynchings in America, with the Lennon Lacy case among them. Authorities said they found no evidence that anyone killed Lacy, even though the belts used to hang him from a swing set did not belong to him. Olive hopes that her film will prompt someone with further information to come forward, and the case will be reopened. The film is scheduled to air on PBS in 2020.
NORTH CAROLINA DECIDING WHETHER TO JOIN 16 OTHER STATES IN TRUMP LAWSUIT
[RALEIGH] Thus far, 16 states, led by California, have filed suit against the Trump Administration, seeking to stop the president’s National Emergency declaration justification for taking federal funds to build a wall between the United States and Mexico. Trump made the declaration last week after he failed to convince Congress to allocate the $5.7 billion. He demanded. NC Attorney General Josh Stein said, “I have serious concerns about the legality of President Trump’s emergency declaration. We are reviewing the order, and in particular any effects on North Carolina military installations. We will not hesitate to take action if we conclude it is necessary.”
WATCH FOR RAZOR BLADES ATTACHED TO BOTTOM OF WAL-MART CARTS
[CHARLOTTE] Authorities are warning shoppers, particularly at Wal-Mart stores across the state, to examine their shopping cart handles carefully, after a customer at a Wal-Mart store in Siler City was injured by a razor blade under the handle last Sunday. Siler City police are trying to locate the customer, and two “persons of interest.” Razor blades were discovered on “several buggy handles.” If you have any information about the two persons of interest in this case, please call Siler City police at 919-742-5626.
JUDGES, COPS, DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ASK NC SUPREME COURT TO RULE DEATH PENALTY UNCONSTITUTIONAL
[DURHAM, NC] A group of former prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement officials are asking the North Carolina Supreme Court to find the death penalty unconstitutional. In a friend-of-the-court brief, the group argues the death penalty is now used so rarely that it serves no purpose and should be considered “cruel or unusual” under the state constitution. The brief comes as other state supreme courts — including Washington and Delaware — have recently declared their states’ death penalty laws unconstitutional. The North Carolina brief was signed by 12 people, including former Superior Court Judge Leon Stanback, former District Attorney Rob Corbett, and former Wake County Chief Homicide Detective Steve Hale
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BEASLEY
JUSTICE BEASLEY READY TO DEFEND
HER CHIEF JUSTICE SEAT IN 2020
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
When Associate NC Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley officially takes over as chief Justice on March 1st, she will remain in that role until 2020.
But make no mistake – she’s already vowed to run for election to maintain that seat, and given Beasley’s record of winning judicial elections, it’s a vow that any possible and probable opponents would be wise to take seriously.
“Let me be clear …I will indeed be seeking election in 2020, and I’m excited and I’m ready to go,” she declared during a telephone interview last week, two days after Gov. Cooper made history by appointing her the first African-American female chief justice of the state’s highest court, succeeding the outgoing Chief Justice Mark Martin, a Republican.
The court’s remaining Republican, Associate Justice Paul Newby, was not pleased with the governor’s choice, saying that it should have been him because he has the longest tenure of service.
“[Gov. Cooper]…decided to place raw partisan politics over a non-partisan judiciary…,” Newby, who is expected to challenge Beasley, a Democrat, for the seat in 2020, said in an angry statement.
“I am very comfortable with who I am as a person,” Justice Beasley said in an indirect response. “I am comfortable with the fact that the governor has placed his confidence in me and that I’m equipped to do this job.”
And exactly what does a chief justice of the NC Supreme Court do? The chief justice is the head of the third branch of state government. Besides leading the court, she will determine the schedule for the cases to be argued, and other administrative matters before the court. There is also an executive director who assists with those day-to-day responsibilities.
Becoming chief justice is not something Justice Beasley even considered when she began serving on District Court in Cumberland County twenty years ago. And there weren’t any black female chief justices in other states to emulate until Georgia Chief Justice Leah Sears in 2005.
“I thought it was just such an honor to have been selected, and then elected to serve,” she recalls, noting when then Gov. Jim Hunt appointed her in 1999, after five years in the Public Defenders Office. Once elected to the District Court, Beasley spent a total of ten years on that bench.
After a few years on the NC Court of Appeals, then Gov. Beverly Perdue tapped Judge Beasley to serve out the remaining term of NC Supreme Court Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson in December 2012, becoming only the second black female jurist ever on the NC High Court. Two years later, Justice Beasley won election to that seat.
“Justice can be served in so many ways, and the more you see it, the more you want to see it, because you know how talented we are, and those talented ought to be recognized,” Justice Beasley says.
On the 200thanniversary of the NC Supreme Court, this is an historic year. There are three African-Americans on North Carolina’s highest bench – more than ever in our history, more than other state in the nation.
That happened last November when civil rights attorney Anita Earls was elected during the mid-terms. Justice Beasley says her new colleague, who joins Justice Mike Morgan and she, has proven to be a welcomes edition.
“Even in a very short period of time, she is a valuable member of the court,” Beasley says. “Her insight and professional experiences have brought a really profound perspective to the court. Justice Earls had no prior judicial experience, but that does not limit her abilities or her keen sense of analysis of the issues before the court. So she is a joy to work with , a welcomed addition to the court…”
Justice Beasley continued, “The fact that this is Black History Month, it’s powerful, it’s really powerful that we have such a diverse bench , and that we’re in a place in North Carolina where literally all of us have been selected by the people to serve, and I think that says a whole lot about where we are, and where we want to be. “
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