Perdue Vetoes Racial Justice Act Repeal; Legislature Called Back to Raleigh

Governor Beverly Perdue issued her veto of the Racial Justice Act repeal bill on December 14th.  Her veto will stand, and the RJA will be preserved, unless both chambers of the General Assembly vote to override.  The legislature will return to session for a single day – January 4th – to decide the issue.  Under North Carolina law, the override will not succeed unless 3/5ths of present and voting members of each chamber vote in support.

Larry Robinson Sentenced to Life Without Parole

The last capital trial of 2011 ended in a life sentence yesterday.

Larry Bonnell Shawn Robinson was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole by a Robeson County jury after less than 30 minutes of deliberation.  The same jury previously found Robinson guilty of one count of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree murder, and one count of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury for his role in a 2007 shooting that left two men dead and a third injured.