By Rayna Reid Rayford ·Updated February 27, 2024
North Carolina might be abolishing the death penalty, and it’s all because of a Black man.
This week, a North Carolina trial court in Johnston County “will hear death row prisoner Hasson Bacote’s claims that racial discrimination in jury selection played a role in his capital sentencing.”
Bacote’s argument: during his 2009 trial, the prosecution team “prevented multiple qualified Black jurors from serving on his jury.”
