Scoring a hat trick, the General Assembly overrode the Governor’s third veto this week with a final vote on Senate Bill 416, Amend Death Penalty Procedures, a.k.a Racial Justice Act Repeal.

This is what the bill does:

1. Narrows the statistical evidence death penalty defendants are allowed to use in proving race was a significant factor in their death sentences;

2. Restrict the statistics to the county or prosecutorial district where the death penalty was imposed.

3. Limits those statistics from ten years before the crime and two years after sentencing.

4. Statistical evidence alone is insufficient to establish that race was a significant factor. Statistics can be used but other types of evidence, tied specifically to that defendant’s case have greater weight.

5. In short, the Racial Justice Act was a de facto moratorium on the death penalty. Senate Bill 416, lifts that moratorium.

The final vote to override the veto of SB 416 was:

In the House : Total Votes: 120   Ayes: 72   Noes: 48

  Democrat Republican
Ayes: Representative(s): Brisson; Crawford; Hill; Owens; Spear Representative(s): Avila; Blackwell; Blust; Boles; Brawley; Brown, L.; Brown, R.; Brubaker; Burr; Cleveland; Collins; Cook; Current; Daughtry; Dixon; Dockham; Dollar; Faircloth; Folwell; Frye; Gillespie; Hager; Hastings; Hilton; Hollo; Holloway; Horn; Howard; Hurley; Iler; Ingle; Johnson; Jones; Jordan; Justice; Killian; Langdon; LaRoque; Lewis; McComas; McCormick; McElraft; McGee; McGrady; Mills; Moffitt; Moore, T.; Murry; Pittman; Pridgen; Randleman; Sager; Saine; Samuelson; Sanderson; Setzer; Shepard; Stam; Starnes; Steen; Stevens; Stone; Tillis (SPEAKER); Torbett; Walend; Warren, H.; West
Noes: Representative(s): Adams; Alexander, K.; Alexander, M.; Bell; Bordsen; Brandon; Bryant; Carney; Cotham; Earle; Faison; Farmer-Butterfield; Fisher; Floyd; Gill; Glazier; Goodman; Graham; Hackney; Haire; Hall; Hamilton; Harrison; Insko; Jackson; Jeffus; Keever; Lucas; Luebke; Martin; McGuirt; McLawhorn; Michaux; Mobley; Moore, R.; Parfitt; Parmon; Pierce; Rapp; Ross; Tolson; Wainwright; Warren, E.; Weiss; Wilkins; Womble; Wray Representative(s): Bradley

And in the Senate:

Total Votes: 42   Ayes: 31   Noes: 11   Exc. Absent: 8

  Democrat Republican
Ayes: Senator(s): None Senator(s): Allran; Apodaca; Berger, P.; Bingham; Blake; Brock; Brown; Brunstetter; Carney; Daniel; Davis; East; Goolsby; Gunn; Harrington; Hartsell; Hise; Hunt; Jackson; Meredith; Newton; Pate; Preston; Rabon; Rouzer; Rucho; Soucek; Stevens; Tillman; Tucker; Westmoreland
Noes: Senator(s): Berger, D.; Blue; Graham; Jones; Kinnaird; McKissick; Nesbitt; Purcell; Stein; Vaughan; White Senator(s): None
Exc. Absence: Senator(s): Atwater; Clodfelter; Dannelly; Garrou; Jenkins; Mansfield; Robinson; Walters Senator(s): None

Senate Bill 416 became law on July 2, 2012.