The N.C. Supreme Court has vacated a judge's orders to remove four convicted murderers from death row and change their sentences to life in prison without parole over allegations of racial bias.
Local media outlets report the court said Cumberland County Superior Court Gregory Weeks erred in failing to give prosecutors enough time to assess a study which found statistical evidence that blacks were prevented from serving on juries in death penalty trials.
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The court also said Weeks erred in combining three unrelated cases in one hearing.
All four cases were from Cumberland County homicides, including Tilmon Golphin, who killed a state trooper and a sheriff's deputy; and Quintel Augustine, who killed a Fayetteville police officer.
The four defendants used the Racial Justice Act to get their death sentences commuted.
