Four Inmates in Cumberland County have asked that the state Supreme Court reconsider the illegal effect of racism in their trials. They had previously used the North Carolina Racial Justice act to do so, but it was repealed in 2013. Some of the arguments in their two petitions include:
- The Superior Court should have held a hearing to consider whether there was racial bias in one of the inmate’s trials in 2002.
- The Superior Court unconstitutionally retroactively applied the Racial Justice Act repeal to his one inmate’s case.
- The courts have not yet decided on the constitutionality of the repeal of the Racial Justice Act
- The repeal was unconstitutionally intended to punish a specific inmate.