Gretchen Engel of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation on the role of race in our justice system

NC Newsline

Two of the most hotly debated topics in law and policy — racial justice and the death penalty — have been on trial in a high-profile criminal case in Johnston County over the last year. In the case, a man named Hasson Bacote challenged the death sentence he received in a murder trial based on his contention that race, and racism played a role in the sentence he received — something that was prohibited at one point in our state under a law known as the Racial Justice Act.

Last week, in what is being widely hailed as a landmark decision, a superior court judge issued a lengthy and detailed ruling in which held that race had in fact played big and wrongful role in Bacote’s sentence. So, what exactly did the judge find and what does it mean for our state going forward? Recently NC Newsline sat down with one of the lawyers who represented Bacote — Center for Death Penalty Litigation executive director Gretchen Engel — to find out.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Gretchen Engel.