Robert Bacon - Juror admits deliberations were tainted by racial bias; Bacon was granted clemency.

The News & Observer
October 3, 2001

 

Governor gets it right

The death sentence imposed on Robert Bacon Jr. of Jacksonville - confessed killer of his lover's abusive husband in 1986 - had withstood scrutiny under appeal in state and federal courts. Nevertheless, it raised grave questions of fairness. Governor Easley's decision to commute Bacon's sentence to life in prison without parole thus was an entirely appropriate, and commendable, use of his singular authority to spare a condemned inmate's life.

 

Bacon, who is black, had been talked into murdering Glennie Clark, a white man, by Bonnie Clark, who also is white and who witnessed the crime. She was sentenced to life. But beyond that discrepancy was evidence that Bacon was at a particular disadvantage in the judicial process because of his race.

 

A former juror earlier this year described in an affidavit the racial prejudice voiced by some of her fellow Onslow County jurors while they were responsible for determining Bacon's fate. Black citizens, meanwhile, had been excluded from sitting on the jury. All in all, it was hard to escape the conclusion that race had been a factor in sending a man without a criminal record, who cooperated with investigators, to Death Row.

 

This is precisely the kind of situation (not that there couldn't be others) that the governor's clemency power is meant to address. What Easley did was to make sure that Bacon's ultimate sentence met a reasonable standard of fairness. As he explained in announcing his decision, he found no fault with the conduct of prosecutors or judges. But when he looked at the case "in its totality," he could see that life with no chance of parole was a more fitting punishment. Certainly the public will be adequately protected - and Easley can take satisfaction in having done his duty.

 

Copyright 2001 by The News & Observer Pub. Co.