Fact-checking the NC GOP's 'Meet your new neighbors' mailer

Democrat Pricey Harrison says the NC Republican Party has targeted her with a mail piece almost identical to the one sent out to voters in Davidson County Democrat Hugh Holliman's district. Maggie Jeffus' campaign is also bracing itself.

Harrison said she finds the mail piece "disgusting," not to mention inaccurate in its claim that "death row inmates could leave prison early and move in next door" as a result of the Racial Justice Act, which was passed last year with the support of lawmakers like her.

"The main thing is it doesn't allow the folks who file these motions to be paroled," Harrison said. "The relief, if there is demonstration of bias in these cases, is life without parole. And that means life without parole."

The Republican mailer quotes an editorial published by The Daily News of Jacksonville last year, which states, "The law would also allow some convicted killers to go from death row to parole almost immediately."

It's unclear how the newspaper came to that conclusion.

A summary of the enacted bill written by the Research Division of the NC General Assembly states that if a court finds race was a significant factor in decisions to seek or impose the death penalty, the court shall order "that the death sentence imposed by the judgment shall be vacated and the defendant sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole."

I await a call back from Jordan Shaw, a spokesman for the NC Republican Party.

Harrison said she was no regrets about voting for the bill.

"We've had some very blatant cases of racism among jurors across the state," she said. "This just allows for a fairer administration of our capital punishment system. It's being smart on crime, not soft on crime."

UPDATE: Shaw referred me to a statement made by party last night: “If the Democrats have an argument, it is not with us, it is with the District Attorneys who were quoted in the articles that were the basis for the mailer. The language used in the mailer came directly from press reports that included these District Attorneys’ statements. The outrage should be that the Democrats voted for this bill in the first place.”

UPDATE 2: My wife and I, who live in NC House District 59, received the NC GOP's version of this mailer targeted at Jeffus today.

UPDATE 3: In fairness to the Republican Party, YES! Weekly is was among the publications that reported that the Racial Justice Act could result in some death-row inmates being freed, or at least leaving the matter open to question.