Civil rights activists and clergy are urging lawmakers to approve legislation that would prohibit application of the death penalty on racial grounds.

Last month, more than 300 clergy members signed a letter in favor of the N.C. Racial Justice Act. The Rev. William Barber, president of the state conference of the National Association For the Advancement of Colored People, has spoken in favor of the act as has Darryl Hunt, a Winston-Salem man wrongfully convicted of murder in the 1980s who was set free some 20 years later.

The proposed act would outlaw race-based application of the death penalty. It would give defendants facing the death penalty the ability to claim that race played an improper role in the state's decision to seek capital punishment. The burden of proof for such claims would be on the defendant, who would be able to use statistical evidence and sworn testimony. If signed into law, the act would apply retroactively.

Introduced in April 2007 by Forsyth County

Democratic Reps. Larry Womble and Earline Parmon as House Bill 1291, the act was passed by the state House the following month in a 68-51 vote.

Among local representatives, Reps. Tim Spear, D-Washington, and Annie Mobley, D-Hertford, voted in favor of the act, while Rep. Bill Owens, D-Pasquotank voted against it.

Mobley and Spear said the act will make capital sentencing more fair. But Owens warned that it could clog the criminal justice system by creating an additional process. He said prosecutors and law enforcement oppose the legislation.

After being sent to the Senate, the act was referred to the Judiciary II Committee in late May 2007 and no action has been taken on it since.

A spokesman for Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Dare, said the Senate leader has been working on the state budget and has not had a chance to review the legislation.