## Facts

- Marcus Reymond Robinson was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in North Carolina.
- North Carolina enacted the Racial Justice Act (RJA) in 2009, permitting capital defendants to seek relief by proving race was a significant factor in decisions to seek or impose the death penalty, including through peremptory strikes.
- After a lengthy evidentiary hearing, the trial court found racial discrimination was a significant factor in the prosecution’s jury selection and granted RJA relief by resentencing Robinson to life imprisonment without parole.
- The legislature later repealed the RJA and directed that the repeal apply retroactively, including to previously granted RJA relief.
- Relying on the repeal’s retroactivity provision, the trial court concluded Robinson’s RJA relief was void and reimposed the death sentence.
- Robinson sought review in the Supreme Court of North Carolina.

## Issues

1. Whether retroactive application of the RJA repeal to void Robinson’s prior RJA resentencing and reimpose a death sentence violated the North Carolina Constitution’s double jeopardy protections.
2. Whether the State had statutory authority to appeal the trial court’s original judgment granting RJA relief and resentencing Robinson to life without parole.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of North Carolina vacated the order reimposing the death sentence.
- The court held the repeal’s retroactivity provision was unconstitutional as applied because it violated state double jeopardy protections by attempting to restore a death sentence after a final judgment eliminating it.
- The court held, independently, that the State lacked statutory authority to appeal the original RJA judgment granting relief.
- The court ordered reinstatement of Robinson’s sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

## Legal Principles

- For state double jeopardy purposes, a final judicial determination that a defendant is not eligible for a greater punishment functions like an acquittal of that punishment and bars later reinstatement of the greater sentence.
- The legislature may not, consistent with state double jeopardy protections, retroactively nullify a final judgment that constitutionally precludes imposition of the death penalty in a particular case.
- The State’s right to appeal in criminal matters exists only where authorized by statute; absent such authorization, the State cannot obtain appellate review to disturb a final judgment favorable to the defendant.

## Conclusion

A final RJA judgment resentencing a defendant from death to life without parole barred later reinstatement of the death penalty under the state constitution’s double jeopardy clause, and the State could not upset that judgment because it lacked statutory authority to appeal it.


State v. Robinson, 375 N.C. 173, 846 S.E.2d 711 (2020)