Richard Shaffer, the District Attorney for Lincoln and Cleveland Counties, has resigned from the Governor’s Crime Commission in response to Gov. Perdue’s veto of the Racial Justice Act. DA Shaffer is a member of the Democratic Party. Shaffer writes in his letter of resignation:
There is no reasonable person who can argue that the judgments entered in those cases were the result of racial discrimination. By your decision, you have at a minimum further delayed the victims’ right to justice. If the worst case scenario takes place, you will have helped unleash violent murderers back into society.
He continues:
Your decision simply gives the anti-death penalty supporters indirectly what they can not get directly which is a repeal of the death penalty. You no longer have any moral authority to suggest that you strongly support the death penalty. Your action has shown that particular statement is untrue.
The Governor’s Crime Commission is the lead advisory body to the Governor and the Secretary of Crime Control on Public Safety on crime and safety issues. The Commission has 44 members.
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