Julian Bond writes that he's "convinced that LeGrande was condemned to death in part because his all-white jury could not muster any empathy for this mentally ill black man who had killed a white woman in their community." LeGrande's race is likely the reason that prosecutors want him to die while sparing the equally culpable white man who orchestrated the murder.

LeGrande was prosecuted by a district attorney's office with a sordid history of race discrimination. The prosecutor gained notoriety for wearing in court a gold lapel pin shaped like a noose. In an effort to "boost morale," the prosecutor awarded nooses to assistant district attorneys who won death penalty cases. In LeGrande's case, the prosecutor used a rope metaphor throughout his opening statement, obviously referring to a noose. The prosecutor selected an all-white jury.

And what kind of judge allows a defendant of any race to represent himself during a trial (much less in a death penalty trial) when the defendant is so obviously incapable of acting as his own lawyer? Did LeGrande's race influence the judge, as well as the prosecutors and jury?

If you live in North Carolina, contact Mike Easley and let him hear your opposition to race-tainted prosecutions, and to executions of the mentally ill.

Gov. Mike Easley has a tremendous opportunity to address an obvious injustice. He can right this wrong by commuting LeGrande's sentence to life in prison.