As House Republicans gauge a possible override of Gov. Perdue’s veto of the Racial Justice Act repeal, it’s important to take note of the RJA’s unintended consequences.

RJA supporters reassure us that no prisoner on death row will be released —inmates that win an appeal would be sentenced to life without parole.

But there have been reminders —-most recently from Carolina Journal, less recently from the N&R’s Doug Clark— that there was no life without parole before October 1994, when the majority of death row inmates were sentenced. If successful in appealing their cases, 119 death row convicts potentially would be eligible for immediate parole.