If you look at blacks and whites convicted of murder, in similar situations, the black guy is 40% more likely to get the death penalty.
I guess that's playing the race card to say that, but I don't think it's a very fair system where you're that much more likely to die just because of skin color. In fact, being black is a better prediction of whether you'll die than if you had previous felony convictions.
Here's a <a href="http://academic.udayton.edu/race/03justice/death03.htm#RaceofDef">source</a> for my claim.