As he was leaving his position, former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper commuted the sentences of 15 individuals on the state’s death row.
Cooper, a Democrat whose name has been mentioned as a potential contender for the 2028 presidential election, took action similar to outgoing President Biden, who faced criticism last week for commuting the sentences of almost all federal death row inmates.
“These reviews are some of the toughest decisions a governor can make, and the death penalty is the most severe punishment the state can impose,” Cooper said in a statement.
“After careful review, contemplation, and prayer, I determined that the death sentences imposed on these 15 individuals should be commuted, ensuring they will spend the rest of their lives in prison.”
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No executions have taken place in North Carolina since 2006 due to ongoing legal challenges.
One of the inmates whose sentence was commuted to life was Hasson Bacote, a felony murder convict who challenged his death sentence under North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act. Bacote, who is Black, was convicted by a predominantly White jury.
Rayford Burke, another murder convict who received a commutation, also sought relief under the Racial Justice Act, according to WCNC.
Another commutation recipient, Christopher Roseboro, has been in prison for approximately 30 years. He was indicted in 1994 on first-degree rape and other charges related to a robbery that resulted in the death of an elderly neighbor.
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Vincent Wooten, convicted of murder in 1993, also saw his sentence commuted, according to the Greenville Daily Reflector.
Cooper’s commutations echo Biden’s recent actions of reclassifying death sentences to life without parole for 37 convicts.
Some of Biden’s other commutations, including one for a judge involved in a “kids-for-cash” scandal, have generated bipartisan backlash.
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Only three men remain on federal death row after Biden’s actions: Robert Gregory Bowers, Dzhokar Anzorovich Tsarnaev, and Dylann Storm Roof.
Former North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, was sworn in as governor to succeed Cooper in Raleigh on Wednesday.
