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On his way out the door, then-North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper commuted the sentences of 15 death row inmates in the Tarheel State.
Cooper, a Democrat who has been named as one of his party’s front-runners in the 2028 presidential election, is expected to take similar action to outgoing President Biden, who took heat last week for commuting the sentences of nearly all federal death row inmates. I took it.
“These reviews are among the most difficult decisions a governor can make, and the death penalty is the most severe penalty a state can impose,” Cooper said in a statement.
“After thorough consideration, reflection, and prayer, I have concluded that the death penalty imposed on these 15 people should be commuted, while also ensuring that they spend the rest of their lives in prison. reached.”
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North Carolina has not carried out the death penalty since 2006 due to ongoing litigation.
One of the inmates who saw his sentence commuted was murder felon Hasson Bacote. Bacote originally filed a lawsuit in 2010 challenging his death sentence under North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act, which reportedly allows defendants to be sentenced if racial bias can be determined. It is said that it is permissible to lodge an objection.
Mr. Bacote, who is black, had been found guilty of fatally shooting the 18-year-old boy by a jury in majority-white Johnston County.
Iredell County murder convict Rayford Burke, who received a reduced sentence, also reportedly sought relief under the Racial Justice Act, according to WCNC.
Another commuted sentence recipient, Christopher Roseboro, has been in prison for nearly 30 years. In 1994, Roseboro was charged with first-degree rape and first-degree rape after he and another man allegedly robbed an elderly neighbor who was later found dead with evidence of a sexual assault. He was charged with other crimes.
Co-defendant Roger Bell is already serving a life sentence.
Union County man Darrell Strickland was found guilty of manslaughter after a tragic altercation on January 1, 1995. He also saw his sentence commuted to life in prison without parole.
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Vincent Wooten of Pitt County, who was convicted of the 1993 murder of Edward Wilson, also had his sentence commuted, according to the Greenville Daily Reflector.
Evidence at trial alleged that Wooten, who was 20 at the time, shot Wilson with an AR-15 rifle modified to be automatic after a safe containing cocaine and cash was stolen from Wooten’s girlfriend’s mother. I saw it submitted.
Another commuted prisoner, Guy T. LeGrande, had been sent to prison after a murder-for-hire incident. LeGrande, who was later diagnosed with a mental disorder, previously claimed to be able to communicate with Oprah Winfrey through television, Mother Jones said.
Cooper’s commutation follows a series of orders by Biden to reclassify death sentences for 37 inmates as life sentences without parole.
“President Biden has dedicated his career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” the White House said in a December statement.
“He believes America should end the use of the death penalty at the federal level except in cases of mass murder motivated by terrorism and hatred. That’s why today’s action applies to all but those cases.” It will be done.”
A man sentenced to death for the 2003 Tennessee shooting said he was surprised that Biden commuted the sentences of so many convicts.
“I am determined not to waste this act of mercy, this gift of life. I am determined to be part of Biden’s legacy by contributing to the betterment of society and prisons,” said Rejon Taylor. told Newsweek magazine.
“Biden may not realize it now, but his act of mercy resonates within me and will bear fruit beyond my lifetime on this earth.”
Biden’s other commutations include a Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania judge imprisoned in the “cash for kids” scandal in which juveniles were aggressively prosecuted and sent to for-profit prisons, sparking bipartisan outrage. is causing.
But Cooper’s total of pardons and commutations over his two terms is 77, compared to nearly 700 for fellow Democratic Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., who served four nonconsecutive eight-year terms, according to NC Newsline. It looks small compared to .
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After Biden’s actions, only three people remain on federal death row: Robert Gregory Bowers, Dzhokhar Anzorovich Tsarnaev, and Dylan Storm Roof. Bowers was convicted of the 2018 Pennsylvania synagogue shooting, Roof massacred several Black churchgoers in South Carolina, and Tsarnaev was involved in the Boston Marathon bombings along with his late brother Tamerlan. was mastermind.
Josh Stein, a Democrat who was North Carolina’s attorney general at the time, was sworn in as governor Wednesday in Raleigh to replace Cooper.
Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.
Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.
Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduate of Temple University with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.
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