Outgoing North Carolina Governor copies Biden, commutes 15 Death Sentences
Those commuted by Roy Cooper had been convicted of murder. One of them had requested a review of the sentence, which the elected governor, Josh Stein, opposed.
Roy Cooper, still as governor of North Carolina.
A day before leaving office, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper commuted 15 death sentences to life sentences in North Carolina. The move reduced death sentences in the state to 121, although no convicts have been executed since 2006.
"These reviews are among the most difficult decisions a Governor can make," Cooper said while announcing the pardons. All of the recipients were convicted of first-degree murder, meaning intentional.
One of those commuted is Hasson Bacote, who was found guilty in 2009 for the murder of 18-year-old Anthony Surles. Bacote's lawyers were contesting the sentence on the grounds that their client had received the maximum sentence because of racial bias. Cooper's successor in the governorship, Josh Stein, was then state attorney general and, as such, opposed the request for a new sentence to be imposed, claiming there was no evidence of racism.
For the time being, Stein did not rule on his predecessor's eleventh-hour reprieve.
Following in Biden's footsteps
By commuting these penalties, Bacote mimicked the pardons of Joe Biden in the final days of his administration. Last week, the Democratic president commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 sentenced to death by the federal judiciary.
The controversial list of those commuted includes everything from child rapists to murderers. The only three federal death row inmates excluded from the measure were one of the terrorists who set off bombs at the Boston Marathon in 2013, a gunman who murdered 11 Jewish worshippers in 2018 and a white supremacist who gunned down nine black parishioners in 2015.
President-elect Donald Trump criticized the decision, claiming that it was meaningless:
"When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening!"
Just days earlier, Biden had announced clemency for nearly 1,500 inmates convicted of various punishments, the highest number granted in a single day. The string of presidential pardons began with the controversial pardon of Hunter Biden.
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