On the threshold of his departure from the Governor's mansion, Roy Cooper made a decisive move to alter the fate of 15 individuals on death row. According to CBS17, Cooper granted commutations for these death row prisoners, alongside issuing two other sentence commutations, and a pair of pardons of forgiveness on Tuesday.
In what was described as an action that followed extensive examination by both the Office of Executive Clemency and the Office of General Counsel, "Ensuring careful review of petitions for clemency is a responsibility I take seriously," Governor Cooper was quoted according to CBS17, "Each of these individuals is deserving of clemency as we continue our important work to protect our communities and improve the fairness of our criminal justice system." Governor Cooper expressed his conviction in the importance of these matters and the need for a just system.
The ultimate call to commute these sentences was underscored by the weight of its significance, a burden understood by few. "These reviews are among the most difficult decisions a Governor can make and the death penalty is the most severe sentence that the state can impose," Cooper said. This remark, captured by ABC11, emphasizes the gravity of such decisions. It should be noted that North Carolina has not performed an execution since 2006 and, before these commutations, housed 136 offenders on death row, with petitions from 89 seeking clemency.
Among those with a newly commuted sentence, stands Hasson Bacote, who has argued for nearly two decades that racial bias swayed his original sentence. Bacote, convicted for the 2007 death of Anthony Surles during a robbery, found support from Gretchen Engel, Executive Director of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. "He was incredibly grateful to his team. He felt relieved and was absolutely overjoyed," Engel said, as WRAL reported. Despite the joy expressed by Bacote's team, it's stated by the same source that Surles' mother laments the change in Bacote’s sentence.
