North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said on Dec. 31 that he had commuted the sentences of 15 death row inmates convicted of first-degree murder to life without the possibility of parole.
While no single factor determined the decision to commute a sentence, the governor’s office considered a variety of factors in reviewing the petitions, including the facts and circumstances surrounding the crime, whether a murder was “particularly heinous and cruel,” the defendant’s criminal history, and their conduct in prison, his office said.
Cooper’s office also assessed what the mental and intellectual capacity of the defendant was at the time of the crime, as well as credible claims of innocence, the “potential influence of race,” and the composition of the jury pool at trial, his office said.
No executions have been carried out in North Carolina since 2006 due to ongoing litigation. Before the latest commutations, the state had 136 inmates on death row.
The governor’s office said it received petitions for clemency from 89 of them. Cooper’s decision reduces the state’s death row population by more than 10 percent.
“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. “After thorough review, reflection, and prayer, I concluded that the death sentence imposed on these 15 people should be commuted, while ensuring they will spend the rest of their lives in prison.”
Bacote had challenged his death sentence under the 2009 Racial Justice Act (RJA), through which prisoners could receive life without parole if they were able to demonstrate that race played a role in their death sentence.
Although the RJA was repealed in 2013, the state Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that most prisoners on death row who had already filed claims under the legislation could still use the law retroactively.
A judge had yet to rule on Bacote’s case, which has the potential to affect the cases of other inmates on death row.
LeGrande was initially set to be executed in late 2006 but a judge halted his death, citing his “severe mental illness.”
Cooper’s commutations were welcomed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which represents Bacote.
Stubbs said the ACLU remains hopeful that the court will issue a ruling under the RJA in Bacote’s case that it can “leverage for relief for the many others that still remain on death row.”
Cooper will leave office on New Year’s Day due to term limits barring him from seeking a third consecutive four-year term. Fellow Democrat Josh Stein, who currently serves as the state’s attorney general, will replace him.
