Advocates demand Democratic governor empty death row before leaving office

Time is running out for civil rights activists in North Carolina to achieve an ambitious goal: getting governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, to empty the state’s death row before he leaves office at the end of 2024.

A coalition of exonerees, social justice groups, and faith leaders have been pushing Mr Cooper to commute or pardon the sentences of the 136 people on the state’s death row, fearing that the North Carolina GOP’s control of the state house, senate, and supreme court could freeze out future attempts at reform.

“We can’t trust our legislature. We can’t trust the courts,” Kristie Puckett, senior project manager of the group Forward Justice, told a crowd recently at a rally for the campign. “And so we are forced to rely on Governor Cooper.”

The Independent has contacted the governor’s office for comment.

The state’s death penalty process has been marred by allegations of inaccuracy and racial bias.

Of those on North Carolina death row, over half are Black or African-American, more than twice their share in the state population, according to an investigation from NC Newsline.

All but one of those exonerated in the state have been people of colour, according to the outlet.

“The death penalty is immoral and cruel,” a group of faith leaders wrote to the governor earlier this year. “As you well know, we can add to those faith-filled claims the fact that it is also inherently racist. Many states have already ended state sanctioned killing and it is our prayer that you will do everything in your power to add North Carolina to that list.”

The state has the fifth-largest death row in the US and hasn’t executed anyone since 2006.

The governor has shown an openness towards justice reform efforts in the past.

Following the murder of George Floyd, Mr Cooper established a Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justsice, which recommended narrowing the use of the death penalty in the state and reviewing the punishments of those who were sentenced to death before 2001 under the state’s “quasi-mandatory” capital guidelines.

The task force also recommended setting up a board to review sentences related to crimes committed by people who were children at the time, a body whose recommendations were responsible for five of the nine sentence commutations Governor Cooper put forward in 2022, according to NC Newsline.

This article was amended on 13 December, 2022. It previously stated Roy Cooper will leave office in January. His term continues until the end of 2024.

The Independent and the nonprofit Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ) have launched a joint campaign calling for an end to the death penalty in the US. The RBIJ has attracted more than 150 well-known signatories to their Business Leaders Declaration Against the Death Penalty - with The Independent as the latest on the list. We join high-profile executives like Ariana Huffington, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, and Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson as part of this initiative and are making a pledge to highlight the injustices of the death penalty in our coverage.