NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
Committed to ending the death penalty and creating a new vision of justice
A recent decision by North Carolina’s State Supreme Court undermines our public trust in equal justice under the law.
In my nearly 15 years of working in death penalty communications, my goal was always to change other people’s hearts and minds. With the stories I told, I aimed to shape policies and public opinion — to help create a society that no longer sentences people to execution. Now, as I prepare to leave my job at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, it’s difficult to measure how much success I had in those areas. In the end, there is only one outcome I feel truly certain about: This work transformed my heart and mind.
NCCADP has experienced exciting growth and success in the last two years. On December 31st, we concluded a two-year commutations campaign that resulted in Gov. Roy Cooper commuting 15 death sentences. We seek a strong, creative leader and team player to build on this momentum. The ideal candidate will have a passion for criminal justice reform, exceptional communications skills, and at least three years of relevant experience.
Feb. 7, CDPL and its legal partners achieved a tremendous victory under North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act. Their client Hasson Bacote became the fifth person to prove that his death sentence was poisoned by racism. The ruling didn’t affect Mr. Bacote’s sentence because he had already received a commutation to life without parole from Gov. Cooper. Nevertheless, this ruling carries great significance in our work to end the death penalty.
Gov. Roy Cooper today commuted 15 death sentences to life without parole, an unprecedented grant of clemency by a North Carolina governor. Leaders of the coalition that organized a two-year public campaign calling for death row commutations said they believed the governor’s action was a victory for justice. “This action is smaller than we asked for, but it is still a historic step by a North Carolina governor to address injustice in the death penalty,” said NCCADP Executive Director Noel Nickle.
This historic action cements President Biden’s legacy as one of fairness and mercy. We continue to ask Governor Roy Cooper to do the same here in North Carolina during the eight days remaining in his term. The need for action in North Carolina is just as urgent as at the federal level. Executions will likely resume in NC unless the governor takes the brave step of commuting racist and unjust death sentences to prison terms.
We have now delivered our petition and thousands of postcards to Gov. Cooper. As we reach the end of our campaign, we thank you for using your name, voice, time, and energy to call on the governor to commute death sentences. We believe he has heard us, and we remain hopeful that he will take bold, brave action in the next two weeks.
As we celebrate Veterans Day, we want to remind you that veterans make up about 10 percent of death row prisoners in the United States. In North Carolina, 15 percent of the 136 people on death row served in the military. In many cases, the legal system failed to give meaningful consideration to their service, despite research showing that overwhelming numbers of veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress.
On Thursday, October 10th, World Day Against the Death Penalty, we completed our 136-mile, 15-day Walk for Commutation! That afternoon the NCCADP team was joined by our Coalition partner, Catholics […]
On August 18, we gathered in downtown Raleigh to mark 18 years since the last execution in our state and to tell the one person who can make sure executions do not resume, Governor Roy Cooper, “Time’s Running Out: Commute Death Row!” Governor Cooper’s term ends in only a few months and he must act to commute death row soon, before it is too late. We began at Church on Morgan in downtown Raleigh before taking our call for commutations directly to the Governor’s Mansion. It was very inspiring to see everyone in such a beautiful space on a sunny Sunday afternoon!
With just a few months left in Gov. Cooper’s term, we are ramping up our call for him to commute all of North Carolina’s death sentences to prison terms. As […]
With just months to go in Gov. Cooper’s term, calls are intensifying for him to commute death sentences before he leaves office. On Sunday, Aug. 18 at 3:30, the NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty will host a public event featuring nationally known gun violence activist Rev. Sharon Risher, who lost three family members in the Charleston church massacre, and culminating at the gates of the Governor’s Mansion. On Monday, Aug. 19, billboards will go up in locations around downtown Raleigh with the message: Dear Gov. Cooper, Time’s running out! End death row.
Forty-eight years ago in Atlanta, I walked in my first anti-death penalty march. As an 11-year-old girl I walked with my father, a United Methodist minister, and my mother, a […]
When one of our most loyal volunteers, Helen Spielman, suggested last fall that NCCADP host a spring fundraiser, I was admittedly skeptical. It sounded like a lot of work, and I wasn’t sure if it would literally “pay off.” Also, we’re a grassroots organization intensely focused on our Commutations Campaign. I questioned whether we had the time and energy to invest in an event that didn’t provide an opportunity for people to take action. Well, fast forward 6 months, and I’m delighted to admit my hesitancy was not only unnecessary but flat out misplaced. With Helen’s extraordinary leadership and MANY volunteers, NCCADP’s inaugural fundraiser on April 21 was a terrific success.
On Monday, Feb. 26, we filled the Johnston County Courthouse for the start of a landmark hearing that will reveal the full scope of the NC death penalty’s racism. During more than a week of testimony, attorneys will lay out incontrovertible evidence that the North Carolina death penalty is a tool of white supremacy. The crowd that packed the courtroom on Monday sent a clear message: The people of North Carolina are watching. Our presence was especially meaningful in Johnston County, where racism has been not just pervasive but, at times, proudly displayed.
As our Commutations Campaign continues to gain momentum in the New Year, we want to ensure that Governor Cooper hears our message loud and clear from all corners of North Carolina: commute all NC death sentences to prison terms! To make sure he hears from as many North Carolinians as possible, we have launched a state-wide Postcard Campaign!
On December 2, we once again had hundreds of people in the streets of Raleigh rallying for justice and compassion and telling Gov. Cooper: No more death row in North Carolina! But this time around, our message was more urgent than ever.
You see, Gov. Cooper is beginning the last year of his term. Now is the time for him to take bold action to ensure that racist death sentences are never carried out in our state!
We recently got exciting confirmation that our call for Gov. Cooper to commute all of NC’s death sentences is being heard not just in the streets of Raleigh but across […]
In honor of World Day Against the Death Penalty on October 10, NCCADP released a letter signed by nearly 1,500 people of faith in NC, all of whom stand with our movement to ensure that no more executions are carried out in our state. They stand beside nearly 350 faith leaders who support commutations.
On August 19, our coalition once again came together to create a future without executions. About 200 people gathered at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh to remember the 43 people executed under North Carolina’s modern death penalty. Afterward, we marched to Central Prison, which houses the nation’s fifth largest death row, to demand that it be dismantled. We carried signs bearing the names of the executed.
This month marks the seventeenth anniversary of North Carolina’s last execution. Between 1984 and 2006, North Carolina executed 43 people. For some, it might feel like executions are ancient history in our state. However, the enormous pain they caused is still very much with us. I know because, in 2005, I stood by helplessly as the state of North Carolina killed a man and devastated a family that I cared about deeply.
After we released our letter from faith leaders to Gov. Cooper in April, asking him to commute the sentences of all 137 people on North Carolina’s death row, we heard from many lay people who wanted to add their names. In June, we launched a new letter inviting all people of faith in North Carolina to sign on. The letter was released during NCCADP’s Abolition Sabbath Weekend, five days of prayerful reflection and education about the death penalty.
Are you part of a religious or spiritual community and/ or do you consider yourself a person of faith who lives in North Carolina? In a state where nearly 80 percent of people identify with a faith tradition, including Governor Cooper, people of faith can be powerful voices for justice. We encourage you to add your name to this letter asking the governor to commute all death sentences to prison terms.
Originally published in the Charlotte Observer By Rev. Sharon Risher I know what it means to have my faith tested. Eight years ago this week, I was a hospital chaplain […]
A man who has spent nearly 30 years on death row finally had a chance to present evidence that Black jurors were illegally excluded from his trial. Frank Chambers, a Black man, was sent to death row in 1994 by a Rowan County jury that included only a single non-white member. The evidence of discrimination was so extensive that the hearing took an entire week.
Faith leaders gathered in Raleigh on April 14 to present a letter to Gov. Cooper asking him to commute North Carolina’s 137 death sentences.
More than 300 leaders from across North Carolina, representing all the state’s major faith traditions, signed a letter that was sent to Gov. Cooper on April 14. All agreed that the death penalty is immoral, cruel and inherently racist and asked Cooper to use his power to commute sentences.
In the context of a death penalty trial, the harm of Confederate imagery is even more pronounced. The death penalty is already disproportionately applied to Black defendants, and the presence of such imagery reinforces the perception that the system is rigged against us. It makes it even more difficult for Black lawyers to represent their clients effectively and for Black defendants to receive a fair trial. The message these monuments send is clear: The courthouse is a place where white supremacy is tolerated and honored.
Russell Tucker was a Black man facing the death penalty in the South in the “tough-on-crime” 1990s. He deserved the chance to be tried by a jury of his peers. However, a Forsyth County prosecutor came up with reason after reason why Black people could not remain on the jury. On Feb. 8, Mr. Tucker’s attorneys will present evidence to the NC Supreme Court that jurors were illegally excluded because of their race.
We are often told that society must continue to seek the death penalty to get justice for the families of victims. In the years since my parents’ murders, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what justice means. Certainly, it’s not the same thing as revenge. And it could never be achieved through a death penalty that is inhumane, racist, and prone to errors.
We held North Carolina’s largest death penalty abolition event in more than a decade. Well over a hundred people gathered outside Central Prison and marched more than two miles to the Governor’s Mansion. Downtown Raleigh was awash in signs that proclaimed: No More Death Row! At the mansion, we were 200 strong as we made our demand of Governor Cooper: He must use his power to commute the death sentences of all 135 people on death row.
Members of the Homicide Survivor Engagement Group reading their letter aloud outside the Governor’s Mansion on Dec. 10, 2022 As part of the launch of our campaign to persuade Gov. […]
December 6, 2022 The Honorable Roy CooperGovernor of North Carolina200 North Blount StreetRaleigh, NC 27601 Re: Commutation of North Carolina’s Death Row Dear Governor Cooper, We are attorneys, advocates, organizers, […]
You may think that watching a video doesn’t make a difference in the world. But we’re here to tell you that it does. At more than two dozen screenings, we’ve seen this film’s power to educate and move people to action. It’s a key part of our work to organize a public movement to end the North Carolina death penalty. If it spreads far and wide, it will lead to change.
This week, my client Ty Hargrove was sentenced to die in prison. In 2017, Ty killed his estranged girlfriend, Shaekeya Gay, in front of a Henderson Food Lion. He was […]
“Halfe to food and halfe to the homeless.” The phrase was clearly written by a child. The words in green marker stood out in the middle of the large poster […]
We already know from our experience with the Racial Justice Act how prosecutors work to keep juries in capital cases overwhelmingly white, using the tool of peremptory strikes. Now, new […]
Sixteen years ago today, North Carolina used its execution chamber for the last time. On August 18, 2006, Samuel Flippen was the last of 43 people executed under our modern […]
On August 18, it will be sixteen years since North Carolina strapped Samuel Flippen to a gurney and executed him in the middle of the night. From August 15 to 19, we are gathering for a week of in-person events to remember the 43 people executed under our current death penalty laws and to recommit to building a future without the death penalty. Please join us.
Three-quarters of the 136 people living on North Carolina’s death row were sentenced to death in the 1990s. But our large death row is just one of the remnants of […]
Reposted from the Center for Death Penalty Litigation Earlier this month, Marcus Robinson was found dead in his cell at Scotland Correctional Institution. The prison ruled it a suicide. He […]
By Elizabeth Hambourger Yesterday, my client Henry White went home to his family after 25 years in prison. It was one of the most heartwarming moments I’ve experienced as a […]
If you follow the news about the death penalty, you’ve probably heard that five executions are scheduled in United States in the next few weeks — and that one of […]
This week in Warren County, Lester Kearney’s capital murder trial was declared a mistrial after the jury couldn’t agree on his innocence or guilt. The prosecution’s case was based entirely […]
Yesterday, the death penalty trial of Lester Kearney began in Warrenton, North Carolina. Kearney, a Black man, is accused of a terrible crime. An elderly white couple was beaten, robbed, […]
Few of us would choose to be judged solely on the choices we made as teens. But that is exactly what our criminal justice system does when it imposes extremely […]
A new story by Jeffrey Billman in The Assembly has done a huge public service: It’s given us a much fuller picture of one of North Carolina’s most powerful district […]
Reposted with permission from NC Policy Watch I recently got some sad news. My former client, James Blackmon, died earlier this month from complications from COVID. He was 68. Mr. Blackmon was […]
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