On his final day as governor, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate commuted 15 death-row sentences, following in the footsteps of President Biden.

As he left office, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper granted clemency to 15 people on death row.

Cooper, a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, followed in the footsteps of President Biden, who faced criticism for commuting nearly all federal death row sentences last week.

The governor stated that making decisions based on these reviews is one of the hardest tasks and the death penalty is the harshest punishment the state can inflict.

"After careful consideration, contemplation, and supplication, I determined that the capital punishment meted out to these 15 individuals should be mitigated, while still ensuring they will remain incarcerated for the remainder of their days."

No executions have occurred in North Carolina since 2006 due to ongoing litigation.

In 2010, Hasson Bacote, a felony murder inmate in North Carolina, filed a lawsuit challenging his death sentence under the state's Racial Justice Act, which allows defendants to challenge sentences if they can prove racial bias.

An 18-year-old was shot by Bacote, who is Black, and was convicted by a White-majority Johnston County jury.

An Iredell County murder convict, Rayford Burke, who received a commutation, also reportedly sought relief under the Racial Justice Act, according to WCNC.

Christopher Roseboro, another commutation recipient, has been in prison for approximately 30 years. In 1994, he was indicted on first-degree rape and other charges related to allegations that he and another man robbed an elderly neighbor who was later discovered dead with evidence of sexual assault.

The co-defendant, Roger Bell, is already serving a life sentence.

Darrell Strickland, a man from Union County, was found guilty of manslaughter after an argument on January 1, 1995. He was subsequently sentenced to life without parole.

According to the Greenville Daily Reflector, a Pitt County man who was sentenced for the 1993 murder of Edward Wilson had his sentence commuted.

At his trial, Wooten, then 20, was presented with evidence that he shot Wilson with a modified-to-automatic AR-15 rifle after a safe filled with cocaine and cash was stolen from the mother of Wooten's girlfriend.

Another convicted murderer, Guy T. LeGrande, was sent to prison after being found guilty of a murder-for-hire. LeGrande was later diagnosed with a mental disorder and had previously claimed to have the ability to communicate with Oprah Winfrey through a television.

Biden's orders to reclassify death sentences to life without parole for 37 convicts have been followed by Cooper's commutations.

The White House stated in a December release that President Biden has devoted his career to decreasing violent crime and establishing a just and efficient legal system.

"He supports the abolition of the death penalty at the federal level, except in instances of terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder, which are not covered by today's actions."

A man who was given the death penalty for a 2003 Tennessee shooting expressed surprise after Biden commuted the sentences of numerous convicts.

Rejon Taylor vowed not to waste this act of kindness and this gift of life. He pledged to be a part of Biden's legacy by contributing to the betterment of society and prisons, as he shared with Newsweek.

"Biden's act of mercy will have a lasting impact on me, even after he leaves office."

The commutation of a Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, judge who was jailed in a "kids-for-cash" scandal has sparked bipartisan outrage.

While Cooper issued 77 pardons and commutations during his two terms, this number is significantly lower than the nearly 700 from fellow Democratic Governor James B. Hunt Jr., who served four terms in two non-consecutive eight-year periods, according to NC Newsline.

Three men remain on federal death row after Biden's actions: Robert Gregory Bowers, Dzhokar Anzorovich Tsarnaev, and Dylann Storm Roof. Bowers was convicted in the 2018 Pennsylvania synagogue shooting, Roof massacred several Black churchgoers in South Carolina, and Tsarnaev, along with his now-deceased brother Tamerlan, masterminded the Boston Marathon bombing.

On Wednesday, Josh Stein, the former North Carolina Attorney General, was sworn in as the new governor of North Carolina, succeeding Roy Cooper.