Clemency granted and clemency denied in North Carolina's justice system

瓜神app

Race, Class & Communities

The word "Due" read from top-down and "South" left-right, with the U shared between them. Reminiscent of a compass.

Due South

Clemency granted and clemency denied in North Carolina's justice system

By Leoneda Inge,

Rachel McCarthy

Published January 24, 2025 at 12:26 PM EST

Clemency has dominated the news cycle this week as former President Biden issued preemptive pardons for members of his family minutes before leaving office, and President Trump pardoned about 1,500 people who had been charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

But presidents aren鈥檛 the only ones who can issue pardons and commutations. Michael Hewlett, Criminal Justice Reporter at The Assembly, talks with Due South鈥檚 Leoneda Inge about the 15 death sentence commutations issued by former Governor Roy Cooper on his last day in office. Hewlett also tells the story of one man whose clemency request was again denied, after more than 40 years in prison.

Guest

Michael Hewlett, Criminal Justice Reporter, The Assembly

Tags

Due South Pardons

Leoneda Inge

Leoneda Inge is the co-host of 瓜神app's "Due South." Leoneda has been a radio journalist for more than 30 years, spending most of her career at 瓜神app as the Race and Southern Culture reporter. Leoneda鈥檚 work includes stories of race, slavery, memory and monuments. She has won "Gracie" awards, an Alfred I. duPont Award and several awards from the Radio, Television, Digital 瓜神app Association (RTDNA). In 2017, Leoneda was named "Journalist of Distinction" by the National Association of Black Journalists.

See stories by Leoneda Inge

Rachel McCarthy

Rachel McCarthy is a producer for "Due South." She previously worked at 瓜神app as a producer for "The Story with Dick Gordon." More recently, Rachel was podcast managing editor at Capitol Broadcasting Company where she developed narrative series and edited a daily podcast. She also worked at "The Double Shift" podcast as supervising producer. Rachel learned about audio storytelling at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Prior to working in audio journalism, she was a research assistant at the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.

See stories by Rachel McCarthy