NC organization completes 136-mile walk in opposition of death penalty

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — A North Carolina organization walked 136 miles across the state as they called for Gov. Roy Cooper to commute death sentences to prison terms.

Participants with the NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty began the walk at the Forsyth County Courthouse in Winston-Salem on Sept. 26. The walk concluded Thursday in Raleigh.

The 136 miles were meant to symbolize the number of inmates on death row in North Carolina.

“We have the fifth-largest death row in the nation,” said coalition director Noel Nickle, who noted the state’s largest death row populations are in Forsyth and Wake counties.

Along the route, participants remembered North Carolina residents who had been freed from death row after proving their innocence.

“I was thinking of the 12 people wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for more than a total of 150 years,” Nickle said. “The 12 were exonerated and 11 of them were men of color.”

Although North Carolina hasn’t executed anyone since 2006, the coalition is still seeking change.

“There are people who have grown and changed after committing these crimes as very young people in terrible places in their lives,” said Kristin Collins with the Center for Death Penalty Litigation.

Among the participants was Brenda Hooks, whose son Cerron has been incarcerated for 26 years, 24 of which have been on death row. Hooks says he was convicted of murder as a teenager. Now, she continues to hold on to her faith.

“I believe the death penalty should be abolished,” she said. “Whether they put [my son] to sleep or he comes home, he still wins. He is free. He told me he’s free because he told the truth.”

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