North Carolina Governor pardons Black man who spent 24 years erongly imprisoned

Dontae Sharpe spent more than two decades in prison for a crime he did not commit.

The North Carolina native is now officially a “free” man after a pardon of innocence.

Sharpe, 46, who spent 24 years in prison for a murder was pardoned on Friday (Nov. 12) by North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper.

Cooper’s pardon of innocence allows Dontae Sharpe to apply for compensation up to $750,000 for his wrongful conviction.

“Mr. Sharpe and others who have been wrongly convicted deserve to have that injustice fully and publicly acknowledged,” the governor said in a statement announcing he had pardoned the man after a careful review of the case.

Dontae Sharpe convicted of murder

In 1995, Dontae Sharpe was sentenced to life at age 19 for the first-degree murder of 33-year-old George Radcliffe, whom he was accused of killing a year earlier during a drug deal.

Sharpe had always maintained his innocence throughout. In a 2019 interview, Sharpe said his faith and knowledge that he was innocent guided his refusal to accept offers of a lighter sentence in exchange for a guilty plea.

The case against Dontae Sharpe relied in part on testimony from a 15-year-old girl at the time who claimed she saw Sharpe kill Radcliffe but later recanted and said she wasn’t present at the time of the shooting. She later said her claims were made up, based on what investigators told her.

Sharpe sought tirelessly for a new trial but unfortunately was unsuccessful until a former state medical examiner testified that the state’s theory of the shooting was not medically or scientifically possible.

A judge subsequently ordered more evidence to be heard. Sharpe was released from prison in August 2019 after the prosecutor said the state wouldn’t pursue a retrial.

Demanding justice

Advocates long pushed for Sharpe’s release. The NAACP and other racial justice groups have pushed for clemency for Sharpe to seek compensation, reports NPR.

Sharpe thanked Cooper but called out a criminal justice system he considers “corrupt.”

“My freedom is still incomplete as long as there’s still people going to prison wrongfully, if there’s still people in prison wrongfully and there’s still people that are waiting on pardons,” he said.