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

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

Dontae Sharpe pardoned in North Carolina

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

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

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.

Convicted of murder

In 1995, a judge sentenced Dontae Sharpe to life at age 19 for the first‑degree murder of 33‑year‑old George Radcliffe, whom authorities accused him 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 his certainty of his innocence guided him as he refused lighter‑sentence plea offers.

The case against Aharpe relied in part on testimony from a 15-year-old girl. At the time, she claimed she saw Sharpe kill Radcliffe. She later recanted and said she wasn’t present at the time of the shooting. She also said she made up her claims 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 the court to hear more evidence. Prosecutors later said the state would not pursue a retrial, and officials released Sharpe from prison in August 2019.

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.