North Carolina Dem Senate candidate added former Bloods gang member to criminal justice task force: report
Roy Cooper, the former North Carolina Democratic governor now running for the US Senate, appointed a former Bloods gang member with a serious violent-crime conviction to a state criminal justice reform panel he created in 2020, according to a report by The Washington Free Beacon. Cooper set up the "Racial Equity in Criminal Justice" task force by executive order in the aftermath of George Floyd's death, placing current Governor Josh Stein, then the state attorney general, in charge of it. The appointment has resurfaced amid Cooper's closely watched Senate race against Republican Michael Whatley, feeding into wider campaign clashes over crime and character.
The appointee, Kerwin Pittman, was convicted in 2007 of conspiracy to commit murder linked to a 2006 drive-by shooting and served 14 years in prison; prosecutors separately named him a "ranking member" of the Bloods gang during another trial. Pittman, who was working for the police-abolition-aligned group Emancipate NC at the time, defended his inclusion on the task force, saying the conduct occurred when he was a teenager and that he has never concealed his past. The Cooper campaign responded by pointing to Whatley's own record, accusing him of having appointed a convicted child sex offender to a senior North Carolina Republican Party role. Neither Pittman nor the Whatley campaign had responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.
In short
- Cooper's 2020 justice task force included an ex-Bloods member convicted of conspiracy to murder
- Kerwin Pittman served 14 years; defends past as youthful, undisguised
- Cooper campaign hits back citing Whatley's appointment of a sex offender
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
A former prisoner with direct experience of the justice system can bring insight that officials and academics may lack, and including him on a reform panel could help it understand how policies affect people returning to their communities. Supporters may also argue that a conviction from someone’s youth should not permanently exclude them from civic work, particularly when they have been open about their past.
The case against
A task force advising on criminal justice should be held to high standards of judgement and public confidence, and critics may question whether appointing someone convicted in connection with a drive-by murder serves those goals. They may argue that the seriousness of the conviction warrants scrutiny regardless of the appointee’s age at the time, while also distinguishing that concern from campaign attacks about Whatley’s own appointments.
Explained simply
Roy Cooper is a former governor of North Carolina who is now seeking a seat in the US Senate. His 2020 executive order created a task force on racial equity in criminal justice after George Floyd’s death; the panel was led by Josh Stein, then the state attorney general and now North Carolina’s governor.
The task force included Kerwin Pittman, who had worked for the criminal justice group Emancipate NC. Pittman was convicted of conspiring to commit murder in connection with a 2006 shooting and served 14 years in prison; prosecutors also described him as a senior Bloods gang member in a separate trial. He has said the conduct happened when he was a teenager and that he has not hidden his past.
The appointment has become part of the Senate campaign between Cooper and Republican Michael Whatley, as candidates and campaigns argue over crime and judgement. The dispute also draws attention to how criminal justice reform panels weigh the experience of people affected by the justice system.