Roy Cooper, formerly the Democratic governor of North Carolina and a current Senate candidate, gained attention for including a former Bloods gang member in a 2020 task force on racial equity in criminal justice. This decision came after George Floyd’s death, prompting Cooper to create the task force through an executive order, as reported by The Washington Free Beacon.
Josh Stein, then the state attorney general and now the governor, led the task force. It comprised state officials and community activists, such as Kerwin Pittman. Pittman had been convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in 2007, serving 14 years in prison. Prosecutors identified him as a high-ranking member of the Bloods during the murder trial of Michael Contrez Jones, a fellow gang member.
In a news conference, Pittman addressed his participation in the task force, suggesting his past stemmed from poor teenage decisions. “I joined the discussions on criminal justice reform due to my experiences and community work,” he stated. He emphasized transparency about his past and noted his age at the time of the offenses, now being 39 years old.
Pittman was linked to the 2006 drive-by shooting of 19-year-old Jamel Amiens Jeffreys, according to the Free Beacon. At the time of the task force’s formation, he was associated with Emancipate NC. This organization, as detailed by the Free Beacon, had advocated for police abolition, claiming policing aims to maintain white supremacy in a 2023 blog post.
Roy Cooper, contending against former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley for the Senate seat, responded to remarks on the Free Beacon’s article by highlighting Whatley’s record. “While Roy focused on incarcerating rapists and violent offenders and enacting tough crime laws, Michael Whatley appointed a convicted child sex offender to a significant position in the North Carolina Republican Party,” Cooper’s campaign relayed to Fox News Digital.
Requests for comments from Pittman and the Whatley campaign provided no immediate response to Fox News Digital.